Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox Preview, Tuesday 7/26, 6:10 CT

Here's one final little peculiarity about the Aroldis Chapman deal.

Adam Warren, who came over from the Yankees in December for Starlin Castro, is now Castro's teammate.

Guys who are traded for each other do sometimes wind up as teammates later on. But within seven months? How often has that happened? Ever? Anyone remember anything like this happening before?

On to tonight's contest, where the Cubs need a win to even their series with the Sox.

Here are today's particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Fowler CF, Bryant DH, Rizzo 1B, Zobrist LF, Russell SS, Heyward RF, Baez 2B, Montero C, La Stella 3B

White Sox lineup:

Eaton RF, Anderson SS, Cabrera LF, Abreu 1B, Morneau DH, Frazier 3B, Shuck CF, Navarro C, Saladino 2B

Kyle Hendricks, last seven appearances (six starts): 37⅓ innings, 30 hits, 11 walks (1.098 WHIP), 35 strikeouts, 0.72 ERA. Keep up the good work. Kyle had one excellent start and one bad one against the White Sox last year. Current White Sox are a small-sample-size 13-for-41 (.317) against Kyle with one home run (Adam Eaton).

James Shields has had the weirdest season I think I've ever seen.

First 10 starts: 64⅔ innings, 22 earned runs, 3.06 ERA, 1.299 WHIP
Next four starts: 11⅔ innings, 31 earned runs, 24.62 ERA, 3.791 WHIP
Last six starts: 39⅓ innings, 11 earned runs, 2.52 ERA, 1.144 WHIP

So he went from a pretty good starter, to the worst starter on the planet or maybe the galaxy, to an even better starter than he was at the start of the season.

I don't even... I mean, that's completely bizarre. Shields made two starts against the Cubs last year, April 17 at Wrigley Field and May 17 in San Diego, and was pretty good in both. The Cell is a much better hitters' park than Petco, and hopefully the Cubs, who are a small-sample-size 9-for-50 (.180) can hit him better in his new home park. Two current Cubs have homered off Shields: Jason Heyward and Dexter Fowler.

And for whatever it's worth, Shields pitched for Joe Maddon in Tampa for seven seasons, so he should not be unfamiliar to the Cubs coaching staff.

Today's game is on CSN Chicago with Len & JD. It's also on WGN with the White Sox announcers. And, there's a national broadcast on ESPN outside the Chicago market. ESPN announcers: Jon Sciambi, Rick Sutcliffe and Doug Glanville and reporter Keith Law.

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 White Sox site South Side Sox. If you do go there to interact with White Sox 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.