Chicago Cubs vs. Detroit Tigers preview, Tuesday 8/22, 5:40 CT

Tuesday notes...

• WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY? PLENTY!: On July 3, at Milwaukee, the Cubs lost their third straight game and seventh in eight. Since then, they are 27-14 and have dropped back-to-back games only three times. The last time the Cubs were 27-14 in any stretch of 41 games was May 4-June 17, 2021. They had a 28-13 span that ended 4 days earlier. They also had overlapping 41-game spans of 27-14 or better each year from 2015 through 2019. They had a pair of non-overlapping spans in 2008, as well as one each in 2001 and 2007. Their best 41-game spans were 31-10, all in 2016: July 20-September 2, July 24-September 5 and July 27-September 9. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• STILL HOT: Seiya Suzuki, month of August, 13 games: .333/.340/.733 (15-for-45), a double, a triple, five home runs, 11 runs scored. He has 13 home runs on the season, one short of matching his 2022 total.
• INTERLEAGUE NOTES: The win Monday clinched a winning season for the Cubs vs. A.L. teams, as they are 24-20 with two games remaining. Broken down by division: 9-6 vs. A.L. East, 8-6 vs. A.L. Central, 7-8 vs. A.L. West.
• ONE-RUN GAMES: Monday’s victory put the Cubs over .500 in one-run games at 16-15. They began the season 2-8 in one-run affairs, so they are 14-7 over their last 21, beginning with a 1-0 win over the Rays May 31.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Tigers lineup:

Drew Smyly, LHP vs. Reese Olson, RHP

Drew Smyly returns to the Cubs rotation after three successful relief appearances. Hopefully this reset will help him get back some of the mojo he had earlier this season.

Smyly, of course, began his career with the Tigers after being their second-round pick out of the University of Arkansas in 2010. He hasn’t faced the Tigers since 2016, though. Only three current Tigers have faced him and they are a combined 0-for-13, which probably doesn’t mean much.

Be good tonight, Drew.

Reese Olson was selected by the Brewers in the 13th round in 2018 and came to the Tigers in a trade in 2021 for... former Cub Daniel Norris.

He made his MLB debut in June and this will be his 15th major league start.

Results have been mixed. He threw six shutout innings against the Twins August 10, then faced them six days later and they got eight hits and four runs against him in fewer than three innings.

He’s allowed nine home runs in 63⅓ innings which... seems like a lot. He’s obviously never faced the Cubs or anyone on their active roster. He does throw hard, as the chart below notes, relying mostly on a 95 mile per hour fastball.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. You can find out if Marquee is available via a provider in your area here.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Tigers site Bless You Boys. If you do go there to interact with Tigers 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.