Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals Game 2 preview, Friday 9/24, 7:05 CT

One-sentence recap of Game 1: The Cubs took a blowout and at least made it interesting before they lost. More on this game and the nightcap here at BCB tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. CT.

It would still be nice to end the Cardinals' winning streak.

Here are the particulars for Game 2.

Cubs lineup:

The Cardinals lineup was not available at posting time. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for the Cardinals lineup.

Zach Davies, RHP vs. Jack Flaherty, RHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

I have written this before, and I shall one more time: I will not miss Zach Davies when he is no longer a Cub.

Fortunately, he will have only two more starts as a Cub: This one, and one in the Pirates series next week.

Oddly enough, the one team he has been able to shut down this year is the Cardinals: Three starts, 1.69 ERA, 1.250 WHIP, only one HR in 16 innings. Maybe Davies can give the Cubs one more decent game before he leaves.

Statcast

Jack Flaherty has had two stints on the injured list this year. He missed all of June and July and half of August with an oblique injury. He came back and made three starts, two of which were good. He left a start August 24 vs. the Tigers and went back on the IL with a shoulder strain.

None of that is good. Well, not for Flaherty and the Cardinals, at least. He’s being activated from the IL today to make this start.

Because of the injuries, Flaherty has not faced the Cubs this year. The only current Cub who has more than a handful of at-bats against him is Willson Contreras (6-for-21, one home run).

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

Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals 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.