Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Friday 9/30, 1:20 CT

Friday notes...

• ATTENDANCE WATCH: The Cubs have announced 2,531,198 tickets sold through Thursday’s game, an average of 32,451 per date. They must average 22,934 tickets sold for the three remaining dates to reach the 2.6 million mark. The Cubs have not announced fewer than 2.6 million tickets sold since 1997.
• BEAST AGAINST THE EAST: The Cubs finished this year’s play against the NL East with a 21-10 record. The .677 winning percentage is the Cubs’ best against the NL East in franchise history.
• SWEEP NOTE: The Cubs’ sweep of the six-game season series against the Phillies was the third in franchise history (since 1900) of a season series of at least six games. Also: Braves in 2008 (6-0) and Mets in 2015 (7-0).
• THE MOREL FILES: Christopher Morel has hit 16 home runs this year. He is the third Cubs rookie to have at least that many home runs and also 10+ stolen bases in his rookie season. Also: Billy Cowan in 1964 (19 HR, 12 SB) and Kris Bryant in 2015 (26 HR, 13 SB).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Also of interest for today and this series:

Adrian Sampson, RHP vs. Graham Ashcraft, RHP

USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK

Adrian Sampson has put up a consistent and solid season for the Cubs.

So far in September he’s posted a 1.55 ERA and 1.035 WHIP in five starts, which is really good! One of those starts was September 8 against the Reds in Wrigley Field, where he threw six innings and allowed five hits and one run.

Another one just like that, please.

Graham Ashcraft missed a month with biceps soreness and just returned last Saturday, when he threw four innings (70 pitches) against the Brewers, allowing four runs.

His last start against the Cubs was August 13 in Cincinnati, when he allowed four runs (three earned) in 6⅓ innings, including a home run by Franmil Reyes.

Another one just like that, please.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Reds market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter 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 2022 Game Thread procedure will be like last years, 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.