Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox preview, Wednesday 8/16, 7:05 CT

Wednesday notes...

• THIS SEEMS BACKWARDS: The Cubs have lost six in a row to the Sox at Wrigley Field. They have lost eight of nine to the Sox there since they won the first two games in 2018. Meanwhile, they have gone 9-6 on the South Side. If the Sox win tonight, the visiting team will have won every game this season. That has never happened since the teams began interleague play in 1997. In 2012, the Sox swept three games at Wrigley, May 18-20, then the Cubs won twice on the South Side, June 18-19, before the Sox won the next day. The visiting team also went 5-1 in 1999, with the only loss by the Cubs in the first game on the South Side. Last season, the visitors were 3-0 until the Sox won the final game at home. The visitors also went 3-1 in 2014 and 2017. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• INTERLEAGUE UPDATE: Tuesday’s loss gave the Cubs a 20-19 record against American League teams this year, broken down as follows: 9-6 vs. A.L. East, 4-5 vs. A.L. Central, 7-8 vs. A.L. West. Seven games remain this year vs. A.L. teams, all vs. A.L. Central clubs: One vs. the White Sox, three vs. the Royals, three at the Tigers.
• WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?: Plenty, actually. Since the Cubs lost to the Nationals 7-5 on July 17, they are 18-8, just half a game behind the Dodgers for the best record in MLB over that time span.
• THE PROFESSOR: Kyle Hendricks’ four strikeouts gave him 1,140 for his career, moving him past Hippo Vaughn (1,138) for eighth place on the Cubs’ all-time list. Next up: Bill Hutchison (1889-95) with 1,225.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

White Sox lineup:

Javier Assad, RHP vs. Mike Clevinger, RHP

Javier Assad had the best start of his career last Friday against the Blue Jays. All we’re asking here is for him to repeat that. And that seems entirely possible!

He’s got a 1.29 ERA and 0.971 WHIP over his last 12 appearances (two starts) since June 16 and has allowed runs in only four of those outings.

He made a relief appearance against the White Sox July 26 on the South Side and retired all five batters he faced.

Mike Clevinger made 12 starts for the Sox and then went on the IL in mid-June with biceps inflammation. He returned in late July and has made three starts since with a 2.25 ERA and 1.063 WHIP.

The last time he faced the Cubs was May 22, 2022 in San Diego. Just to show you how much the Cubs have changed since then, none of the five guys who pitched for the Cubs that night are still on the team.

Thus most current Cubs have not faced him and those who have are hitting .174 (8-for-46) in a fairly small sample size. Jeimer Candelario has a home run off Clevinger.

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.