Bleed Cubbie Blue - Cubs vs. Pirates Thursday game threadsA Chicago Cubs Fan Community Since February 9, 2005https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47557/cubbieblue.png2018-09-28T10:00:10-05:00http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/rss/stream/176540212018-09-28T10:00:10-05:002018-09-28T10:00:10-05:002018 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 159
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<p>Cubs shut out Pirates 3-0 for series split</p> <p id="9j2bzA">I remember days gone by when <span>Jon Lester</span> would have received serious consideration for the 2018 Cy Young award. I mean, it would go to <span>Max Scherzer</span> who also won 18 games and struck out a bunch more guys and threw a bunch more innings and all of that “ace” stuff. But Jon would have been in the conversation with his 18 wins and his grit and all of that. Certainly not that de Grom kid. Sure he had a gaudy ERA, but he pitched on a bad team and struggled to win 10 games. Ah, we’ve come a long way with our analysis and understanding of pitching. I hope know that all of the voters recognize that Jon had a very fine season, Max had a very good season and de Grom was out of this world and should win the Cy Young.</p>
<p id="YzdnXj">But I don’t want to be dismissive of Jon. We’ve long talked about the Hall of Very Good for guys who were really good but not quite Cooperstown-worthy. In this instance, I’m not talking about Jon’s actual qualifications for the Hall. He’s got a lot of pitching left to do and that conversation is premature. Probably even more because voters and public perception are still trying to figure out to do with the way game has evolved for starting pitchers. Jon is a great example of that. He’ll win 200 games (he’s already at 177), but he won’t sniff 300. And Jon was a very good pitcher who often pitched on elite teams. A guy like that would often be sitting on at least 225 of maybe 250 wins already. But Jon may only get so something like 225 (I’m terrible at projecting these things). </p>
<p id="xMLepY">Anyway, to not be dismissive of Jon, I know there are some who always want their ace to have a de Grom season. To be that guy who goes out there and it is just lights out for the other team. We look at Jon, we see a 3.32 ERA... good but not great. He threw 181⅔ innings this year in 32 starts. So less than six innings per start. Ho hum. His ERA+ of 129 is quite good. His FIP of 4.39, not so much. WHIP of 1.310, not all that great. His H/9, BB/9, HR/9 and K/9 were all worse than his career averages. But what of all of that? The <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> are 24-8 when <span>Jon Lester</span> pitches. As has been talked about from time to time around here, the Cubs were no juggernaut. So it’s not like everyone had a gaudy number like that. </p>
<p id="wmr7Nw">I know I’ve made these next points before, but I don’t think it hurts to point them out. Jon had that horrific stretch of hitless at bats to start his MLB career. He’s turned into a reasonable hitting pitcher (.119/119/.169) this year. He’s a good bunter. He’s worked enough on his yips throwing to bases that he’s actually recording some outs at first when he isn’t standing within a few feet of the bag. He’s picked off a runner. And runners only stole 14 bases off him all season (down from 44 in 2015). Jon plays the game of baseball very hard. Grit and determination aren’t quantifiable things, but you know here and there Jon has stolen a win by gutting things out on a night when everything wasn’t clicking. </p>
<p id="k92wYf">Everyone would always love to have second half of 2015 Jake Arrieta. Those guys don’t come around very often but believe me, every single team, every single year is looking for that guy. They are trying to develop him on the back fields in one of their complexes, they are scouting every corner of the globe for him. But when you can’t get one of those, if you can find Jon Lester and put him in front of your rotation, you aren’t doing half bad. So yeah, I’m saying his 2018 season isn’t Cy-worthy. But it is the Cy Young equivalent of the Hall of Very Good. I’m glad he’s on our side. He’s been worth 12.8 bWAR since coming to the Cubs and he’s made 97.5M. Even at $9M per 1 WAR, that’s excess value. I remember when people were calling that a lemon deal. </p>
<p id="WVoY7r">With that, we turn our attention to yesterday’s game as we look at what WPA had to say about Heroes and Goats. As always the Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA (Win Probability Added — <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/3/28/17159170/cubs-heroes-and-goats-2018-season-primer"><strong>here’s a good explanation of how WPA works</strong></a>) and are not in any way subjective. Many days WPA will not tell the story of what happened, but often it can give at least a glimpse to who rose to the occasion in a high leverage moment or who didn’t get the job done in that moment. Also note, for the purposes of Heroes and Goats, we ignore the results of pitchers while they are batting and hitters while they are pitching. With that, we get to the results.</p>
