Chicago Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies preview, Friday 9/22, 1:20 CT

Friday notes...

• FRIDAY ON MY MIND: The Cubs have a 15-9 record on Fridays, their second-best mark on any day of the week, behind 16-8 on Tuesdays. But they have lost a game on each of the last five Fridays, one of them as part of a doubleheader. The first four losses all were by one run: 4-3 to the Royals at home, 2-1 at Pittsburgh, 3-2 at Cincinnati and 1-0 to the Diamondbacks at home. Last Friday, they lost by two, 6-4 at Arizona.
• DESPITE THE OH-FER: Seiya Suzuki went 0-for-5 Thursday, but is still batting .351/.414/.701 (27-for-77) in September with seven doubles, a triple, six home runs, 19 RBI and 12 runs scored.
• SO CLOSE: The Cubs have four players with 20 or more home runs (Cody Bellinger, 26; Christopher Morel, 24; Dansby Swanson, 22; and Patrick Wisdom, 21). Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki stand one short of this milestone with 19 each. The last time a Cubs team had six players with 20+ home runs was 2019: Kyle Schwarber (38), Kris Bryant (31), Javier Báez (29), Anthony Rizzo (27), Willson Contreras (24) and Jason Heyward (21).
• FACING THE WEST: The Cubs are playing their final games against a N.L. West team this weekend. So far they are 14-16 vs. N.L. West teams: Giants (5-1), Padres (4-3), Dodgers (3-4), Rockies (1-2), Diamondbacks (1-6).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Rockies lineup:

Jameson Taillon, RHP vs. Noah Davis, RHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

I’m trying to find something, anything, in Jameson Taillon’s record and splits that would give me some confidence about this game.

I am sorry to report that I have not found that. He’s been bad this month, bad in home games compared to road games, bad in day games compared to night games.

On September 13 in Denver, Jamo threw okay for four innings against the Rockies, but then gave up a pair of home runs in the fifth.

Good luck, Jamo.

Noah Davis spent quite some time in the minor leagues after he got torched for nine runs in three innings in a 25(!) to 1 loss to the Angels June 24.

Recalled this month, he’s made one appearance, a two-inning, 27-pitch stint against the Giants September 17. He did make six starts in August and early September for Triple-A Albuquerque in which he averaged 87 pitches per start, so who knows how long he’ll go.

He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on the Cubs’ active roster.

Now’s the time for the Cubs to hit a guy like this, and hit him hard.

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 Rockies market territories).

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.