Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Friday 9/27, 1:20 CT

Friday afternoon baseball at Wrigley Field!

Friday notes…

• THE NL CENTRAL: The Cubs begin their season-ending series against the Reds with a record of 21-28 vs. Central Division opponents, for a winning percentage of .429. Since the National League went to three divisions in 1994, the Cubs have finished with a lower in-division percentage in only six seasons: .329, in 2013 (21-51); .339, in 2000 (21-41), .365, in 1996 (19-33); .383, in 2012 (31-50); .400, in 2002 (36-54); and .425, in 2011 (34-46). If the Cubs were to lose all three games to the Reds, they would finish at .412.In all games within the division since 1994, the Cubs’ percentage is .497. They have won 1,089 games, lost 1,101 and tied 1. They are 236-251, .485, vs. the Reds. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner, last 15 games since Sept. 9: .414/.443/.586 (24-for-58) with four doubles, two home runs, seven RBI and nine runs scored. His season OPS is over. 700 for the first time since June 4.
• THE NEW(ISH) GUY: Isaac Paredes, last 15 games since Sept. 8: .364/.424/.400 (20-for-55) with two doubles, 10 RBI, seven runs scored and eight walks.
• RUN SCORING: Since July 4 the Cubs are 41-30 and have scored 368 runs, the second-most runs in the National League in that span (Diamondbacks lead with 452).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Jameson Taillon, RHP vs. Nick Martinez, RHP

Jameson Taillon has had an excellent September. In four starts this month he’s posted a 1.08 ERA and 0.840 WHIP. His last start against the Reds, July 29 in Cincinnati, was not good (trust me, don’t click on the link, don’t say I didn’t warn you).

Taillon also has pitched much better at Wrigley Field (2.37 ERA in 14 starts) than on the road (4.58 ERA in 13 starts), and better in day games (2.34 ERA in 11 starts) than night games (4.16 ERA in 16 starts). So the odds would appear to be in his favor today.

A good outing from Jamo would likely give him a career-best ERA (he’s currently at 3.41, his previous best was 3.38 in 2016) and get him over 2.0 bWAR. Here’s hoping for a solid final start.

Nick Martinez has had a solid year for the Reds both as a starter and reliever.

Since being moved full time into their rotation in mid August, he has a 2.60 ERA and 0.940 WHIP in 10 starts, with only eight walks in 55x innings, and he’s allowed just one run in 19 innings over his last three starts.

He made two relief appearances against the Cubs in June, three innings without allowing a run, with three 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 Reds 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 Reds site Red Reporter. If you do go there to interact with Reds 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 2024 Game Thread procedure will be like last year’s, similar to what we’ve used for Spring Training.

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.