<p id="ci9I4Z"><strong>Game 159, September 27 - Cubs shutout </strong><a href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/"><strong>Pirates</strong></a><strong> 3-0 for series split (93-66)</strong></p>
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<iframe src="https://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=wins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2018-09-27&team=Cubs&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width="450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/wins.aspx?date=2018-09-27&team=Cubs&dh=0&season=2018">FanGraphs</a></span>
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<p id="Ag7a2W"><strong>THE THREE HEROES: </strong></p>
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<li id="fukuCk">
<strong>Superhero - </strong>Jon Lester (.310). Jon threw six shutout innings allowing only three hits and four walks. Admit it, you were worried he was going to get shelled after the first two and three of the first four Pirates reached base. Jon powered through that and then eventually left the game having retired the last seven batters he faced. (Jon’s hitting is an oddity. He was one for two with a run scored and ended up with a -.078. His single ends up being a -.032 because of the Contreras out at the plate.)</li>
<li id="5cKkXM">
<strong>Hero - </strong><span>David Bote</span> (.177). There always seems to be one guy who Cubs fans are just applying their collective will for him to be good. I think David is that guy right now. His story is a good one and everyone loves an underdog. Underdog had a hit and a walk in three plate appearances yesterday. The hit was a two run triple. </li>
<li id="JZ28jI">
<strong>Sidekick - </strong><span>Steve Cishek</span> (.049). Steve retired all three batters he faced in the seventh. Phew. The Cubs need Steve to right the ship after a rough September. </li>
</ul>
<p id="Wd1n0X"><strong>THE THREE GOATS:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="yijuBJ">
<strong>Billy Goat - </strong><span>Anthony Rizzo</span> (-.060). Anthony was hitless in four at bats. Here ends the quest for his fourth Superhero of the Year award in the five years of this feature. Barring <span>Pedro Strop</span> both coming back from an injury and getting into a leverage spot and not succeeding (read: not going to happen), the door is shut.</li>
<li id="xOKT9I">
<strong>Goat - </strong><span>Willson Contreras</span> (-.037). Willson had a double in the Cubs extremely weird fourth inning in which the first five batters reached base and they managed only one run. </li>
<li id="U5lv6G">
<strong>Kid - </strong><span>Javier Baez</span> (-.008). Javy actually had a double and a walk on the day. The double was after it was already 3-0, so it just didn’t give him enough boost. </li>
</ul>
<p id="smf2Vb"><strong>WPA Play of the Game: </strong>David Bote batted with runners on second and third and two outs against <span>Trevor Williams</span> in the second inning. In four of his previous five starts, Trevor allowed no runs. On one pitch to Bote he allowed a two run triple. (.176). Bote only spent about half the season on the team and he has been responsible for the Play of the Game eight times (fifth on the team). </p>
<p id="xsHEKh">*Pirates Play of the Game: In the eighth inning after a lead off walk, David Bote made an error putting runners on first and second with no outs. (.076). The Pirates had runners on first and second with no outs twice and a lead off double once and they scored no runs. </p>
<p id="yrwgkA"><strong>Cumulative Leaders: </strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="0UC5hH">
<strong>Superhero - </strong><span>Javier Baez</span> 22.5</li>
<li id="k9mbZg">
<strong>Hero - </strong>Pedro Strop 22</li>
<li id="cBHYfk">
<strong>Sidekick - </strong><span>Kyle Hendricks</span> 17</li>
<li id="Kb1V1S">4th - Jon Lester 16</li>
</ul>
<p id="Y5WJni">With three games to play, this is a two horse race for the top spot. With Pedro Strop unlikely to meaningfully appear, if at all, the outcome is in Javy’s hands. He needs to be even or better through the final three games to win. Rarely does Javy go more than three games off the podiums, so the final chapter has most likely not been written. </p>
<p id="vsOHXm"><strong>Up Next: </strong>So it comes down to this. The <a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a> are coming to town for the final three games of the season. One of life’s ironies is that a decade ago, we were generally happy for a season that the Cubs were at least in contention down to the end of the season. Now, this season is profoundly disappointing to a good number of people. The Cubs magic number dropped to three with the win last night. The Cubs need some combination of three of their own wins or <a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a> losses. But the Brewers get the <a href="https://www.blessyouboys.com/">Tigers</a> who are 64-95. That includes 18-33 since the start of August and 26-52 on the road. They just lost two straight at the <a href="https://www.twinkietown.com/">Twins</a>. In mid-September they did take two of three at Cleveland, so maybe they like playing spoiler. We can only hope. As a fallback, if the Cubs get the magic number to one by the end of Sunday, then the Cubs and Brewers would meet on Monday with the division title on the line.</p>
