Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets preview, Friday 6/21, 1:20 CT (2024)

Friday notes...

• STREAKING: The Cubs have not won more than two consecutive games since they won a fourth straight at Boston on April 26. That was eight weeks and 49 games ago. Since then, each of the 29 other MLB teams has begun at least one winning streak of three games or more — 79 streaks in all. The Dodgers, Orioles, Phillies and Yankees have had five apiece; the Guardians, Mariners, Padres and Royals, four. Six teams have had one: the Angels, Athletics, Blue Jays, Pirates, Rockies and White Sox. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• STEALING: The Cubs have stolen at least one base in 14 consecutive games. Their previous high this season was three games. Steals today and tomorrow will tie their record since 1901 of 16 straight games, set in 1904. They had streaks of 15 games in 1901 and 14 in 1906. Their only other 14-game streak was in 1986. Their previous high this century was 12 in a row, in 2022. Their next-longest was just seven games, in 2016 and last year. Their only other double-digit streak in the Expansion Era was 11, in 1989. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE BUSCH LEAGUE: Michael Busch, last 19 games since May 28: .367/.483/.571 (18-for-49) with four doubles, two home runs and 11 walks.
• HAPP-ENINGS: Ian Happ has had two hits in each of the last five games. In those games he is batting .588/.650/1.235 (10-for-17, 1.885 OPS) with two doubles, three home runs, six runs scored and eight RBI.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Mets lineup:

Shōta Imanaga, LHP vs. José Quintana, LHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

See Also

Minor League Report: DSL Jays are on a five-game win streak

Well, this will be interesting. This is the first time Shōta Imanaga will face a team for the second time in his MLB career. May 1 at Citi Field, Imanaga held the Mets to three hits and no runs in seven innings, with seven strikeouts. A repeat performance would be great.

After his one really bad outing in Milwaukee at the end of May, Imanaga has a 2.00 ERA and 0.944 WHIP in three June starts, with 19 strikeouts and one (!) walk in 18 innings. Keep up the great work, Shōta.

Old friend Jose Quintana is in his second year with the Mets, and it is not going well. The 4.98 ERA is actually down a bit over his last few outings, and his last time out, June 15 vs. the Padres, was pretty good: two hits and one run in six innings.

Quintana has faced the Cubs four times since he left after 2020, but just once in Wrigley Field, in 2022. Cody Bellinger, Patrick Wisdom and Seiya Suzuki have all homered off Quintana.

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. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Mets market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Mets site Amazin’ Avenue. If you do go there to interact with Mets 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.