Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Friday 9/2, 7:15 CT

Friday notes...

• THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD: The Cubs have played 15 consecutive games against teams with winning records. They’re 7-8 in those games.
• THE FRANIMAL: In 22 games as a Cub, Franmil Reyes is batting .276/.304/.517 (24-for-87) with five doubles, two triples and four home runs. He’s reached base safely in 18 of the 22 games.
• GOOD AGAINST THE CARDS: Rafael Ortega vs. St. Louis this year: 400/.442/.600 (16-for-40) with five doubles and a home run in 13 games. Nico Hoerner vs. St. Louis this year: .346/.393/.423 (18-for-52) with four doubles, a home run and eight runs scored in 14 games.
• THE NEW GUYS: The Cubs have had 14 players make their big league debuts this year: Javier Assad, Narciso Crook, Anderson Espinoza, Jeremiah Estrada, Brandon Hughes, Caleb Kilian, Brendon Little, Christopher Morel, Nicholas Padilla, Ethan Roberts, Seiya Suzuki, Matt Swarmer, Erich Uelmen and Nelson Velázquez. Last year, they had 15 such players: Cory Abbott, Erick Castillo, Greg Deichmann, Scott Effross, Trent Giambrone, Taylor Gushue, P.J. Higgins, Trevor Megill, Tommy Nance, Tyler Payne, Alfonso Rivas, Manuel Rodriguez, Michael Rucker, Justin Steele and Keegan Thompson.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Cardinals lineup:

Also of interest for tonight and this series (time listed is ET):

Adrian Sampson, RHP vs. Jordan Montgomery, LHP

Adrian Sampson pitched last Sunday against the Brewers and... well, you all know what happened there, no sense belaboring it.

His previous start was against the Cardinals August 23 at Wrigley Field (second game of the doubleheader) and that did not go well, he served up a couple of home runs and was gone before the fourth inning ended.

Hopefully, this one goes better.

Jordan Montgomery threw a one-hit complete game shutout against the Cubs August 22 at Wrigley Field, the only hit a third-inning double by Christopher Morel.

He also threw seven shutout innings (five hits allowed) against the Cubs June 11, when he was still with the Yankees. He’s been pretty much lights-out since being traded to the Cardinals.

Clearly, we are doomed.

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.