Chicago Cubs vs. Texas Rangers preview, Friday 4/7, 1:20 CT

Friday notes...

• PITCHING, AND NOT: The combined score of the Cubs’ first two games: 5-3. The combined score of Cubs’ three most recent games: 23-21. The Cubs’ run differential of +4 is second-best in the N.L. Central despite their 2-3 W-L record.
• THE EARLY BIRD: Today is the earliest date on which the Cubs have played the Rangers at home. The earliest of their three previous series at Wrigley Field was April 16, in 2013. In 2019, the Cubs opened the season at Texas, on March 28.

(The first two notes items courtesy BCB’s JohnW53.)

• THE K ZONE: The Cubs’ 38 batter strikeouts so far this year is the fewest for any of the 30 MLB teams (tied with the Cardinals). Of course, all but one other team (Reds) has played more games than the Cubs. Still, this could be a good sign going forward.
• HE’S HOT: Dansby Swanson is batting .500/.583/.600 (10-for-20) with four walks and just two strikeouts.
• HE’S NOT: Yan Gomes is 1-for-13 (a single) with no walks and three strikeouts.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

The Rangers lineup was not available at posting time. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for the Rangers lineup.

Marcus Stroman, RHP vs. Nathan Eovaldi, RHP

Marcus Stroman had an excellent first outing, six shutout innings against the Brewers on Opening Day.

He hasn’t faced the Rangers in almost five years, so that’s not really relevant. Brad Miller is 10-for-39 against him, which I mention only because that’s a lot of AB for one hitter vs. one pitcher in modern baseball. Marcus Semien is 7-for-13.

Nathan Eovaldi allowed six hits and three runs in five innings to the Phillies April 1, his only start so far this year, but the Rangers won the game anyway.

His only two starts against the Cubs were way back in 2014 when he was with the Marlins, so those are completely without meaning for today. Yan Gomes is 6-for-11 vs. Eovaldi, for whatever that’s worth, and Eric Hosmer 4-for-7 with a home run, both extremely small sample sizes.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Apple TV+. Unlike last year, you will have to buy a subscription to Apple TV+ to watch this game. Apple says that for a limited time, if you buy and activate a new Apple device, you can get three months of Apple TV+ for free. More details on how to watch are here.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Rangers site Lone Star Ball. If you do go there to interact with Rangers 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.