Any time it would like to stop raining in the Chicago area would be fine with me.
Saturday’s 3-0 Cubs loss to the Cardinals was delayed 59 minutes before it began by yet another heavy rainfall that drenched the north side of Chicago, then delayed another 15 minutes after the end of the sixth inning when it became impossible for players to see the ball due to heavy fog that blew in off Lake Michigan after the rain ended.
What month is this, anyway? April? November?
This is what it looked like from my perch in the left field bleachers (Bluesky link):
But they couldn’t see much from the press box, either:
And neither could the folks watching at home:
The fog finally lifted about 10:20 p.m. and the teams finished the game. There’s not much to talk about here from a Cubs point of view, though.
Shōta Imanaga’s first pitch of the game was sent into the left-field bleachers by JJ Wetherholt. After that Imanaga settled down and threw fairly well, though he walked three, and one of those walks led to the Cardinals’ second run in the third inning. Imanaga did strike out eight [VIDEO].
Here’s more on Imanaga’s evening [VIDEO].
Tyler Ferguson, Ryan Rolison, Trent Thornton and Caleb Thielbar attempted to keep things close. The four relievers combined for 4.1 innings in which they allowed four hits and one run, with five strikeouts.
It didn’t matter because the Cubs offense was moribund. They had five hits and four walks off five Cardinals pitchers, but got just three runners past first base. The tone seemed to be set when Pete Crow-Armstrong, who walked to lead off the first for the Cubs, was thrown out trying to steal. In the third, Michael Conforto led off with a single and two outs later advanced to second when PCA walked again. A force out ended that inning. Conforto singled again in the fifth and two outs later went to second when PCA was hit by a pitch. That inning ended on a foul popup.
In the eighth, PCA led off with a single. That’s one good thing — PCA reached base in all four of his plate appearances. Alex Bregman followed with a walk. Two on, nobody out! All that did was result in an 0-for-3 with RISP, because the inning ended on a ground out and two strikeouts.
PCA’s season OBP has reached .380, nearly 100 points higher than the .287 he posted last year. The .380 figure ranks 10th in the National League (and is only .007 behind Freddie Freeman, who is sixth).
Any time the Cubs offense would like to wake up again would be okay by me. After the 23-run outburst Wednesday, the Cubs have scored one run total in their last 18 innings.
Now, about that fog. It was so bad that the ABS challenge system failed to work [VIDEO].
That was in the bottom of the sixth. When that inning ended, play was halted [VIDEO].
Fifteen minutes later play resumed, but it wasn’t any different for the Cubs, who stranded eight runners.
Fog fact from BCB’s JohnW53:
On May 20, 1960, at Milwaukee, the Cubs played their first abandoned game that was scoreless after more than 2 innings. It remains their only 0-0 unofficial game halted in the fifth inning — and their only abandoned game of any length that was stopped because of fog.
“The Cubs and Braves tried valiantly Friday night to win a running battle with the elements,” said the Tribune.
“Maybe they are gaining on the fickle weather man, for they did play four and a half scoreless innings during a weird three and one-half hour program.“After a light rain caused a 1 hour, 28 minute delay in the first inning, a fog blew in from Lake Michigan, and the athletes sparred their way into the fifth inning with two slick pitchers, Warren Spahn and Don Cardwell, refusing to yield a run.
“But Plate Umpire Frank Dascoli, finally convinced when he could barely make out the outfielders and Shag Crawford, umpiring at second base, that baseballs no longer could be detected in flight, called another halt.
“After a half hour wait, the game was proclaimed no contest.”
And facts about this game from John:
This was the 181st game since 1901 in which the Cubs were shut out by the Cardinals. It was the 2,409th between the teams.
Only 75 of the shutouts have been at Wrigley Field, including just three of the last 13. The previous two were by 3-0 on June 14, 2024, and by 1-0 on Aug. 22, 2022.
…..
The Cubs had failed to score in only 12 of 226 previous games on the Fourth of July, three of them vs. the Cardinals. They had been blanked in seven of 136 games at home, twice by the Cards.
The reason for the large number of games on July 4 is, of course, that for many decades holiday doubleheaders were common.
Also, yes of course I know it doesn’t matter what TV channel the game is on, but the Cubs have not done well in games carried on various national channels this year:
Marquee Sports Network: 47-33
Fox: 1-2
NBC/Peacock: 0-2
ESPN/ABC: 0-1
Apple TV+: 1-2
The Cubs lost no ground to the Brewers in the NL Central race, as Milwaukee lost at Arizona. The Cubs still trail the Brewers by six games, but are now just half a game ahead of the Cardinals.
The Cubs will attempt to salvage the final game of this series Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Javier Assad will start for the Cubs and Matthew Liberatore goes for St. Louis. Game time is 1:30 p.m. CT (yes, 1:30, not 1:20) and TV coverage will be streaming on Peacock (full national broadcast, no blackouts). Today’s game preview will post at 12 noon CT.
