White Sox at Cubs prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends, and stats for May 16

NBC Sports

15-05-2025

Friday, the Cubs (25-19) open up a weekend series at Wrigley Field against their crosstown rivals, the White Sox (14-30).
Shane Smith is slated to take the mound for Chicago against Cade Horton for Chicago.
The White Sox were stymied in their efforts to win their third in a row yesterday as they were smacked by the Reds, 7-1. The Sox managed just four hits off Nick Martinez and a couple of Reds' relievers. Miguel Vargas had two of the four hits for Chicago.
The Cubs were off Thursday. They are 12-10 at home this season. Chicago is in first place in the NL Central but are just 4-6 in their last ten games. Nico Hoerner leads the team with a .274 batting average.
Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two.
We've got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game details & how to watch White Sox at Cubs
Date: Friday, May 16, 2025
Time: 2:20PM EST
Site: Wrigley Field
City: Chicago, IL
Network/Streaming: CHSN, MARQ, MLBN
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the White Sox at the Cubs
The latest odds as of Thursday:
Moneyline: White Sox (+186), Cubs (-225)
Spread: Cubs -1.5
Total: 12.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for White Sox at Cubs
Pitching matchup for May 16, 2025: Shane Smith vs. Cade Horton
White Sox: Shane Smith (1-2, 2.08 ERA)
Last outing: 5/10 vs. Miami - 6IP, 0ER, 4H, 0BB, 7KsCubs: Cade Horton (1-0, 6.75 ERA)
Last outing: 5/10 at Mets - 4IP, 3ER, 4H, 0BB, 5Ks
White Sox: Shane Smith (1-2, 2.08 ERA)
Last outing: 5/10 vs. Miami - 6IP, 0ER, 4H, 0BB, 7Ks
Cubs: Cade Horton (1-0, 6.75 ERA)
Last outing: 5/10 at Mets - 4IP, 3ER, 4H, 0BB, 5Ks
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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of White Sox at Cubs
The Cubs have won 3 in a row at Wrigley against the Sox
The Cubs are just 10-12 on the Run Line at Wrigley this season
Game Totals in White Sox games are 8-2 to the UNDER in their last 10 games
Kyle Tucker is 11-49 (.224) in May
If you're looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions for Friday's game between the White Sox and the Cubs
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Friday's game between the White Sox and the Cubs:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Chicago Cubs on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Chicago White Sox at +1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the under on the Game Total of 12.0.
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper)
Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports)
Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)