Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Thursday 8/25, 1:20 CT

Thursday notes...

• LOTS OF STARTERS: Wednesday evening, Luke Farrell became the 16th different pitcher to start a game for the Cubs this year (last year, there were 12 different starters for the Cubs). The other 15 (number of starts): Justin Steele (23), Keegan Thompson (17), Marcus Stroman (17), Drew Smyly (17), Kyle Hendricks (16), Adrian Sampson (11), Matt Swarmer (5), Mark Leiter Jr. (4), Wade Miley (4), Caleb Kilian (3), Alec Mills (2), Javier Assad (1), Scott Effross (1), Daniel Norris (1) and Sean Newcomb (1). The top five starters in number of starts have accounted for 90 of the 124 starts thus far. (Effross and Norris’ “starts” were as openers.)
• DOUBLING UP: The Cubs’ doubleheader Tuesday was their sixth of the year (five at home, one in St. Louis). That’s the most twin bills for the team since they played six in 1990 (four at Wrigley, two on the road). The last time the Cubs played more than six doubleheaders was 1984, when they had seven (five at Wrigley, two on the road).
• SAVING THE DAY: Brandon Hughes posted his third save of the season in Tuesday’s first game. Hughes is the first Cub with three or more saves in his age 26 season or younger since Justin Grimm recorded three saves in 2015, his age 26 campaign
• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner’s second-inning single Wednesday snapped an 0-for-25 stretch dating to August 16 with his second-inning single. He went on to have a three-hit game, the 19th of his career. He leads the Cubs with 13 three-plus hit games this year.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

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

Marcus Stroman, RHP vs. Dakota Hudson, RHP

USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK

Marcus Stroman had an outstanding start his last time out, August 20 against the Brewers. Since he returned from injury in July: eight starts, 2.23 ERA, 1.060 WHIP, .210 opponents BA, one big thank you to Cubs fans:

I’m glad he’s a Cub and yes, he could be part of the “Next Great Cubs Team.”

Dakota Hudson was having a decent year, his first full year back from Tommy John surgery, but he seems to have hit a wall since the beginning of July: eight starts, 5.50 ERA, 1.573 WHIP, .289 opponents BA. He also missed some time in mid-July with a neck strain.

He has not faced the Cubs this year and so most current Cubs have not faced him. Ian Happ has the most PA against him, nine. Franmil Reyes has homered off him, so there’s that.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. This game is also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Cardinals market territories).

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 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.