Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Friday 8/14, 1:20 CT

Friday notes…

• KEEPING THE BAD STREAKS AWAY: The Cubs have not lost back-to-back games since July 9-10, at Baltimore and Cincinnati. They are 19-9 since then. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• HOME GAME NOTES: The Cubs are 35-24 at home, but only 4-6 in first games of home stands. They finished 11-2 in such games last season. They are 10-10 in first games of series at home. They finished 19-8 a year ago. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• UNDER NATURAL LIGHT: The Cubs are 26-24 in all day games, but 19-12 at home. They are 11-12 in the second of back-to-back day games at all sites. They finished 24-13 a year ago. But they are 11-7 in such games this year at home; they were 22-12 last season. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• FRIDAY ON MY MIND: The Cubs are 3-6 on Friday at home. Last year, they finished 10-4. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: The Cubs lead the Dodgers 10-7 in the bottom of the ninth of the second game of a doubleheader in Los Angeles, blow that lead, then score two in the 10th on a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch to defeat the eventual pennant-winning Dodgers 12-10. It happened 60 years ago today, Sunday, Aug. 14, 1966.

The Cubs lineup was not available at posting time. Please check BCB social media for the Cubs lineup.

Cardinals lineup:

Clay Holmes, RHP vs. Matthew Liberatore, LHP

Clay Holmes struggled in his first Cubs start — but then, it was also his first start back after he fractured his fibula back in May. He did get a large number of ground ball outs, which is his signature.

He faced the Cardinals March 30 in St. Louis as a member of the Mets, throwing 5.2 innings and allowing four hits and two runs. Nolan Gorman, who the Cardinals sent to Triple-A in June, homered off him.

Hopefully, this will be a better outing.

Matthew Liberatore has had an up-and-down year. In his first August start, Aug. 2 vs. the Blue Jays, he threw six one-hit innings. But then Aug. 8 vs. the Rockies — nine hits and five runs in five innings. (Not the Coors Field effect — that game was in St. Louis.)

He has faced the Cubs three times this year and allowed 14 hits, five walks and six runs in 14 innings. Alex Bregman homered off him July 27 in St. Louis, and of course Bregman’s a hot hitter right now.

Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field.

Today’s game is on Apple TV (how to watch).

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

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals 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 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, 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.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.