<p id="77xB9d">Back to the things the Cubs can control themselves. The Cardinals come in having won six of 10, but beyond that 10 of 20 and 15 of 30. They’ve been playing mediocre ball for a while now. The Cardinals come in having just been swept by the Brewers in St. Louis. Before that, they’d actually won six of seven, including a sweep of the <a href="https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/">Giants</a> in St. Louis and taking two of three from the <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> in Atlanta. St. Louis leads the season series against the Cubs having won nine and lost seven so far. </p>
<p id="JK3lHt">The Cubs will send Kyle Hendricks to the mound. Kyle is 13-11 with a 3.49 ERA. Over his last seven starts though he is 4-2 with a 1.55 ERA. Last time out he picked up a win over the <a href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a> with 7⅔ innings of four hit, no walk, one run baseball. Kyle has faced the Cardinals three times this year and he is 2-0 and has allowed eight runs in 17⅔ innings of work. Dating back to last September, over his last five starts against them he is 3-0 with a 2.67 ERA. </p>
<p id="u9HwPQ">The Cardinals counter with Adam Wainwright. Adam at 36 years old has had an injury plagued season and has only thrown 35⅓ innings. He is 2-3 with a 4.08 ERA. He’s made three starts since returning from the disabled list. In start one, he allowed four runs in five innings to the Pirates. In start two, he threw six shutout innings against the <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a>. In start three, he allowed four runs in 6⅓ innings against the Giants. He’s thrown over 100 pitches in the last two starts, so he appears to be healthy. He did face the Cubs back in April. He had a mixed bag that day. He threw five innings and allowed four hits, four walks and one unearned run. He struck out five. He got a win for that one. </p>
<p id="4SRmvN">Because Wainwright has battled injuries so much the last few years, only Anthony Rizzo has a large body of work against Wainwright despite occupying the same division for so long. Rizzo has 54 plate appearances against Adam with a .659 OPS. <span>Daniel Murphy</span> has 21 PA with a 1.029 OPS, so hopefully he adds to the mix. Current Cubs players have an OPS of .634 over 230 PA against him (over 10% of their plate appearances were by pitchers). </p>
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https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/9/28/17913404/2018-cubs-heroes-and-goats-game-159Thomas Smith2018-09-28T08:00:11-05:002018-09-28T08:00:11-05:00Cubs 3, Pirates 0: Three
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<figcaption>Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Jon Lester was magnificent when the Cubs needed him most.</p> <p id="WyeLYN"><span>Jon Lester</span> has pitched in many, many important games in his 13-year big-league career, both regular-season and postseason.</p>
<p id="BQoDgq">There weren’t many regular-season contests bigger for Jon than Thursday night’s <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> game against the <a href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a>. And he had far from his best stuff and struggled through a 27-pitch first inning, allowing a single and a pair of walks that loaded the bases.</p>
<p id="G0oseY">I give Lester all the credit in the world after he gutted out six three-hit shutout innings, one of his best performances of the season, and the Cubs bullpen put together another fine combined outing: three shutout innings, including another save from the guy who might be the Cubs’ unlikely closer in the postseason, <span>Jesse Chavez</span>.</p>
<p id="GVgP2J"><a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2018_09_27_pitmlb_chnmlb_1">The Cubs’ 3-0 win over the Pirates</a>, their major-league leading 18th shutout of the season, gave them a one-game lead over the <a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a> with three games remaining, and reduced their division-clinching magic number to three.</p>
<p id="maAECm">After Lester got out of the first inning with a strikeout and a force play, the Cubs went to work in the second. <span>Kyle Schwarber</span> led off with... <a href="https://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/mp4/2018/09/28/2507262583/1538096357572/asset_1800K.mp4">what the heck was this? [VIDEO]</a></p>
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<p id="tmyK5z">That looked like an ordinary fly ball to deep right-center... and then <span>Starling Marte</span> simply let it drop in front of him for a very long single. <span>Ian Happ</span> singled Schwarber to second. After a pair of strikeouts, a wild pitch advanced both the runners to third.</p>
