Chicago Cubs vs. Kansas City Royals preview, Saturday 8/8, 6:10 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

Saturday notes…

UNDER THE LIGHTS: The Cubs are 42-26 in night games, a winning percentage of .618. They finished last season 49-38, .563. At night on the road, they are 26-14, .650. They finished last season just 28-27, .509. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

SATURDAY IN THE PARK: At 11-7, the Cubs already have lost as many games on Saturday as they did all of last season, when they were 20-7. They are 5-3 on the road on Saturday this year. Last year, they were 11-2. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

NOT SCORING FIRST: The Cubs have given up the first run in six consecutive games, each in the first three innings, including the first inning of the the last three. They have not scored first in eight of nine games, after having done it in five straight, seven of eight and 11 of 13. The Cubs have taken the first lead in 55 games and fallen behind in 62. They are 40-15 when they score first and 28-34 when they do not. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: Jim Edmonds homers twice, including a game-tying blast in the seventh, and Henry Blanco’s walk-off single wins the game over the Cardinals 3-2 at Wrigley Field . It happened 18 years ago today, Friday, Aug. 8, 2008 .

Cubs lineup:

Holmes on the bump. Tune in on @WatchMarquee . pic.twitter.com/iGkTFI8Dar

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 8, 2026

Royals lineup:

Powder blue Saturday. pic.twitter.com/CtF8JW9oPd

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) August 8, 2026

Clay Holmes, RHP vs. Seth Lugo, RHP

Clay Holmes was having a fine year with the Mets when he suffered a fractured fibula on this play against the Yankees May 15:

He has made three rehab starts. In the most recent one, Aug. 2, he threw 43 pitches for the Mets’ High-A affiliate. He’d thrown 59 pitches in the rehab start before that.

So I’d think he’ll be on a pitch limit tonight, maybe 75 or so? The Cubs do have Colin Rea and Javier Assad ready for long relief.

Below you’ll find Holmes’ pitch mix. As you’ll note, he relies on a sinker which, we hope, will induce lots of ground balls to the excellent Cubs defenders.

Seth Lugo was a big Royals free-agent signing before the 2024 season. He was very good that year (second in AL Cy Young voting), a bit worse last year, and not very good this year, especially over his last eight starts (5.82 ERA, 1.477 WHIP, eight home runs in 43.1 innings). He’s also walked a lot of guys in those eight starts (8.9 percent walk rate).

He has, however, held current Cubs to a .167 BA (14-for-84) with one home run (Seiya Suzuki). Hopefully Cubs bats are ready for him tonight.

Here is the weather forecast for the area around Kauffman Stadium.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

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

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Royals site  Royals Review . If you do go there to interact with Royals 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.

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Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Yahoo Sports. Open at source →