Chicago Cubs vs. Washington Nationals preview, Tuesday 8/16, 6:05 CT

Tuesday notes...

• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner, last nine games since August 6: .382/.447/.559 (13-for-34), three doubles, a home run, four walks.
• THE NEW GUY: Franmil Reyes, five games since joining the Cubs: .333/.333/.619 (7-for-21), a double, a triple, a home run. He has hit safely in all five games.
• A POSSIBLE HAPP-ENING: Ian Happ’s next home run will be the 100th of his career. When he hits it, he’ll become the 26th player in Cubs franchise history to reach that milestone.
• HE’S HOT: Nick Madrigal, last eight games since August 5: .385/.467/.462 (10-for-26), two doubles, three walks, six runs scored.
• PITCHING UPDATE: Cubs pitching, last 25 games since July 16: 2.72 ERA (67 earned runs in 221⅓ innings) in the team’s, the second-lowest ERA in the majors during that span, trailing only the Dodgers (2.50).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Nationals lineup:

Justin Steele, LHP vs. Patrick Corbin, LHP

Justin Steele’s last start was against the Nats last Tuesday at Wrigley Field. He allowed two runs in six innings, didn’t walk anyone and struck out nine. Another one just like that, please.

Steele in 11 starts since June 5: 2.48 ERA, 1.297 WHIP, .669 opponents OPS. That’s all very, very good. Keep up the good work, Justin.

Today, I don’t even have to write a preview blurb for Patrick Corbin, because Ryan Phillips of The Big Lead has written an entire article headlined: Patrick Corbin Has Been Historically Bad This Season.

From the article:

On the season, Corbin is 4-16 with a 7.02 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP. He leads the majors in losses and has league-highs in ERA and WHIP. If his ERA remains that high, it would be the highest for a qualifying pitcher in the 21st century and the fourth-worst since 1901. It would be the worst full-season ERA since Jack Knott posted a 7.20 for the St. Louis Browns in 1936.

Corbin’s ERA+ on the season is 56, which means he’s 44 percent worse than the average MLB pitcher. As Matt Weyrich points out, the last qualified pitcher to finish a full season with an ERA+ that low was Rube Bressler, who also posted a 56 for the Philadelphia A’s in 1915. He was 20 years old.

That’s... awful. Corbin faced the Cubs last year at Wrigley, but before the selloff, so most of those guys are gone now.

In a small sample size, current Cubs are hitting .387 (12-for-31) against Corbin with two home runs (Franmil Reyes, Ian Happ).

Seriously, the Cubs should just pound this guy.

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 Nationals site Federal Baseball. If you do go there to interact with Nationals 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.