Cubs vs. White Sox: More evenly matched than the records show?
Cubs vs. White Sox, 2025 Part One — winner gets to claim the Pope is a fan.
That won't work, actually. The fandom of the famous South Sider, Pope Leo XIV, seems to have been established.
Maybe a better hook is a battle of teams headed in opposite directions: The Cubs are fading and Sox perking up.
Granted, that's all relative. The Cubs' bats have cooled off after a great start, while the Sox began at rock bottom and are slowly trudging up the road to respectability. The Sox just won a road series for the first time in 2025, taking two of three in Cincinnati.
These teams are evenly matched in the month of May, believe it or not. The Cubs have gone 7-6 this month, the Sox 7-7.
Remember when the Cubs led MLB in virtually every offensive category? Yeah, that didn't last. This month, the Cubs ranked 13th in runs scored, 24th in hits, 28th in batting average, 17th in OPS and 23rd in stolen bases. The one thing they've done well is hit home runs.
Dansby Swanson has been hot and Pete Crow-Armstrong is mashing homers at a surprising pace, but multiple Cubs have gone cold lately. Some sorry May batting averages: Kyle Tucker .224, Michael Busch .200, Carson Kelly .182, Seiya Suzuki .145, Jon Berti .080.
Friday's series opener at Wrigley Field features an interesting pitching matchup. Rookie right-hander Cade Horton will make his Wrigley Field debut, and technically his first MLB start, since the Cubs used an opener for his first outing against the Mets.
The White Sox will counter with right-hander Shane Smith, who has become a legitimate contender for AL Rookie of the Year. The Rule 5 draft selection from Milwaukee has just one victory through eight starts, but a 2.08 ERA.
The Sox will be using their three hottest starters in this series. Sean Burke (1.10 ERA in May) is set to go Saturday against Matthew Boyd, while Sunday's matchup is Jonathan Cannon (2.00 ERA in May) vs. Colin Rea.
The Sox offense still isn't great, but one positive is Andrew Vaughn showing signs of life, with extra base hits in seven of the last 10 games.
Former Cubs outfielder Mike Tauchman, out since April 9 with a hamstring strain, has played in four rehab games at Triple-A Charlotte heading into Thursday's action. Could he make his return at Wrigley this weekend?
Playing for the Cubs. Tauchman hit a walk-off home run off Michael Kopech to beat the Sox 7-6 last season on June 5. The Cubs swept last year's city series 4-0, and have won seven of the last eight meetings.