Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Sunday 9/4, 1:15 CT

Sunday notes...

• NOT HOLDING THE LEAD: The Cubs have had the lead at some point in six of the eight games on this road trip, failing to take a lead only in the two games in which they were shut out. They managed to win only two of those six games.
• AND THAT HASN’T HELPED ALL YEAR: The Cubs have scored first in 78 of their 133 games this year, but have gone just 40-38 in those contests. The 78 games scoring first are third-most in the majors behind the Mets and Astros (81 each). The 38 defeats in those games are most in the majors (The Reds are second with 28 losses in games when scoring first).
• ALSO: The Cubs are second in the majors with 74 games decided by two or fewer runs this season (Pirates, 75). The team’s 33-41 record (.446) in games decided by two or fewer runs is tied for seventh-worst in the majors.
• EVEN SO: The Cubs are 21-20 since the All-Star break. By comparison, the AL East-leading Yankees are 15-26 since the break.
• THE FRANIMAL: Franmil Reyes, last six games: .304/.385/.609 (7-for-23), a double, two home runs, three walks, five runs scored.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Cardinals lineup:

Marcus Stroman, RHP vs. Miles Mikolas, RHP

Once again, I feel compelled to point out this 2022 split:

Marcus Stroman, road games: 11 starts, 2.05 ERA, 1.027 WHIP, 8 HR in 40⅓ innings
Marcus Stroman, home games: 8 starts, 6.92 ERA, 1.488 WHIP, 4 HR in 61⅓ innings

Maybe it’s random, maybe it’s not, but by starting Stroman on regular rest today, the Cubs avoid pushing him back to a home start Tuesday. They could, with careful selection, have him start only once more at home this year. Ten of his 11 road starts can be categorized as “good to excellent,” while only two of his eight home starts fall in that category.

One of the good road starts came in the first game of a doubleheader August 4 in St. Louis, where Stroman threw six two-hit innings before running out of gas in the seventh and allowing a pair of home runs.

Here’s to one of those good outings being this afternoon.

Miles Mikolas has made four starts against the Cubs this year and posted a 4.13 ERA and 1.333 WHIP. The most recent of those starts was August 24 at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs scored five runs (three earned) off Mikolas in 6x innings. Included in that was a home run by Zach McKinstry. Mikolas followed that by getting knocked out in the fifth inning August 29 against the Reds, and since July 24 has posted a 5.81 ERA in seven starts and allowed eight home runs in 48 innings.

Hopefully the Cubs can hit him 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 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.