Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox preview, Wednesday 7/26, 7:10 CT

Wednesday notes...

• CUBS vs. SOX: With their win last night, the Cubs are 13-13 in the first games of series on the South Side. They are 11-14 in all second games, including 6-7 after first-game wins. The last three times the Cubs won the first, they lost the second, in 2019, 2020 and 2022. Their last back-to-back wins came in 2017. The others were in 2007, 2012, 2013 and 2015. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• RUN SCORING vs. THE SOX: The Cubs took over the lead in runs scored all-time vs. the Sox with their 7-3 win Monday. The Cubs have now scored 636 runs vs. the Sox, while the Sox have scored 634 vs. the Cubs. The Sox still lead the all-time series 73 wins to 66.
• INTERLEAGUE UPDATE: Tuesday’s win evened up the Cubs’ interleague record at 17-17. In addition to tonight’s game on the South Side, the Cubs have 11 other interleague games remaining, and they will all come in a 13-day period next month: three vs. the Blue Jays in Toronto August 11-13, two vs. the White Sox at Wrigley Field August 15-16, three vs. the Royals at Wrigley Field August 18-20 and three vs. the Tigers in Detroit August 21-23.
• THE TOP OF THE LINEUP: In 11 games since the All-Star break, the Cubs 1-4 hitters are batting .304 (56-for-184) with 20 extra-base hits (eight home runs), 38 RBI, a .373 OBP and a .500 slugging percentage

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

White Sox lineup:

Marcus Stroman, RHP vs. Lance Lynn, RHP

Marcus Stroman has had a rough go of it ever since he left the game against the Cardinals in London with a blister. Could that still be bothering him? He’s had only one good start among his last five and overall his ERA over those five starts is 6.46.

Well. Could be, or it could be just the bad stretch that many pitchers have during the season.

One of Stroman’s better starts last year was against the White Sox, May 29, 2022 on the South Side, where he threw seven shutout innings, only to see the Cubs blow leads in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings and lose. That was the early 2022 Cubs for you.

Hopefully, he can repeat that excellent performance tonight. Stroman has handled current Sox hitters pretty well, except for Andrew Benintendi (6-for-15, .400, a double, three walks).

Lance Lynn always looks so sad in his headshot photos. Wonder why?

This year, maybe it’s because of his pitching. He’s made 20 starts and maybe six or seven of them can be described as “good.” His ERA hasn’t been below 5 since his first start of the year. Last nine starts: 6.62 ERA, 1.432 WHIP, 16 (!) home runs in 51⅔ innings. Yikes. Lynn is leading all of MLB in home runs allowed with 28, so perhaps the Cubs will be able to launch a few tonight. This could be his last start for the Sox, as he’s been mentioned in trade rumors, including this one:

Most current Cubs have not faced Lynn much, even though he has 23 career appearances (22 starts) vs. the Cubs. Patrick Wisdom has two home runs off him — in three career at-bats. Cody Bellinger, Ian Happ and Trey Mancini have also homered off Lynn.

Go get him, Cubs hitters.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. You can find out if Marquee is available via a provider in your area here. It’s also on NBC Sports Chicago with the Sox announcers.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation White Sox site South Side Sox. If you do go there to interact with 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 2023 Game Thread procedure will be like last year’s, similar to what we’ve used for Spring Training.

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, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game, including the First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread, as well as the recap when it’s published. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at 90 minutes after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.