Preview Chicago Cubs vs. Oakland Athletics, Wednesday, September 18, 1:20 CT

Today’s squad change: Here

Notes from Wednesday…

• SERIES INFO: This is the first time in eight series that the Cubs have split the first two games. They had either won or lost both games since winning and then losing at home to the Tigers on August 20 and 21. The Cubs won the playoff game of that series, 10-2. They are 10-10 in all playoff games. They started the year 5-3, then went 1-6 before going 4-1. After one win and one loss, including 3-1 at home, they are 5-3. (Courtesy of JohnW53 of BCB)
• EVENTS: Ian Happ currently has a six-game hitting streak in which he has a batting average of .357/.419/.571 (10-of-28) with two home runs, four RBIs, and five runs scored.
• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner, last eight games since September 9: .424/.441/.485 (14-for-33) with two doubles and three runs scored.
• HOMEMADE – OR NOT: In their last nine home games since August 22, the Cubs have allowed just 24 runs, or 2.67 per game. They've scored 39 runs in those nine games, or 4.33 per game. But they've only scored 4-5 runs in those nine games, mostly because 31 of those 39 runs have been scored in just three of those games, and they've been beaten to nothing three times.

Here are today's details.

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

Athletics lineup:

Justin Steele, LHP vs. Brady Basso, LHP

MLB photos via Getty Images

Justin Steele went on the injured list earlier this month with elbow issues. He threw a few bullpens with no reported issues and will be activated for this game.

Last year, on April 19, 2023 in Oakland, he threw six good innings against the A's, but of course that was mostly a different A's team; of the A's starters that day, only Shea Langeliers is still on the team. Hopefully Steele will finish strong this year.

Brady Basso was drafted by the A's in the 16th round out of Oklahoma State in 2019. He has pitched in five MLB games and this will be his third start. The first two were pretty good – 11⅓ scoreless innings against the Tigers and White Sox with two walks and eight strikeouts. He has obviously never pitched against the Cubs or anyone on their active roster.

Statcast

Statcast

Tonight's game is on the Marquee Sports Network. Find out if Marquee is available through a provider near you here. It's also on the MLB Network (outside the Cubs and A's market areas).

Here is MLB.com's full live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com Game Preview

Please visit our SB Nation Athletics site Athletics Nation. If you go there to interact with A's fans, please be respectful, follow the respective site rules, and represent Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2024 Game Thread process will be similar to last year's, what we used for Spring Training.

You will find the match preview two hours before kick-off (90 minutes after night games for some early day games) separately on the front page.

At the same time, a StoryStream with the preview will be posted on the home page under the title “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week/Date) Game Threads.” It will contain all posts about that particular game, including the First Pitch Thread and the Overflow Thread, as well as the recap when it is posted. The recap will also be visible as a separate post on the home page.

You can also find the Preview, First Pitch Thread, and Overflow Thread in the box labeled “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the home page (you can also find them at this section link). The StoryStream for each game can also be found in this section.

The First Pitch thread will be posted five minutes before game time, then there will be an overflow thread 90 minutes after the scheduled game time.

Discuss among yourselves.