Chicago Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies preview, Sunday 9/24, 1:20 CT

Sunday notes...

• A POTENTIALLY RARE FEAT: The Cubs have an opportunity today to sweep the Rockies at home for only the fourth time. They won a four-game game series in 1993, the Rockies’ first season, and again in 2008. They won all three in 2007. The Cubs won the first two games but lost the third in 1997, 1998, 2001, 2014, 2019 and 2021. In 2014, they won a fourth game. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• SURPRISE, MILES MASTROBUONI: Mastrobuoni in 23 games since the All-Star break: .346/.393/.442 (18-for-52) with two doubles, a home run, six stolen bases and 16 runs scored.
• THE WALKING MAN: Ian Happ walked twice in Saturday’s game and has 98 for the season, which ranks fourth in MLB. The last Cub to have more walks was Carlos Peña, who walked 101 times in 2011.
• RUN SCORING UPDATE: The Cubs’ six runs Saturday gave them 39 on the homestand, or an average of 7.8 per game. They have scored 788 for the season, 5.08 per game. If they maintain that pace they will score 824 runs this year, the most for any Cubs team since the 2008 Cubs scored 855.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Rockies lineup:

Jordan Wicks, LHP vs. Ty Blach, LHP

Tennessee Smokies

USA TODAY NETWORK

Jordan Wicks was given an extra day of rest before this start when Marcus Stroman started Saturday and was backed up by Javier Assad, who was originally going to start this game. Wicks’ last start was a week ago, September 17 in Arizona.

So that’s good, I think. Wicks threw six innings and allowed one run to the Rockies September 11 in Denver, the only game the Cubs won in that series.

Another outing like that should be just about right.

This will be Wicks’ sixth MLB start, but just his second at Wrigley. He held the Giants to two runs in 6⅔ innings in his previous home start, with no walks allowed.

Ty Blach allowed the Cubs three runs in five innings September 13 in Denver, but the Rockies scored enough for them to win. In his one start since then, the Giants lit him up for seven runs in 3⅔ innings. His ERA is a run higher on the road (5.79) than at home (4.75), so... light him up, Cubs batters.

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.