CrossTown rivalry has Cubs fans begging for a get-right series

Another year, another Crosstown series is upon us. The Cubs will welcome their South Side neighbors to The Friendly Confines for a three-game set this weekend. Both the Cubs and White Sox are coming off series wins heading into Friday. While this is not a prime matchup ala mid-late 2000s, it's a series that has some intrigue.

Both teams are in different spots; the Cubs are looking to contend, while the White Sox are rebuilding. However, unlike last year, the White Sox are not necessarily the "gimme" like they were when they lost a record 121 games in 2024. Despite the 14-30 record, the White Sox have been playing more competitive baseball lately (7-7 in May), and their starting pitching has been very solid. Last year's Sox could not even execute on basic fundamentals. This year, under former Cub coach Will Venable, the South Side operation (while not a high bar) looks cleaner. Far from perfect, but improved.

The biggest story from the South Side so far this year has been Rule 5 pitcher Shane Smith, who sports a 2.08 ERA, 3.03 FIP, and 1.09 WHIP in eight starts. He is set to face Cade Horton (making his Wrigley Field debut) on Friday. Overall, the White Sox starters have a 3.79 ERA this season. See the projected pitching matchups:

Friday: RHP Shane Smith (2.08 ERA) v RHP Cade Horton (6.75 ERA)

Saturday: RHP Sean Burke (4.15 ERA) v LHP Matthew Boyd (2.78 ERA)

Sunday: RHP Jonathan Cannon (3.60 ERA) v RHP Colin Rea (2.48 ERA)

The hope is the Cubs' offense can break out of their recent slump

Pretty solid matchups on paper. The Cubs don't have much of a book on these guys other than scouting and Spring Training. They will be seeing all three of these guys for the first time in regular-season play this weekend. Ideally, for the Cubs, they will want to break out of their recent funk, but the assignment won't necessarily be a cakewalk, the way guys like Smith and Cannon have been throwing recently. They'll need their big bats like Kyle Tucker, Seiya Suzuki, and Michael Busch to start hitting again.

Meanwhile, neither bullpen has been spectacular. They are both close statistically in terms of bullpen ERA, 4.59 for the Cubs' bullpen and 4.34 for the Sox bullpen.

While the Sox offense has not been as good as a whole, some of their young guys have been hitting well recently, including catching prospect Edgar Quero (.296/.390.338 in first 22 games), and even Miguel Vargas has been doing much better. Also, do not let the season numbers for Luis Robert Jr. get your guard down. He is a career .290/.353/.710 hitter with four homers in eight games at Wrigley Field, and has a career .992 OPS against the Cubs.

All in all, the Cubs will want to win a majority of these games at least. This is not to say this series will be a battle of the Titans, but acknowledging the Sox can give you a battle. They have nothing to lose and are showing some signs of growth...plus they won the Pope battle last Thursday. Heck, even last year, all games between the teams were close.