<p id="rUp2KP"><span>David Bote</span> <a href="https://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/mp4/2018/09/28/2507282583/1538096479026/asset_1800K.mp4">made that wild pitch moot [VIDEO]</a>.</p>
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<p id="D8d6PT">Bote’s second triple of the season was ripped down the left-field line and rattled around in the corner for a 2-0 Cubs lead.</p>
<p id="kfKseB">Lester settled down after that and allowed just three more baserunners. He retired the last seven Pirates he faced and nine of the last 11, just an outstanding performance on 108 pitches (66 strikes). This is how good Jon has been down the stretch:</p>
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<p lang="nl" dir="ltr">Jon Lester last 8 starts: 1.71 ERA in 47.1 IP, 46 Hits, 12 BB, 44 K, 2 HR<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a></p>— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) <a href="https://twitter.com/ckamka/status/1045495672978325504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 28, 2018</a>
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<p id="uX18y5">The Cubs extended the lead to 3-0 in the fourth, though they might have had more than that. Happ led off with a walk, but was thrown out trying to steal. That was followed by a double from <span>Willson Contreras</span> that might have scored Happ from first anyway. Lester pushed through a single to left field, but Contreras was thrown out trying to score. Jon advanced to second on the throw. Bote walked, <a href="https://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/mp4/2018/09/28/2507381183/1538101353215/asset_1800K.mp4">bringing Daniel Murphy to the plate [VIDEO]</a>.</p>
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<p id="OuwtBY">Give Lester a lot of credit. He looked good running the bases and made a nice slide into the plate just ahead of the throw after Murphy singled to center.</p>
<p id="zuXnOL">The Cubs had another chance to score in the fifth when <span>Javier Baez</span> doubled with one out. <a href="https://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/mp4/2018/09/28/2507577483/1538105297662/asset_1800K.mp4">That double is worth a look [VIDEO].</a></p>
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<p id="31Hu30">This is the kind of hustle we’ve seen from Javy all year, one of the reasons he’s a strong MVP candidate. For just about anyone else in baseball, that’s a single. But Baez never stopped running and beat the throw to second base. He then got hung out to dry in a rundown when Schwarber hit a comebacker; he managed to extend the pickle long enough for Kyle to take second, but he was stranded.</p>
<p id="TzLAcI"><span>Tommy La Stella</span> pinch-hit for Lester in the sixth and doubled to left-center, but also was stranded. I mention this mostly to point out that it was TLS’ 24th pinch hit of 2018, extending his franchise record.</p>
<p id="uwiqtS">Give the Cubs a lot of credit for getting eight hits, three walks and three runs off <span>Trevor Williams</span>, who has been one of the best pitchers in the National League in the second half. That was just the second time Williams had allowed more than two runs in a start in 13 outings since the All-Star break. The offense has looked good the last two days. Hopefully, that continues.</p>
<p id="O6Cqig">And then it was up to the bullpen. <span>Steve Cishek</span> threw a 1-2-3 seventh on only 11 pitches, and might have started the eighth, but Joe Maddon seems bound and determined to get <span>Carl Edwards Jr.</span> “right” so he can throw in the postseason.</p>
<p id="6SYjts">CJ entered to throw the eighth and immediately walked Marte on four pitches. This began to make the crowd restless, and it got worse when a potential double-play ball was botched by Bote, bringing the tying run to the plate.</p>
<p id="XT4K9p">Edwards got another ground ball, this one to Baez, and that was converted into a double play. You could almost feel the tension over Wrigley Field lift. Two pitches later, CJ was out of the inning on a medium-deep fly ball to center field. It wasn’t the prettiest inning he’s ever thrown, but perhaps it was a confidence-builder.</p>
<p id="MY6bOD">And then Chavez entered for the ninth inning, despite having thrown 33 pitches on Wednesday. Chavez seems absolutely fearless on the mound and quickly got the first out on one pitch, a ground ball to Bote. Colin Moran ran a full count and made Chavez throw nine pitches before Jesse struck him out. <span>Jordy Mercer</span> singled, bringing up <span>Adam Frazier</span> as a pinch-hitter. Frazier grounded to <span>Anthony Rizzo</span>... who, instead of just running to the bag at first, threw to Baez at second for the force play that ended the game. </p>
