Chicago Cubs @ San Francisco Giants – Series Preview (July 28-31): Overview, Game and Broadcast Info, Starting Pitchers, W2W4
The Chicago Cubs (40-57) have been perfect in the second half, notching five straight victories out of the All-Star break to sweep both series they’ve played. That would normally be the big story heading into a four-game set with the Giants, but the August 2 trade deadline is casting a shadow over everything else. It’s almost certain Chicago will have a much different roster before they face the Cardinals in St. Louis starting Tuesday.
San Francisco has dropped seven games in a row to fall out of playoff position and now find themselves with a losing record (48-50). Even though former Cub Joc Pederson has been the best hitter for the Giants this season with 17 home runs and an .815 OPS to earn an All-Star selection, it hasn’t been enough to slow their skid.
Logan Webb and Carlos Rodón have been terrific in the rotation, with the latter posting a whopping 148 strikeouts so far in 2022 and exceeding the innings limit needed to trigger his opt-out clause. Between that and the Giants falling back in the division and Wild Card races, the ace has been the subject of trade rumors.
With all the deadline drama in the background, it’s hard to know what will happen in this series. After the emotional goodbyes from Willson Contreras and Ian Happ Tuesday at Wrigley Field the question is not if, but when and to what team or teams they will be moved to this week.
At this point, I hope the Cubs trade them quickly and rip the band-aid off already. Then the fans who have not been driven away by this latest rebuilding project can try and forge ahead through the next two months.
Game Time and Broadcast Info
- Thursday, July 28 at 8:45pm CT on Marquee Sports Network.
- Friday, July 29 at 9:10pm CT on Apple TV+.
- Saturday, July 30 at 8:10pm CT on Marquee Sports Network.
- Sunday, July 31 at 6:08pm CT on ESPN.
Starting Pitchers
| Date | Pitcher | Age | T | ERA | W/L | FIP | K/BB |
| 7/28 | Justin Steele | 28 | L | 4.02 | 4-6 | 3.64 | 1.98 |
| Alex Wood | 31 | L | 4.21 | 6-8 | 3.32 | 4.17 | |
| 7/29 | Marcus Stroman | 31 | R | 4.38 | 2-5 | 3.72 | 3.47 |
| Alex Cobb | 34 | R | 4.26 | 3-4 | 2.94 | 3.36 | |
| 7/30 | Drew Smyly | 33 | L | 3.93 | 3-5 | 4.45 | 3.58 |
| Jakob Junis | 29 | R | 2.98 | 4-2 | 3.89 | 4.00 | |
| 7/31 | Adrian Sampson | 30 | R | 3.20 | 0-1 | 3.48 | 2.89 |
| Carlos Rodón | 29 | L | 3.18 | 8-6 | 2.41 | 3.79 |
What to Watch For
- Nico Hoerner has been the Cubs’ best hitter of late and he continued that with four hits against the Pirates.
- Smyly is highly likely to be traded this week as well, so there’s a good chance he won’t make his start.
- Seiya Suzuki blasted a very long home run on Tuesday and has hit .328 in the July.
- The Cubs’ six-game winning streak is their longest since September 2021.