Chicago Cubs vs. Philadelphia Phillies preview, Monday 9/23, 5:40 CT

The Cubs open a series in Philadelphia.

Today’s roster moves: Here

Monday notes…

• VISITING PHILADELPHIA: The Cubs have played at Philadelphia every season since 1883, when the Phillies joined the National League. This is the latest date on which they ever have made their first visit of the year.The previous latest was Sept. 18-20, 2006. Their only other first visits in September were Sept. 14-16, 2021, and Sept. 11-13, 2015.The Cubs have begun 13 series at Philadelphia on later dates that were not their first of the season. The latest was way back in 1888, when they played single games on Oct. 11 and 13. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• ROAD WARRIORS: Since the All-Star break, the Cubs are 16-10 in road games — and that includes being swept in a three-game set in Cleveland.
• ABOUT DANSBY: Dansby Swanson, last 10 games since Sept. 13: .326/.370/.488 (14-for-43) with a double, two home runs, six RBI and nine runs scored.
• TRYING TO CATCH UP: The Cubs homered three times Sunday. That gives them 23 home runs in 20 games this month — but that still ranks just tied for 13th in MLB this month.

Here are today’s particulars.

The Cubs lineup was not available at posting time. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for the Cubs lineup.

Phillies lineup:

Nate Pearson, RHP vs. Aaron Nola, RHP

Clearly, Nate Pearson is not a starting pitcher, so this is a bullpen game with Pearson as the opener. (This would likely have been Jordan Wicks’ turn if he had not been injured.)

Pearson has thrown pretty well since joining the Cubs, with a 3.13 ERA and just three walks and 20 strikeouts in 23 innings. He was, of course, part of the combined no-hitter the Cubs threw earlier this month against the Pirates.

Pearson threw 22 pitches in his last outing, Friday vs. the Nationals, and 33 in the appearance before that, so I’d expect maybe two innings from him, then likely Hayden Wesneski gets some innings here too.

Aaron Nola has had a good season overall, though his September hasn’t been great. He got knocked around by the Marlins and Mets before throwing seven strong innings vs. the Brewers last Wednesday.

In his last start vs. the Cubs, June 28, 2023 at Wrigley Field, he allowed four runs in five innings, including a home run by Dansby Swanson.

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.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Phillies site The Good Phight. If you do go there to interact with Phillies 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.