Chicago Cubs vs. Seattle Mariners preview, Saturday 6/21, 1:20 CT

The Cubs look to even up their series with the Mariners.

Today’s roster move: Here

Saturday notes…

• ABOUT SCORING FIRST: Friday’s game was the sixth straight in which the opposing team has scored first. It was the fourth of the six in which the first run came in the first inning. Six is the longest such streak of the season by an opponent. The Cubs scored first in six straight, March 30-April 5. In each of the current six games, the Cubs have erased the early deficit. Yesterday was the third time they did it in the bottom of the first. For the season, they have erased 41 deficits, 14 of them in their next time at bat (bottom of the same inning at home, top of the next inning on the road). They have done it in 34 different games, of which they have won 21 and lost 13. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE BUSCH LEAGUE: Michael Busch, last 17 games since May 30: .327/.413/.655 (18-for-55) with two doubles, two triples, four home runs and 12 RBI.
• FLEX-ING: Chris Flexen has not allowed an earned run in any of his 12 appearances this season covering 21⅓ innings, holding opponents to a .155 BA (11-for71) and a WHIP of 0.797.
• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner has 30 RBI through 70 games played this season despite not hitting a home run. No other player in baseball has more than 17 RBI without a home run this season. Also, Nico is batting .400 (28-for-70) with runners in scoring position this season, second-best in MLB among players with at least that many AB with RISP.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Mariners lineup:

Cade Horton, RHP vs. Emerson Hancock, RHP

Cade Horton improves with each outing, you can almost see everything falling into place for him as a MLB starter.

He has never faced the Mariners or anyone on their active roster, so perhaps that will be to his advantage. His start had already been pushed back a day by this week’s rainout, and Craig Counsell gave him an extra day by flipping him and Matthew Boyd in the rotation.

Emerson Hancock has made 12 starts this year. Ten of them have been pretty good, but he got hit hard in the other two, thus resulting in a somewhat-unsightly 4.48 ERA.

His only career start against the Cubs came April 13, 2024 in Seattle. He allowed two runs in six innings. Seiya Suzuki homered off him that day.

Baseball Savant

Baseball Savant

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 Mariners site Lookout Landing. If you do go there to interact with Mariners 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 2025 Game Thread procedure will be identical to last year’s.

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.