Chicago Cubs vs. Arizona Diamondbacks preview, Friday 9/15, 8:40 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

Friday notes...

• BLOWING THE LEAD: In each of their last three games, the Cubs surrendered a lead. They lost two of the three. They have had six such streaks of at least three straight games this season, with four of them coming during their last 31 games: three games, Aug. 12-15 (went 2-1); four games, Aug. 21-24 (3-1); three games, Aug. 30-Sept. 2 (2-1) and Monday-Wednesday. The only such streaks in their first 116 games were four in a row, April 1-4 (1-3), and three straight, April 12-15 (1-2). (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• MILE HIGH NICO: Nico Hoerner went 7-for-14 in the series against the Rockies in Denver.
• MORE NICO: Nico stole his 40th base of the season Wednesday at Coors Field. He is just the sixth Cub to steal 40 or more bases in the last 40 years. The others: Bob Dernier (45 in 1984), Ryne Sandberg (54 in 1985), Davey Lopes (47 in 1985), Eric Young Sr. (54 in 2000) and Juan Pierre (58 in 2006).
• HEADING FOR THE CENTURY MARK: Cody Bellinger has 90 RBI and has a good chance at 100. The last Cubs to drive in 100 runs in a season were Anthony Rizzo (101) and Javier Báez (111) in 2018. Both Rizzo (153) and Báez (161) played at least 20 more games than Bellinger could wind up with, as Bellinger has played 116 games and can max out at 131. For Bellinger it would be his second 100-RBI season (115 in 2019, when he was N.L. MVP).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Diamondbacks lineup:

Justin Steele, LHP vs. Brandon Pfaadt, RHP

Justin Steele is the leading candidate for the National League Cy Young Award. Over his last three starts: 0.43 ERA, 0.810 WHIP, 26 strikeouts and only three walks in 21 innings. That includes seven innings of one-run ball against the D-backs September 9 at Wrigley Field. Just do that again, Justin.

If the Cubs win today and Steele posts the win, he will have the highest winning percentage (minimum 20 decisions) of any pitcher in Cubs franchise history in the Modern Era.

Brandon Pfaadt was the “bulk guy” who came into last Sunday’s game at Wrigley Field after an opener began things.

He threw six innings and allowed seven hits and four runs, including home runs by Christopher Morel, Cody Bellinger and Dansby Swanson.

Do that thing again please.

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. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Diamondbacks market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Diamondbacks site AZ Snakepit. If you do go there to interact with D-backs 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.