Preview Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, Monday, September 9, 9:10 CT

Monday notes …

• THE NON-HIT REPORT: The Cubs have a total of eight hits in their last three games. That’s the lowest number of hits in three games since 1901. The three previous times they had eight hits were: May 11-13, 1902: Losing Brooklyn at home 3-0 (three hits) and 2-0 (four), then beating them 2-0 (one). September 28-30, 1912: Losing Cincinnati at home 12-1 (one), then losing Pittsburgh at home 9-0 (two) and 9-3 (five). April 22-25, 1956: Losing Cincinnati at home 5-4 (four) and tying 1-1 in 7 innings (two), then losing St. Louis 6-0 (two). (Courtesy of JohnW53 of BCB)
• FIRST IN LA: The Cubs have a 53-65 record against the Dodgers in the first few games of the series in Los Angeles. In the first few away games against all other West Coast teams, they have a 113-103 record. In the first few games against the Dodgers when they come from Chicago, they have a 15-19 record, compared to 47-37 in the first few games against all other West Coast teams when their previous game was at Wrigley Field, including 21-14 in San Diego and 24-21 in San Francisco. (Courtesy of JohnW53 of BCB)
• ALTHOUGH: The Cubs won two of three games at Dodger Stadium just last year, in a series in April 2023. The most recent of those two wins was a 3-2 victory on April 16, 2023. Of the five Cubs who pitched in that game, four are either no longer with the Cubs or are not on the active roster.
• THIS REPLACEMENT CATCHER: Christian Bethancourt, 15 games as a Cub: .351/.385/.703 (13-for-37) with four doubles, three home runs, 15 RBI and nine runs scored.

Here are today’s details.

Cubs lineup:

Dodgers lineup:

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. Walker Buehler, RHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

I don’t know what to make of Kyle Hendricks. He’ll have some strong starts, but then have a flop like he did last month in Pittsburgh (and the Cubs won that game!).

In his only start against the Dodgers this year, on April 5 at Wrigley Field, Kyle pitched four solid innings, then ran out of steam in the fifth – four innings total, five runs allowed. And the Cubs won that game too!

Maybe he can get one or two really good starts in. I hope there’s one tonight.

Walker Buehler underwent Tommy John surgery and missed much of 2022 and all of last year, then spent a few months on the IL this year with a hip injury.

He returned and made 12 starts and the results were not good: 5.67 ERA, 1.611 WHIP, 13 home runs allowed in 54 innings. He had a few decent starts, but most were just bad, with high pitch counts in just a few innings.

We hope the Cubs get him tonight.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on the Marquee Sports Network. Find out if Marquee is available through a provider near you here.

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

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com Game Preview

Please visit our SB Nation Dodgers site True Blue LA. If you go there to interact with Dodgers fans, please be respectful, abide by 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.