My, how the pendulum has swung the other direction as the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs get together on the weekend’s sports betting calendar at the Windy City’s North Side diamond.
Saturday, August 7, 2021 – 2:20 PM EDT at Wrigley Field
Just five short seasons ago, the Cubs were heading towards their historic World Series title while the White Sox were tearing things down in a rebuild. The White Sox now have their sights on playing deep into October, and it’s the Cubs who just gutted their championship roster as the front office tries to rebuild with younger players, which is another way of saying players they have more salary control over for a few years.
Adbert Alzolay (4-11, 4.85) is one of those kinds of players who figures into the Cubs’ future plans, and will deal the first pitch on Saturday afternoon. Carlos Rodon (8-5, 2.49) answers the call for Tony La Russa’s White Sox, and online betting sites will strongly favor the visiting South Siders. As usual, we have to wait until closer to game time to get the total.
The White Sox have not taken advantage of an easy travel itinerary since the all-star break by going 9-10. Their longest trip has been about a 90-minute flight to Kansas City, and this ‘road’ game is just across town before a short flight to Minneapolis. They’ll be back for 6-of-7 games at home after that, interrupted by the Field of Dreams matchup against the New York Yankees.
Each of Rodon’s last two starts have gone into the White Sox loss column, and long ball has been partly to blame. He served up two homers a little more than a week ago in Kansas City, allowing four runs in his four innings of a setback as -180 chalk at Intertops (visit our Intertops Review). He also went four and allowed four runs – 2 earned – in his start prior in Milwaukee, the Brewers popping a couple of home runs as well after Rodon surrendered just one in his previous seven starts combined.
Rodon saw the Cubs a year ago, and that appearance came from the bullpen as he worked 1.2 scoreless innings. This will be Rodon’s third career start at Wrigley Field, going 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA in the previous two (10 IP). There aren’t a lot of Cubs left who have much experience against him, with Willson Contreras the only one to take Rodon deep.
The Cubs began this homestand after crisscrossing flights to Washington and Denver. They dropped two of three to both the Nationals and Rockies, and have now dropped seven of their last nine with the opposition scoring better than six runs a game in that stretch.
There have been a few nice showings on Alzolay’s 2021 stat sheet, but there have been far more bad ones with bettors following him on the MLB betting odds down close to 8 units. Alzolay worked five innings and allowed four runs at Washington, a no-decision for him and 6-5 loss for the Cubs. That was Chicago’s 3rd-straight setback with Alzolay on the bump, and eighth defeat in his last nine assignments.
Alzolay closed out his 2020 campaign with a win over the White Sox, going five innings and allowing just one run on two hits. He has pitched a little better in nine starts at Wrigley Field (4.60 ERA) compared to his 10 road assignments (5.06). The only two interleague starts Alzolay has made this year came against the Cleveland Indians, both losses (10.2 IP, 6 ER).
A pretty even interleague series over the years, the White Sox entered the weekend with a 65-63 edge over the Cubs in regular season play. The White sox won two of three in both sets last season, and have been on top of the MLB scores in six of the last eight meetings. Last year’s series at Wrigley Field produced two ‘over’ winners among the three finals, those totals running 9½-10½, with five of the last seven on the North Side skipping past the marks.
The two sides are slated to play a 3-game series on the South Side in three weeks. There’s a chance for rain overnight and into Saturday morning. Muggy and cloudy is the forecast for the afternoon along with a 5-7 mph SW wind (out to center) and the thermometer in the low-80s. I like the White Sox to romp in this one, and will take them on the run line with my free MLB pick.
MLB Pick: White Sox (-201) with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.