Chicago Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies preview, Monday 9/11, 7:40 CT

The Phillies lost to the Braves in the first game of a split doubleheader Monday afternoon, so the Cubs move to within 1½ games of the Phillies. So if the Braves can win the nightcap and the Cubs win tonight, the Cubs would be just half a game behind the Phillies for the top wild card spot.

Today’s roster move: Here

Monday notes...

• A MILESTONE REACHED: Dansby Swanson yesterday became the fourth Cub this season to reach 20 home runs. The team record is six players, set in 2017 and tied in 2019. Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Willson Contreras, Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber did it both seasons. Ian Happ was the sixth in 2017; Jason Heyward, in 2019. Happ has 17 this year and Seiya Suzuki, 16. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• STARTING PITCHING: Cubs starting pitchers have posted a 2.14 ERA (25 earned runs in 105 innings) in their last 17 games since August 24, the lowest mark in the major leagues in that span.
• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner’s two steals Sunday gave him 38 for the season. The last Cub to steal 40 or more bases in a season was Juan Pierre, who had 58 in 2006. In the last 100 years, in addition to Pierre, these are the only Cubs to steal 40+ bases in a season: George Grantham (43 in 1923), Kiki Cuyler (43 in 1929), Ivan De Jesus (41 in 1978 and 44 in 1980), Bob Dernier (45 in 1984), Davey Lopes (47 in 1985), Ryne Sandberg (54 in 1985) and Eric Young Sr. (54 in 2000).
• KEEPING UP THE WINNING: Despite the three-game losing streak this past week, the Cubs are 51-31 since they bottomed out at 10 games under .500 on June 8. In the National League, only the Braves (55-25) and Dodgers (51-28) are better.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

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

Jordan Wicks, LHP vs. Kyle Freeland, LHP

Jordan Wicks’ first three MLB starts have ranged from very good to excellent.

Now he’ll have a good test, the hitting environment at Coors Field. He’s never faced the Rockies or anyone on their roster, so perhaps that will be to his advantage.

Good luck, Jordan.

Kyle Freeland finished fourth in N.L. Cy Young voting just five years ago.

Since then? Uh... well... not so much, and this year he is leading the N.L. in losses and has a 5.09 ERA, which ranks 46th among 51 qualified starters in MLB. He missed some time earlier this year with shoulder issues, and since he returned from that: eight starts, 5.98 ERA, 11 home runs allowed in 43⅔ innings.

This sounds like a good chance for Cubs hitters to break out the big bats.

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 Rockies site Purple Row. If you do go there to interact with Rockies 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 — also see the note at the top of this preview.

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.