Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers preview, Tuesday 8/4, 7:05 CT

Tuesday notes… UNDER THE LIGHTS: The Cubs are 40-26 in night games this year, for a winning percentage of .606. They finished last year at .563 (49-38). In the second of back-to-back night games this year, they are 26-16, .619. Last year, they were 29-20, .592. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53) LOTS OF RUNS

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Tuesday notes…

UNDER THE LIGHTS: The Cubs are 40-26 in night games this year, for a winning percentage of .606. They finished last year at .563 (49-38). In the second of back-to-back night games this year, they are 26-16, .619. Last year, they were 29-20, .592. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
LOTS OF RUNS ALLOWED, BUT WINNING ANYWAY: The Cubs won last night despite giving up five runs. They are only 12-31 when they have allowed at least five and 52-18 with no more than four. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

WALK WATCH, PART 1: Cubs pitchers walked one batter last night, as they had Sunday afternoon. They have walked no more than three in 13 consecutive games, with a total of just 30, for an average of 2.31. Their season average is down to 2.98, its lowest since it also was 2.98 after a loss at home to the Giants on June 7. They have played 47 games since then. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
WALK WATCH, PART 2: The Cubs walked seven times in Monday’s game. That gives them 491 walks for the season, by far the most in MLB (Brewers are second with 465). That is an average of 4.36 per game. If they maintain that pace they will walk 704 times this year, shattering the franchise record (656 in 2016). NL record: 732, by the 1947 Dodgers.

The Cubs lineup was not available at posting time. Please check BCB social media for the Cubs lineup.

Here’s one thing we do know:

Also:

Dodgers lineup:

Javier Assad, RHP vs. Tarik Skubal, LHP

Well, here we go. Tarik Skubal’s first Dodgers start comes at Wrigley Field.

He’ll face Javier Assad, who’s really done everything the Cubs could have asked as a fill-in starter and multi-inning reliever.

In five games (three starts) in July he posted a 1.50 ERA and 1.278 WHIP in 18 innings, with 17 strikeouts.

Assad faced the Dodgers April 25 at Dodger Stadium as a multi-inning reliever. You do not want to look at that boxscore link. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Tarik Skubal missed several weeks earlier this year with an elbow issue on which he had what was termed “NanoScope surgery.” It appears to have been a success, as he’s posted a 2.87 ERA and 0.881 WHIP over nine starts since returning, with a K rate of 34.1 percent and walk rate of 3.8 percent, both of which are outstanding.

Skubal’s last start against the Cubs was June 6, 2025 in Detroit, and he allowed one run in 7.2 innings, with no walks and six strikeouts. He just doesn’t walk guys, so Cubs hitters should look to put the ball in play.

This one won’t be easy, obviously. It will certainly be highly-watched — it’s on national TV, as noted below.

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Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. It’s also on TBS (outside the Cubs and Dodgers 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 Dodgers site True Blue LA. If you do go there to interact with Dodgers 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 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, 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.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.