Chicago Cubs vs. Atlanta Braves preview, Thursday 5/23, 1:20 CT (2024)

Thursday notes:

• RUN SCORING (AND NOT): On April 26, after a 7-1 win at Boston, the Cubs were 17-9 and their run differential was a season-high +32: 140 scored, 108 allowed. Since then, while going 10-14, the Cubs have yielded exactly 108 more runs, but have scored only 78, leaving their differential at just +2: 218-216. That is their lowest differential since they were -1 after their fourth game of the season. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• STAYING CLOSE: The Cubs have spent the last 36 days in either first or second place in the NL Central, and have trailed by no more than two games throughout that period.
• STARTING EXCELLENCE: The Chicago Cubs are the lone team in the major leagues with two qualified pitchers (Shota Imanaga - 0.84 and Javier Assad - 1.70) with an ERA under 2.00. The last time the Cubs had two pitchers on their staff at the same time with sub 1.50 ERAs and at least 40 innings pitched was July 3, 1977: Bruce Sutter (0.77 ERA in 70⅓ innings) and Paul Reuschel (1.39 ERA in 45⅓ innings). The last time they had two starters (defined as more than 50 percent of their games as a starter) at the same time: June 18, 1919: Hippo Vaughn (1.48 ERA in 121⅓ innings) and Phil Douglas (1.47 ERA in 104⅓ innings).
• ICYMI: Only two Cubs before Porter Hodge last night struck out three batters in their only inning of their first big league game. On May 15, 2003, Todd Wellemeyer notched three straight swinging strikeouts to wrap up a 17-inning, 4-2 win at Milwaukee. Corey Patterson’s homer had broken the tie in the top of the inning. On Sept. 8, 2019, Danny Hultzen made his debut in the seventh inning at Milwaukee, with the Cubs trailing, 8-3. He hit a batter and gave up a single, then fanned three in a row: swinging, looking, swinging. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Braves lineup:

Ben Brown, RHP vs. AJ Smith-Shawver, RHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports

After a disastrous first outing March 30 against the Rangers, Ben Brown has been very good, no matter his role, starter or reliever. Since March 30: 2.14 ERA, 2.24 FIP, 1.099 WHIP, 38 strikeouts in 33⅔ innings, just one home run allowed.

He threw two innings and allowed one run to the Braves May 15 in Atlanta. Brown threw 42 pitches on Sunday, so he’ll likely be limited to maybe 70-75 at most this afternoon.

AJ Smith-Shawver made six appearances (five starts) for the Braves last year, including this 3⅔-inning outing September 28, 2023 against the Cubs in Atlanta. He allowed no hits, but one run that evening.

This year he has made eight starts at Triple-A Gwinnett with a 6.10 ERA and 1.516 WHIP, with nine home runs allowed in 31 innings. That sounds pretty bad, but who knows. Smith-Shawver was No. 42 in Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects before this season.

His chart below is from last year; Brown’s is from this year.

Statcast

Statcast

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 Braves site Battery Power. If you do go there to interact with Braves 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 2024 Game Thread procedure will be like last year’s, 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.