Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox preview, Sunday 8/8, 6:09 CT

Sunday notes...

• CLOSE ONES AND BLOWOUTS: The Cubs are 16-21 in one-run games this year and the 37 one-run contests are second-most in the majors behind the Mets (40). Conversely, Tuesday’s 13-6 loss was their 36th game (15-21) decided by five or more runs, tied for third-most in the majors behind the Orioles (39) and Angels (38).
• A NEW FRANCHISE RECORD: Friday, Greg Deichmann became the 57th player used by the Cubs in 2021, setting a franchise record for players used in a season, surpassing the 56 used in 2013. The MLB record for players used in a season is 67, set by the 2019 Mariners. The Cubs have used 33 different pitchers this year (including position players). The 2019 Mariners also hold the record for that, 42 (also including position players).
• MORE DEICHMANN: He’s the 11th player to make his MLB debut with the Cubs this year. The last time the team had more: 13 in 2012.
• THE PROFESSOR: Kyle Hendricks received a no-decision yesterday and has not lost a game in his last 16 starts, the longest stretch by a Cub starter since Jake Arrieta went a franchise-record 24 straight games without a loss from July 30, 2015-May 31, 2016. In those 16 starts, Kyle has a personal-best 11-game winning streak and a 2.79 ERA.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

White Sox lineup:

Zach Davies, RHP vs. Dylan Cease, RHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Zach Davies is having the worst year of his career. Highest ERA and WHIP. Leading MLB in walks.

It just drives me crazy to watch him pitch — constantly running up long counts, so he can’t throw even six innings, which he’s done only six times in 23 starts.

Interestingly enough, despite being on an NL Central team (the Brewers) for the first five years of his career, he has never faced the White Sox, and current Sox players have only a handful of at-bats against him. So maybe that’s to his advantage. On the other hand, Davies has thrown much worse in night games this year (15 starts, 5.90 ERA, 11 HR in 71⅔ innings) than day games (eight starts, 2.80 ERA, 1 HR in 41 innings).

So, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Statcast

Dylan Cease is finally having the solid season the Sox expected from him, although his numbers since June 1 aren’t great: 4.69 ERA, 1.247 WHIP, nine HR in 63⅓ innings.

He did have an excellent start his last time out: Six one-hit innings against the Royals with 11 strikeouts.

Cease faced the Cubs twice in last year’s pandemic-shortened season and posted a 5.91 ERA in 10⅔ innings, but again, that wasn’t THESE Cubs. Willson Contreras homered off him, so there’s that, anyway. He throws hard, as you can see by the graph below.

Statcast

Today’s game is on ABC (check local listings — ESPN is producing this game, but it is airing on over-the-air ABC stations).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation White Sox site South Side Sox. If you do go there to interact with Sox fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

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.