Sunday notes…

• ABOUT LEADS: In 11 of the Cubs’ 20 wins, their margin of victory was equal to their largest lead of the game, and they won those games by a total of 41 runs. In the nine other wins, including yesterday, they won by fewer runs than their largest lead, finally prevailing by a combined 24 runs after having held largest leads that added up to 45. In eight of their 14 losses, they held leads, with their biggest leads adding up to 24 runs. They lost the games by a combined 22. They never led in six games, which they lost by a total of 28 runs. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• ABOUT WINNING, MOSTLY BECAUSE OF THE STARTERS: The Cubs have not lost more than two games in a row this season. In the last 20 games since April 14th, Cubs starting pitchers have a 2.76 ERA.
• THE MOREL FILES: Christopher Morel, last six games since April 29 (basically, this past week): .227/.320/.773 (5-for-22) with four home runs, eight RBI and three walks.
• HEATING UP AFTER A COLD STRETCH: Michael Busch, last three games: 5-for-13 (.385) with two doubles and a triple (shown above). Busch is one of nine Cubs to have exactly one triple this year. The other eight: Miguel Amaya, Cody Bellinger, Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner, Christopher Morel, Dansby Swanson, Patrick Wisdom and the since-departed Garrett Cooper.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

Javier Assad, RHP vs. Freddy Peralta, RHP

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Javier Assad has quietly turned himself into one of the best pitchers in MLB. Nothing flashy, he just gets outs. He’ll never be a big strikeout pitcher but… who cares, he just gets outs!

Assad made two relief appearances vs. Milwaukee last year, one at the very beginning of the season, one at the very end. I don’t think either one is representative of what Assad can do now.

The Cubs have had trouble with Freddy Peralta in the past. He’s got a career 3.34 ERA and 1.146 WHIP against them in 15 appearances (10 starts).

Ian Happ has an odd line vs. Peralta — 1-for-20, but the one hit is a home run. Also four walks. The only other Cub with more than a handful of PA vs. Peralta is Nico Hoerner, who’s 3-for-13 with two doubles.

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Statcast

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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.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Brewers site Brew Crew Ball. If you do go there to interact with Brewers 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.