Chicago Cubs vs. San Francisco Giants preview, Monday 9/4, 1:20 CT

Monday notes...

• CUBS vs. GIANTS HISTORY: The Cubs are seeking their 600th win at home against the Giants. Their first was way back on May 15, 1883, the Giants’ debut season in the National League, when they were known as the Gothams and the Cubs were known as the White Stockings. Today’s meeting will be their 1,146th in Chicago since then. The Cubs are 599-530-16 in those games, a .530 winning percentage. On the road against the Giants, at New York and San Francisco, their percentage is just .437 (487-629-11). The Dodgers are the only other pre-expansion team that the Cubs have not beaten 600 times at home. They are 566-502-8 since the clubs first squared off in Chicago in 1890.
• RUN SCORING: The 15 runs the Cubs scored Sunday marked the 21st time they had scored in double figures this year. The last time the Cubs had 21 double-digit scoring games was 2019. The last time they had more than 21 such games in a single season was 1935, when they had 24. The Modern Era franchise record for double-digit games in a season is 34, set in 1929.
• MORE ON RUN SCORING: The 15 runs the Cubs scored Sunday gave them 692 for the season, an average of 5.05 per game. If they continue on this pace, they will score 818 runs. Cubs teams have scored 800+ runs just six times since 1937: 1970 (806), 1998 (831), 2008 (855), 2016 (808), 2017 (822) and 2019 (814).
• IAN LOVES CINCINNATI: Ian Happ, for the four-game series just completed against the Reds: .400/.500/.733 (6-for-15) with two doubles, a home run and seven RBI. For the season at GABP: .435/.552/.739 (10-for-23) with four doubles, a home run, eight RBI and six runs scored.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Giants lineup:

Justin Steele, LHP vs. Logan Webb, RHP

Justin Steele had a bit of a down stretch for a bit, but put together an excellent outing last Tuesday against the Brewers: six shutout innings. With the Cubs off day last week, he’s had an extra day of rest, as have most of the Cubs starters, which should be really helpful this week.

Steele has not faced the Giants this year and no current Giant has more than six career at-bats against him. Wilmer Flores is 3-for-4 with a home run, for whatever that’s worth.

Logan Webb leads MLB in innings pitched, and it’s beginning to show a bit in wear and tear. Last three starts: 5.71 ERA, 1.327 WHIP.

One thing about Webb: He just does not walk people. He leads MLB in BB/9 innings at 1.3, just 27 walks in 180⅓ innings all year. So the Cubs should look to put balls in play.

Webb has not faced the Cubs in nearly a year, since September 10, 2022 at Wrigley Field, and most of the Cubs who played in that game aren’t on the team anymore.

Ian Happ is 3-for-6 with two doubles and a home run, but Cody Bellinger has not hit him at all: 4-for-27 with seven strikeouts.

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 Giants market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Giants site McCovey Chronicles. If you do go there to interact with Giants 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.