Chicago Cubs vs. Washington Nationals preview, Wednesday 8/17, 12:05 CT

Wednesday notes...

• A GOOD ACQUISITION: Franmil Reyes, six games with the Cubs: .346/.346/.692 (9-for-26), a double, a triple, two home runs.
• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner, last 10 games since August 6: .421/.488/.605 (16-for-38), four doubles, a home run, only five strikeouts.
• AND DON’T FORGET THIS GUY: P.J. Higgins, last 13 games since July 10: .300/.382/.567 (9-for-30) with two doubles, two home runs and seven runs scored.
• OR THIS GUY: Mark Leiter Jr., last six appearances since July 30: 1.46 ERA, 0.649 WHIP, .098 opponents BA, 13 strikeouts in 12⅓ innings.
• OLD FRIENDS: There are five players on the Cubs and Nats active rosters who have played for both teams: Cory Abbott, Steve Cishek, Carl Edwards Jr. and Ildemaro Vargas (Nats) and Yan Gomes (Cubs). Vargas is the only one of the five who has played for both teams this season.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Nationals lineup:

Drew Smyly, LHP vs. Cory Abbott, RHP

USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK

Drew Smyly hasn’t allowed a run in two starts (11⅔ innings) this month, with three walks and 13 strikeouts, and over his last five starts since July 16: 2.42 ERA, 1.192 WHIP, 26 strikeouts in 26 innings.

He has not faced the Nats this year and Washington is 11-28 against lefthanded starters this year.

This should be a good day for Drew Smyly.

Hey there, former Cub Cory Abbott!

The Cubs optioned Abbott to Triple-A Iowa after Spring Training, and on April 21 sold him to the Giants. Two weeks later he was claimed by the Nationals on waivers and made 10 appearances (six starts) for Triple-A Rochester in their system with a 5.08 ERA and 1.659 WHIP. He is in his third stint in Washington this year and hasn’t pitched well: 5.94 ERA, 1.560 WHIP, five home runs allowed in 16⅔ innings.

He has obviously never faced the Cubs or anyone on their active roster, but I think they should be able to hit him pretty well this afternoon.

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.