Chicago Cubs vs. Arizona Diamondbacks preview, Sunday 5/15, 3:10 CT

Sunday notes...

• HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RAFAEL ORTEGA!: The Cubs outfielder turns 31 today. Over his last six games, Ortega is hitting .294/.350/.412 (5-for-17) with two doubles and two walks. The Cubs sure seem to have a lot of birthdays this month. Earlier this month: Jonathan Villar, Willson Contreras, Mychal Givens, Nico Hoerner. Coming up later in May: Conner Menez.
• PLAYING BETTER: Since ending a five-game losing streak with the first win of this road trip, the Cubs have outscored their opponents 24-16 and have won three of five.
• THE SPLITS: Cubs at home: 4-11. Cubs on road: 8-9, Cubs in day games: 7-5, Cubs in night games: 5-15 Cubs vs. LH starters: 5-5, Cubs vs. RH starters: 7-15. Cubs in one-run games: 2-8, Cubs in all other games: 10-12.
• PLAYERS, LOTS OF THEM: The Cubs have used 36 players so far this year. While that might seem like a lot, it matches the current MLB average. The Diamondbacks have used 42, and the Reds and Giants lead MLB in this category with 44. The Rockies have used the fewest to date, 31.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Diamondbacks lineup:

Justin Steele, LHP vs. Humberto Castellanos, RHP

USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK

Justin Steele left his last start with some sort of left thumb injury, but he’s good to go tonight.

Of his six starts this year, only one has been anything close to good, the rest have been a struggle to not issue walks, mainly. That’s what is standing in the way of Steele becoming a quality MLB starter — command and control.

He has never faced the Diamondbacks or anyone on their active roster.

Humberto Castellanos and Nick Castellanos are not related.

There, that’s about all I know about Humberto, who, per the chart below, is mostly a soft-tosser. His K rate (6.3 per nine innings) bears this out.

He started this year in the pen and then was moved into the rotation, and the results as a starter have been decent (4.09 ERA, but a good 1.091 WHIP). He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on the Cubs active roster.

So, this one should be interesting.

Statcast

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 Diamondbacks site AZ Snakepit. If you do go there to interact with D-Backs 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 2022 Game Thread procedure will be like last years, 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.