<p id="xLiNzf">38,415 at Wrigley Field were sent into happiness, and virtually none of the crowd had left the ballpark by that ninth inning. The full-game lead gives the Cubs some breathing room, and it’s interesting to note that the Cubs will have played three games since the Brewers defeated the <a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">Cardinals</a> Wednesday night (Wednesday and Thursday night’s games against Pittsburgh, and Friday afternoon against St. Louis, as Milwaukee doesn’t begin play until 7:10 p.m. CT Friday). If the Cubs can defeat the Cardinals Friday afternoon, the magic number drops to two.</p>
<p id="Q9QfD5">Incidentally, that attendance number Thursday night pushed the Cubs over the three million mark in tickets sold for the third straight year (and the 11th time overall that the Cubs have been over that milestone). The total through Thursday is 3,023,138. Figure the Cubs will have three sellouts this weekend with the Cardinals in town and a potential division clincher, about 120,000, and the final total will be around 3,140,000, a figure which would be down about 60,000 from 2017 and about 90,000 from 2016.</p>
<p id="asX3aU">Cubs season-ticket holders received an email Thursday afternoon offering them tickets to a potential tiebreaker game Monday, with payment due by 11:59 p.m. CT Saturday. Perhaps by then such a game won’t be necessary.</p>
<p id="puJagO">The Cubs will look to reduce that division-clinching number to two Friday afternoon. There’s a chance of possible rainshowers, but <a href="https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-87.65598233789206&lat=41.94849176500992#.W64D4RNKjmI">this forecast</a> says they’ll hold off until late afternoon, hopefully after the Cubs have defeated the Cardinals. Kyle Hendricks will start for the Cubs, and he too has been excellent during this pennant race, and <span>Adam Wainwright</span> goes for the Cardinals. Game time is 1:20 p.m. CT. FWIW, the Cubs do have a slightly better winning percentage in day games (.603) than night games (.570). TV coverage Friday will be via ABC7 Chicago, and there’s also a national broadcast on ESPN (no blackouts).</p>
<p id="bCadqD">#LetsGo</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/9/28/17913226/cubs-pirates-recap-jon-lester-david-bote-mlb-scoresAl Yellon2018-09-27T21:05:02-05:002018-09-27T21:05:02-05:00Overflow thread 2: Cubs vs. Pirates, Thursday 9/27, 7:05 CT
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<p id="yrUfNZ">——</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/9/27/17889946/overflow-thread-2-cubs-vs-pirates-thursday-9-27-7-05-ctAl Yellon2018-09-27T19:05:02-05:002018-09-27T19:05:02-05:00Overflow thread 1: Cubs vs. Pirates, Thursday 9/27, 7:05 CT
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<p id="yrUfNZ">——</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/9/27/17889940/overflow-thread-1-cubs-vs-pirates-thursday-9-27-7-05-ctAl Yellon2018-09-27T19:00:01-05:002018-09-27T19:00:01-05:00First pitch thread: Cubs vs. Pirates, Thursday 9/27, 7:05 CT
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<p id="EdKuab">Go get ‘em, Jon.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/9/27/17889912/first-pitch-thread-cubs-vs-pirates-thursday-9-27-7-05-ctAl Yellon2018-09-27T17:00:02-05:002018-09-27T17:00:02-05:00Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Thursday 9/27, 7:05 CT
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<figcaption>Photo by David Banks/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Cubs look to go one game up on the Brewers with a win tonight.</p> <p id="DHxyWq">I laid out what the Cubs need to do, as well as other teams, to solidify their playoff positions in <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/9/27/17910656/mlb-many-playoff-permutations-red-sox-yankees-cubs-brewers">this article</a> earlier this afternoon.</p>
<p id="wYF4TY">There’s not all that much more I can say. By this time a year ago, the Cubs had clinched the N.L. Central title. This year, primarily because the Brewers are a better team than they were in 2017, that hasn’t happened yet.</p>
<p id="isJNjk">The Cubs have the right guy on the mound tonight, I believe, for them to win and knock one more digit off the magic number. Jon Lester has a tremendous amount of experience in big games like this one and I think that’ll be the difference in this game. Other Lester notes: He has reached 30 starts for an 11th season in a row, the only pitcher in MLB to accomplish that. Lester is the first lefthanded pitcher in Cubs franchise history to reach 30 starts in each of his first four seasons with the team and joins righthanders Bob Buhl (first four years, 1962-65) and Charlie Root (six years, 1926-31) as the only Cubs pitchers to do so since 1900. More on Jon below.</p>
<p id="brPa9y">The team’s 48-29 (.623) home record is the best in the National League. Wrigley Field has been kind to the Cubs all season. </p>
<p id="uux1y4">Just win, baby.</p>
<p id="0qkSZs">Here are today’s particulars.</p>
