Today’s roster move: Here
Friday notes:
- NOT ROAD OPENERS: The Cubs have lost an incredible 10 consecutive first games of series on the road.
Since winning at Washington on June 3, they have lost at Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Houston, Minnesota, New York vs. the Yankees, on the South Side vs. the White Sox, at Milwaukee, at St. Louis again and at Toronto. The Cubs are 6-14 in all first games on the road. At home, they are 15-7, for an overall record of 21-21. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53) - THE SHAW FILES: Matt Shaw, 31 games since the All-Star break: .302/.344/.721 (26-for-86) with five doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 18 RBI and 17 runs scored.
- HERE’S SOME RELIEF: Drew Pomeranz, last 11 appearances since July 25: 0.00 ERA in 10 innings, 1.000 WHIP, 12 strikeouts.
- THIS DAY IN CUBS HISTORY: The Cubs blow a 4-1 eighth-inning lead and go behind 5-4 in the top of the 11th, then score the tying run on an error and the winning run on a José Cardenal squeeze bunt and defeat the Astros 6-5. It happened 50 years ago today, Friday, Aug. 22, 1975.
Cubs lineup:
Angels lineup:
Javier Assad, RHP vs. Tyler Anderson, LHP
Javier Assad was recalled today from Iowa — though he never actually went to Des Moines — and will start on normal four days’ rest, as he last pitched Sunday, when he threw 65 pitches against the Pirates.
Assad has never faced the Angels and only
a couple of Angels batters have ever faced him. Perhaps that will be to his advantage tonight.
Tyler Anderson is the first left-handed starter the Cubs have faced since Aug. 6, when they went up against the Reds’ Andrew Abbott. The Cubs have had trouble with LH starters in general this year, but they hit Abbott pretty well and won that game.
On the other hand, Anderson threw eight shutout innings vs. the Cubs July 6, 2024 at Wrigley Field and struck out 10. On the other other hand, five of the Cubs hitters who played in that game aren’t on the team anymore. And on the other other other hand, Anderson has been pretty bad over his last seven starts: 6.49 ERA, 1.615 WHIP, 12 (!) home runs allowed in 34.2 innings.
Maybe this is the day the Cubs finally hit a left-handed starter.
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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 live streaming page for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit the Angels site Crashing The Pearly Gates. If you do go there to interact with Blue Jays 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 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.
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.
