Cubs-White Sox set to play 6 games in regular season, twice in exhibitions
Short and sweet.
For the White Sox, Cubs and baseball's 28 other teams, that's the likely view of the 2020 schedule that was released Monday.
It has been chopped down to 60 games due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it's still loaded with highlight games for Chicago's major-league clubs.
No matter what side of town you lean toward, the Sox's "Field of Dreams" matchup against the St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 13 is going to be must-see TV.
The game will be played in the cornfields of Dyersville, Iowa, where the 1989 Oscar nominated movie was filmed. FOX will broadcast the game nationally, with first pitch set for 6:15 p.m. Chicago time.
The Cubs and White Sox both open the season with night games on July 24.
In a game that will be nationally televised on ESPN, the Cubs play the Brewers at Wrigley Field. First pitch is 6 p.m.
The Sox get started against the Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m.
The schedule is designed to minimize travel for health and safety reasons, so the Cubs play 40 games against the NL Central and 20 vs. the AL Central.
The White Sox play 40 games against the AL Central and 20 vs. the NL Central.
That means the Cubs and Sox are going to be seeing each other a lot, relatively speaking.
The North and South Siders first meet in a weekend series (Aug. 21-23) at Wrigley and wrap up the regular season with three more games (Sept. 25-27) at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The Cubs and White Sox also face off in exhibition games on July 19-20.
ESPN is back with Sunday night baseball, and the Cubs and Cardinals play twice on national TV. The first game (Aug. 9) is at Busch Stadium and the second (Sept. 6) at Wrigley Field.
It's going to be a mad dash to the playoffs, assuming all teams are able to stay healthy.
Rick Renteria is already thinking about the standings.
"This is the way I'm approaching it," the Sox's manager said. "We've got a 60-game schedule. I'm going to assume we've already played 102 games and we're in first place and we're trying to hold on to that slot. We're going to try to proceed that way, obviously without putting anybody in harm's way. But it is important for a club to get off to a good start because obviously the schedule is waning, it's short.
"So I'm going to approach it that way and put us in a position where we are creative. Try to have a good eye on what everybody's doing and see if we can kind of maintain ourselves through the whole schedule. I want to play as clean a baseball as we possibly can."