Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers preview, Thursday 4/20, 6:40 CT

Today's roster move: Here

Weather could interrupt tonight’s game, per this forecast. Here’s the local radar:

Thursday notes...

• ABOUT ALL THOSE RUNS: The Cubs’ five games so far in which they have scored at least 10 runs is just one fewer than they had all of last season. Their first last year was in their 15th game and they did not have another until their 42nd, on May 24. Their fifth was in their 93rd game, on July 22, and their sixth was in the final game of the season, on October 5. In the full seasons from 2000-22, the Cubs have averaged 11 games with 10 or more runs. Their most in a season since 1901 is 34, in 1929, followed by 28 in 1930, 24 in 1935 and 21 in 2019. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• WINNING EARLY: The Cubs have won 11 of their first 17 games. Since 2001, this is just the seventh time any Cubs team has won at least 11 of their first 17 (2020, 13-4; 2016, 13-4; 2008, 11-6; 2004, 11-6; 2003, 11-6 and 2001, 12-5)
• NO-K NICO: Nico Hoerner has not struck out in his last 28 plate appearances dating to April 14, the longest active streak in MLB. Also, in Nico’s last nine games since April 10: 385/.455/.462 (15-for-39) with three doubles. He also doubled Wednesday to extend his on-base streak to a career-high 15 games.
• WORDS OF WISDOM: Patrick Wisdom is on a six-game hitting streak in which he is batting .333 (9-for-27) with a double, triple and five home runs. Entering Thursday’s action he is leading MLB in slugging percentage at .754.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Dodgers lineup:

Javier Assad, RHP vs. Michael Grove, RHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

This was supposed to be a pitching rematch of last Saturday’s game in Los Angeles, but with Jameson Taillon hitting the IL, Assad takes the roster spot and the start. Assad last pitched six days ago for Iowa.

The Cubs’ lone run last Saturday was a solo homer by Patrick Wisdom off Grove in the fifth inning.

Grove’s 9.00 ERA is largely due to one awful start against the Diamondbacks.

Let's hope Assad is better than he's shown so far this year. There's no pitch selection chart for 2023 for Assad because he hasn't thrown 100 MLB pitches yet this year.

Statcast

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

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Dodgers site True Blue LA. If you do go there to interact with Dodgers 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 2023 Game Thread procedure will be like last year’s, 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.