Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals Preview, Tuesday 6/21, 7:05 CT

If last night's loss felt odd, here's why.

The Cubs lost the first game of a series just five other times this year (out of 22 series previous to this one): Rockies in April, Brewers and Cardinals in May, Braves and Nationals in June.

Of those five series, the Cubs won two of them (Cardinals and Braves).

Let's make that three, shall we?

Here is your once-a-series reminder about SB Nation's daily fantasy partner FanDuel. If you want to play, click this link.

Here are today's particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Coghlan LF, Heyward RF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Zobrist 2B, Contreras C, Russell SS, Almora CF, Hammel P

Here is tonight's #Cubs starting lineup.

Game preview: https://t.co/iWZfYK8qKy #LetsGo pic.twitter.com/Ue04VKyQA4

— #VoteCubs (@Cubs) June 21, 2016

The Cardinals lineup was not available at the time I wrote this preview.

Jason Hammel has made two starts against the Cardinals this year, both good. Overall he's thrown 13⅓ innings against them and allowed nine hits and three walks (0.9 WHIP) and two earned runs. Since he had to leave the game vs. the Dodgers May 30 with hamstring cramps, he has a 2.75 ERA in three starts, with just two walks in 19⅔ innings. More of this, please.

Adam Wainwright is not having a typical Wainwright year, though he's been better in June (three starts, 1.80 ERA), including seven shutout innings against the Astros in his last outing. He has made one start against the Cubs this year, May 23 in St. Louis, and he allowed seven hits and three runs in six innings.

This one won't be easy.

Today's game is on ABC7 Chicago. Outside the Chicago and St. Louis markets it will be available on MLB Network. It's a MLB Network "showcase" game, their own production. Announcers: Matt Vasgersian, John Smoltz and Tom Verducci.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation 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 2016 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used at the end of 2015. Here's how it works.

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. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in the game's StoryStream™ as noted above.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.