Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals Game 1 preview, Thursday 8/4, 12:15 CT

SITE NOTE: As is my practice for split doubleheaders, there won’t be a separate recap for Game 1 after it’s over. A preview for Game 2 will post shortly before that game starts, at 5 p.m. CT, which will have some details about Game 1. A full recap of both games will post here Friday morning at 8 a.m. CT.

Fortunately, there will be no weather issues for today’s doubleheader, per this forecast.

Other useful info for today:

Official roster move for Dermody:

Thursday notes...

• LAST TIME IT HAPPENED: The Cubs and Cardinals last played a doubleheader June 4 at Wrigley Field. The teams split those two games. The last doubleheader between the Cubs and Cardinals in St. Louis happened August 30, 2014, also a split. The last time the Cubs swept a doubleheader from the Cardinals was June 8, 1992 at the old Busch Stadium — and that was the day Jim Bullinger homered on the first MLB pitch he saw, as I noted here on its 30th anniversary. And, the last time the Cubs played a doubleheader on the road was September 8, 2018 at Washington. They got swept.
• LAST PLACE: The Pirates won Wednesday to tie the Reds in the NL Central standings at 42-62 (.404). The Cubs, also 20 games under .500 at 41-61, thus fell into fifth place in the NL Central with a .402 winning percentage. This is the first time the Cubs have been in last place in the division this late in the season since September 28, 2014, the last day of that season. The Cubs finished fifth that year.

And now, a couple of notes repeated from last night, as they are still valid:

• RELIEF HELP, STILL WORKING: Over the Cubs’ last 13 games, the bullpen has allowed just five earned runs in 49⅔ innings spanning the team’s last 13 games (0.91 ERA). In those 13 games Cubs relievers have walked 19, struck out 54 and held opponents to a .179 BA (30-for-168).
• PLOINK: Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch twice Tuesday, raising his MLB-leading total to 22. One more and he’ll tie Bill Dahlen (1898) for fourth-most in a season in Cubs franchise history. The franchise record is 30, set by Anthony Rizzo in 2015.

Here are today’s Game 1 particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Cardinals lineup:

Marcus Stroman, RHP vs. Miles Mikolas, RHP

Marcus Stroman, since returning from the IL: four starts, 0.89 ERA, 1.082 WHIP (two runs in 20⅓ innings), no home runs allowed, .214 opponents BA.

That's really good, and hopefully it continues tonight. I still can't figure this out, though:

Stroman, home games, 2022: five starts, 7.94 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, six HR in 22⅔ innings
Stroman, road games, 2022: eight starts, 2.00 ERA, 1.022 WHIP, two HR in 45 innings

So, this being a road game, he should do well. If you know why this is happening to him at Wrigley, kindly let Marcus know before his next start.

Miles Mikolas is having a solid season for the Cardinals. The Cubs scored four runs in five innings against him June 3 at Wrigley Field, one of just two starts this year (out of 21) in which he’s given up more than three runs.

That’s good, but ultimately it didn’t matter because the Cardinals pounded Cubs pitching for 14 runs that afternoon.

Hopefully they can hit Mikolas again and Cubs pitching will do better.

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 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.