Chicago Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies preview, Sunday 9/18, 1:20 CT

Sunday notes...

• ATTENDANCE WATCH: Through Friday’s game, the Cubs have announced 2,410,709 tickets sold through 74 dates, an average of 32,577 per date. They must average 27,041 tickets sold for the seven remaining dates to reach 2.6 million for the season. The last time the Cubs announced fewer than 2.6 million tickets sold in a full-capacity season (2020 and 2021 excluded) was 1997.
• IT’S OFFICIAL: While the Cubs were effectively out of 2022 contention long ago, Saturday night’s Padres win over the Diamondbacks officially mathematically eliminated the Cubs from 2022 postseason contention.
• THE CLOSE ONES: The Cubs have played 80 games decided by two or fewer runs, the second-most in the majors. They are 20-25 in one-run games and 15-20 in games decided by two runs.
• HE’S HOT: Alfonso Rivas, last 19 games since July 26: .333/.418/.417 (16-for-48) with two doubles, a triple and seven walks.
• HE’S NOT: Christopher Morel, last 23 games since August 20: .154/.225/.246 (10-for-65) with 27 strikeouts. This includes going 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts over his last four games.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Rockies lineup:

Javier Assad, RHP vs. Ryan Feltner ,RHP

Larry Kave/Myrtle Beach Pelicans

USA TODAY NETWORK

Javier Assad has shown well in his five appearances (four starts). The walk rate is a bit high (4.2 per nine innings) but if he can get that under control, he can be an effective starter in this league.

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

Ryan Feltner has made 16 appearances (15 starts) for the Rockies this year and the results have not been good (6.12 ERA, 1.453 WHIP, 13 HR in 75 innings). It’s not any sort of Coors Field Effect, either, he’s been equally bad there (6.27 ERA) as on the road (5.97 ERA).

Feltner was the Rockies’ fourth round pick out of Ohio State in 2018. He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on their active roster.

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 Rockies site Purple Row. If you do go there to interact with Rockies 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.