Chicago Cubs vs. San Francisco Giants preview, Saturday 9/11, 1:20 CT

Saturday notes...

• REMEMBRANCE: There will be ceremonies at all MLB parks today on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. All on-field personnel including players, coaches and umpires will wear caps with a side patch of the ribbon during games. The Toronto Blue Jays will wear caps recognizing both the United States and Canada. MLB will donate 100 percent of its licensed royalties from the sales of the caps to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
• A TEAM RECORD COULD BE TIED TODAY: Frank Schwindel’s home run Friday game the Cubs at least one home run in 16 consecutive games dating to Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Rockies on August 25, the longest active streak in the National League. If a Cub homers today, that would tie the franchise record streak of 17, set from August 19 - September 5, 1998.
• SCHWINDY CITY UPDATE: Schwindel had the Cubs’ only two hits Friday and in 17 games since August 22: .368/.419/.706 (25-for-68) with seven home runs, 15 runs scored and 16 RBI.
• STRIKEOUT UPDATE: The Cubs have struck out 405 times since the selloff, or 10.66 per game. (I’m using the selloff as a benchmark because that strikeout pace reflects the current roster.) They have struck out 1,399 times this year (leading MLB by 36) and if they keep up the current pace, they will break the franchise record (1,518, set in 2015) in the second game of the doubleheader September 24 vs. the Cardinals, and will break the MLB record (1,595, set by the 2019 Tigers) October 2 at St. Louis.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Giants lineup:

Zach Davies, RHP vs. Kevin Gausman, RHP

Zach Davies since the All-Star break: 10 starts, 6.70 ERA, 1.660 WHIP, 14 home runs in 47 innings.

That’s... awful.

His start against the Giants June 3 in San Francisco wasn’t any good either: 4⅓ innings, eight hits, four runs, 93 pitches. Blech.

I’ll just repeat what I’ve said previously, I will not miss him when he’s no longer a Cub.

Statcast

Kevin Gausman is having the best year of his career by a significant margin, and is a Cy Young candidate.

Against the Cubs June 5 in San Francisco, he threw seven innings and allowed two runs with no walks and 10 strikeouts, though I should point out that several Cubs who appeared in that game are no longer with the team.

Clearly, we are doomed.

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. It’s also being carried by MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Giants market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Giants site McCovey Chronicles. If you do go there to interact with Giants 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.