Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Friday 4/29, 7:10 CT

This series will likely tell us a lot about the 2022 Cubs.

Friday notes…

• THE PROFESSOR: Since the Brewers moved to the NL in 1998, Kyle Hendricks’ 3.24 ERA is fifth-lowest among all pitchers with at least 20 starts against Milwaukee. Ahead of Hendricks on the list: Ryan Dempster (2.65), Adam Wainwright (2.69), Greg Maddux (2.80) and Jaime Garcia (2.86). More on Hendricks below.
• GETTING ON BASE: Ian Happ ranks fifth in the N. with a .435 on-base percentage while Seiya Suzuki is sixth (.434). Suzuki’s 1.024 OPS is fifth while his .590 slugging mark is sixth.
• YOU MIGHT NOT BELIEVE THIS ONE: Cubs batters have posted a .281 BA (47-for-167) with an .830 OPS with RISP. That .281 BA ranks fourth in the majors behind the Giants (.303), Dodgers (.297) and Phillies (.287).
• APRIL vs. APRIL: In April 2021, the Cubs had a slash line of .216/.309/.388 and a team ERA of 4.89 in 26 games (11-15). So far in April 2022 (19 games, 8-11): .260/.344/.403, team ERA 4.01. Despite having a higher SLG this year, the 2022 Cubs have hit only 15 home runs in 19 games, compared to 32 in 26 games in April 2021.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

I’ll just leave this here.

Cubs record, 2022, with Rafael Ortega leading off: 4-8
Cubs record, 2022, with anyone else leading off: 4-3

I rest my case.

Brewers lineup:

Also of interest:

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. Adrian Houser, RHP

Kyle Hendricks vs. Brewers, 2022: 1.69 ERA, 1.500 WHIP
Kyle Hendricks vs. all other teams, 2022: 4.80 ERA, 1.333 WHIP

Of course, I’m just having fun with small sample sizes, but Kyle did seem to right the ship in his last start, seven shutout innings vs. the Pirates. Also, he’s allowed just one home run this year in 20⅓ innings.

Current Brewers are hitting .242 (55-for-227) against Kyle. That’s a large enough sample to make some judgments from, and so are his numbers against some of the Brewers: Lorenzo Cain, .172 (5-for-29), Keston Hiura (.176, 3-for-17) and Omar Narvaez (0-for-13). To be fair I should probably include Kolten Wong (.354, 17-for-48).

Adrian Houser has made three starts this year and all of them have been relatively good. He’s got a fairly high walk rate and low strikeout rate and that might play into the Cubs’ strengths. Current Cubs are a small sample size 15-for-45 (.333) against him with two home runs (Ian Happ, Jason Heyward), six walks and nine strikeouts.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter 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 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.