Friday notes:
-
RUN SCORING, ON THE WAY UP: Last night’s game was the third straight in which the Cubs scored at least five runs, following seven on Tuesday and 10 on Wednesday. They had six earlier streaks of three or more in a row, but none since three games, July 25-27. They also had three-game streaks May 1-3 and July 4-6, plus a pair of four-game streaks, March 30-April 2 and April 5-8, and a five-game streak, May 16-20. The Cubs won all three games in early May and lost only once in each of the five other previous streaks. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
-
HOME RUNS: The Cubs lost last night despite hitting three home runs. They are 22-4 with at least three homers. The previous losses were by 10-6 at Arizona on March 30, 8-7 at home vs. the Brewers on June 19 and 14-6 at home vs. the Mariners on June 22. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
-
They had won eight in a row with three or more homers before losing last night.
-
MAGIC NUMBER: The Cubs’ magic number to clinch home field in the Wild Card series against the Padres remained at 2 with the Cubs’ loss Thursday. Thus the Cubs need to simply win two of their three remaining regular season games in order to open that series Tuesday at Wrigley Field.
-
ATTENDANCE WATCH: The Cubs need to average 31,053 per date this weekend against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field to cross the three million tickets sold mark for the first time since 2019.
The Cubs lineup was not available at posting time. Please check BCB social media for the Cubs lineup. We do know Kyle Tucker will be in it:
Cardinals lineup:
Colin Rea, RHP vs. Miles Mikolas, RHP
Colin Rea has not pitched in eight days, but that one was his best start of the year, Sept. 18 vs. the Reds. He threw seven innings and allowed one run with a career-high 11 strikeouts.
Advertisement
In two starts vs. the Cardinals this year, Rea allowed two runs in 12.2 innings and struck out 10 (1.42 ERA, 0.711 WHIP).
Just do that again, please.
It seems likely that this is Miles Mikolas’ last big league start. He’s a free agent after 2025, hasn’t had a good year, and you’d think the Cardinals are going to move on.
We’ll miss him, in a way — Mikolas has been the kind of pitcher Cubs fans love to hate.
He was the St. Louis starter July 4 at Wrigley Field — the game the Cubs set a franchise record with eight home runs. Six of those long balls were hit off Mikolas. That’d be a nice send-off, to do that again.
Advertisement
Though he hasn’t had a good year, he’s been somewhat better over his last five starts: 2.77 ERA, 1.154 WHIP.
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 Mets market territories).
Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.
MLB.com Gameday
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals 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.
Advertisement
The 2025 Game Thread procedure will be identical to last year’s.
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.
Advertisement
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.