Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Monday 8/16, 6:10 CT

Monday notes. I am going to continue with these until the Cubs win.

• LOSING STREAKS: The longest losing streak in Cubs history is 14, set in 1997. That’s ... approaching. The Cubs also went 2-14 in their final 16 games of 1996, so that’s a 2-28 stretch over two seasons. The 1985 Cubs lost 13 in a row, shocking everyone after the 1984 division title season, but that team at least had an excuse — all five starting pitchers hit what was then called the disabled list and guys like Johnny Abrego, Jay Baller, Derek Botehlo, Steve Engel and Reggie Patterson were starting games.
• THE LOSSES OF AUGUST: The Cubs are 1-13 this month and have been outscored 108-52. Apart from the game they won (3-2 over the Rockies August 4), they have had only six other leads in the other 13 games:

1-0 for 2½ innings August 1 in Washington
1-0 for half an inning August 3 in Colorado
1-0 for half an inning August 10 (first game) vs. Brewers
1-0 for half an inning August 10 (second game) vs. Brewers
1-0 for 2½ innings August 14 in Miami
5-4 for half an inning later in the August 14 game

UPDATE: Thanks to BCB reader wildcat6 for pointing out that the Cubs had a 4-1 lead August 13 in Miami going to the bottom of the second, where the Marlins scored 11, so they had a three-run lead for maybe 5-10 minutes, the only lead of more than one run during the streak.

The worst calendar month in Cubs history is generally thought to be the 6-24 (.200) mark in August 1999. There are 13 games left this month, so the most the Cubs could lose is 26 — and then they’d be 1-26, a far worse winning percentage. To avoid a .200 winning percentage this month the Cubs would have to go 5-8 and finish 6-21. That ... doesn’t seem likely.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Justin Steele, LHP vs. Wade Miley, LHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Justin Steele had a good outing in his first MLB start last Tuesday against the Brewers. I hope he builds on that and has a great start to his role in the rotation for 2022.

I’m saying this mostly because I don’t want you to look at this boxscore from May 2, when Steele gave up a whole bunch of runs to the Reds, including a home run by Nick Castellanos. Oh, go ahead and look, what harm can it do?

Here’s hoping for better tonight.

Statcast

Wade Miley has made three starts against the Cubs this year and has a 3.94 ERA and 1.875 WHIP and has ... what’s that you say? That was against the “old” pre-selloff Cubs?

Yes. It was. Miley got hit hard by the Braves in his last start, but in the start before that he threw seven shutout innings against the Pirates. That’s pretty much where we’re at right now.

Maybe Frank Schwindel can hit a homer off him or something.

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

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The 2021 Game Thread procedure will be a bit different than previous years. It will be similar to what we’ve used for Spring Training.

You’ll find the game preview posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game, including the First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread, as well as the recap when it’s published. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at 90 minutes after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.