Cubs vs White Sox Predictions: One-Sided Duel in Chi-town
Tough Times For The Windy City Teams

The Battle of Chicago doesn’t have quite the same bite this season. The Cubs head south to visit the moribund White Sox for a two-game series on Friday and Saturday. The Cubs, despite playing well lately, are just outside the National League Wild Card race. The White Sox are trying to avoid having the worst record in MLB history.
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Many Cubs vs White Sox predictions likely will be made in the former’s favor as the Cubs are -145 moneyline favorites and +100 at -1.5 on the runline for Friday’s opener. The total is eight runs.
- The Cubs are coming off a 5-2 homestand in which they won each series against the hated Cardinals and MLB playoff contenders, the Twins.
They’re still five games off the pace from the final NL Wild Card spot. Thus, they have a lot of work left to do but do have a chance if they stay hot.
A big reason why they’ve been doing well in the recent 2024 MLB scores is that the offense has started to click. Players like Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson are turning things around.
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The good news for the White Sox is that they ended their historic 21-game losing streak by winning on Tuesday. The bad news is that they followed that with another loss. They remain 61 games below .500. Manager Pedro Grifol took the fall.
That’s almost as bad as it gets so the Cubs will try their hardest not to drop games against their crosstown rival. The ChiSox have baseball’s worst lineup and one of the worst pitching staffs.
Cubs vs White Sox 
📊Records: Chicago Cubs (57-60), Chicago White Sox (28-89)
⏰Day/Time: 📍Location: Guaranteed Rate Field; Chicago, IL
📺Streaming: NBC Sports Chicago
Cubs Have Been Hot
The Cubs are still just 16th in runs scored with bottom-third rankings in most offensive categories. But your Cubs vs White Sox predictions must account for how much better the North Siders are playing.
They took a risk in trading popular home run hitter Christopher Morel at the deadline. While the returns, All-Star infielder Isaac Paredes, has yet to hit much, Busch, Swanson, and Nico Hoerner (among others) have done their fair share to pick up the slack.
The Cubs’ offense will not be mistaken for a world-beating one. But against the lowly White Sox, they don’t need to be.
Busch has been the standout as he was picked up from the Dodgers in a relatively minor move in January and has turned into Chicago’s starting first baseman and one of the Cubs’ biggest power threats.
He does strike out a ton but you can live with that when you get his power and production.
In the White Sox’ favor, ace Garrett Crochet is starting on Friday against Jameson Taillon. That’s important for MLB predictions today because Crochet was one of the most highly valued trade deadline candidates and is a rare bright spot in a bleak White Sox season.
- Taillon has put together a nice season yet he isn’t the overpowering force that Crochet certainly is.
White Sox Offense Is Anemic
A crucial component of any Cubs vs White Sox prediction has to be the White Sox’s incompetence on both sides of the ball. The White Sox not only have scored the fewest runs but have the worst batting average, worst on-base percentage, and worst OPS. They have also hit the second-fewest home runs.
They’re just flat-out bad. And they traded three of their better hitters at the deadline in Paul DeJong, Tommy Pham, and Eloy Jiménez.
There isn’t much, if any, firepower left on the roster and against a guy like Taillon who doesn’t walk many batters, the White Sox will need to make their offense.
And, as you’d expect, doing that does not come easy to Chicago which will now be led by former All-Star Grady Sizemore as the interim skipper. This is a lineup Taillon should easily handle.
Christian Bethancourt 🇵🇦 tiene un misil 🚀 en ese brazo derecho.
El receptor panameño demostrando porque es de los mejores en la MLB en este departamento.
Sonríe los Cubs, gracias Miami por dejarlo ir.
pic.twitter.com/6oVwsRAeM3— 𝐋𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐨 𝐀𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫 (@leoaguilar_29) August 2, 2024
Take Cubs To Roll
- Crochet is one of the better young pitchers in baseball but the MLB team stats are the MLB team stats: It’s difficult to bet on the White Sox.
They’ve won one game since July 10th – almost a month – and are facing a Cubs team that still has plenty to play for. Go with the Cubs at nearly even-money on the runline which makes even more sense with them on the road.
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