<p id="Vergm4"><a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> lineup:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here is tonight's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a> starting lineup.<br><br>Stream on <a href="https://twitter.com/YouTubeTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YouTubeTV</a>: <a href="https://t.co/t4XvcdoeJc">https://t.co/t4XvcdoeJc</a> <a href="https://t.co/S3IO4i6Fme">pic.twitter.com/S3IO4i6Fme</a></p>— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1045404333314060288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2018</a>
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<p id="q6Ghru"><a href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a> lineup:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here's our lineup for tonight, presented by Honda. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LetsGoBucs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LetsGoBucs</a> <br> <br> <a href="https://twitter.com/ATTSportsNetPIT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ATTSportsNetPIT</a><br> <a href="https://twitter.com/937theFan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@937theFan</a><br> <a href="https://t.co/Swy5xDqm5X">https://t.co/Swy5xDqm5X</a> <a href="https://t.co/k2PordMgvZ">pic.twitter.com/k2PordMgvZ</a></p>— Pirates (@Pirates) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pirates/status/1045412722014384129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2018</a>
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<span>Jon Lester</span>, LHP vs. <span>Trevor Williams</span>, RHP</h2>
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<cite>Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports</cite>
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<cite>Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports</cite>
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<p id="piYBcw">Jon Lester has stepped up when the Cubs most needed him. Last seven starts: 1.96 ERA, 1.234 WHIP, just two home runs in 41⅓ innings. One of those starts was six shutout innings against the Pirates <a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT201808160.shtml">August 16 in PNC Park</a>. Jon has made five starts vs. the Pirates this year (3.72 ERA, 1.241 WHIP, not too far from his overall season numbers).</p>
<p id="wPx1vz">Current Pirates are hitting .245 (51-for-208) against Jon. </p>
<p id="n0Dqea">Lester has a history of stepping up in big games. The Cubs need him to, tonight.</p>
<p id="Y62xNz">Trevor Williams has had a breakout year in this, his second full big-league season. That’s especially true since the All-Star break: 11 starts, 1.08 ERA, 0.990 WHIP, just three home runs in 66⅔ innings. That includes a six-inning, one-run start vs. the Cubs <a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT201808170.shtml">August 17 at PNC Park</a>, the only run a solo homer by <span>Kyle Schwarber</span> in a 1-0 Cubs win.</p>
<p id="zgRT8h">Williams hasn’t allowed a run in his last 13 innings of work, so this will be a tough one.</p>
<p id="RRFh0T">Today’s game is on NBC Sports Chicago. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Chicago and Pittsburgh markets).</p>
<p id="iTLioh"><a href="https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/2018/09/27">Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.</a></p>
<p id="Xe5URc"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2018_09_27_pitmlb_chnmlb_1">MLB.com Gameday</a></p>
<p id="iDRiK8"><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/previews/2018/CHN201809250.shtml">Baseball-reference</a><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/previews/2018/CHN201809260.shtml">.</a><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/previews/2018/CHN201809270.shtml">com game preview</a></p>
<p id="AScVZw"><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/events/537075/pregame">SB Nation game</a><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/events/537070/pregame"> </a><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/events/537074/pregame">preview</a></p>
<p id="c01E3n">Please visit our SB Nation <a href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a> site <a href="http://www.bucsdugout.com/">Bucs Dugout</a>. If you do go there to interact with Pirates 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.</p>
<p id="4R9cxt">The 2018 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used during 2017. Here’s how it works.</p>
<p id="uNrOo7">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).</p>
<p id="Jy7Er2">At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads” so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.</p>
<p id="F5ehVY">You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in <a href="http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/chicago-cubs-game-threads">this section link</a>). They will also appear in the game’s StoryStream as noted above.</p>
<p id="pjBR1E">The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.</p>
<p id="JaRg01">Discuss amongst yourselves.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/9/27/17883190/chicago-cubs-pittsburgh-pirates-preview-thursdayAl Yellon