Chicago White Sox vs Detroit Tigers Predictions, Betting Odds, Picks

• Hard to say who has the pitching edge
• TIgers playing much better of late
• X-factor to watch on both sides

Chicago White Sox vs Detroit Tigers Odds

Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook.

Chicago White Sox vs Detroit Tigers Predictions and Picks

Garcia’s 2021 record: (34-25-2)

Trends to Watch

• White Sox are 5-1 in their last 6 road games vs. a team with a losing record
• White Sox are 4-1 in their last 5 games vs. a right-handed starter
• White Sox are 42-14 in their last 56 vs. a team with a losing record
• White Sox are 2-9 in their last 11 road games with the total set at 7.0-8.5
• White Sox are 0-5 in their last 5 games vs. a starter with a WHIP less than 1.15
• Over is 4-1 in White Sox last 5 overall
• Over is 5-2 in White Sox last 7 vs. a team with a losing record
• Over is 7-3 in White Sox last 10 road games
• White Sox are 5-0 in the last 5 meetings in Detroit
• White Sox are 35-16 in the last 51 meetings
• Tigers are 4-0 in their last 4 games following an off day
• Tigers are 7-3 in their last 10 overall
• Tigers are 19-59 in their last 78 home games vs. a team with a winning record
• Over is 6-0 in Tigers last 6 during game 1 of a series
• Under is 4-1 in Tigers last 5 home games
• Under is 15-7-1 in Tigers last 23 vs. a team with a winning record

How to Watch Chicago White Sox vs Detroit Tigers

Pitching Matchup Will Be the Story of the Game

The White Sox get to go behind one of the best pitchers in the game this season in Lance Lynn, so it’s natural to think they will have a significant advantage in that department. But the way Tigers prospect Casey Mize has been pitching and the recent slide Lynn has been on, I wouldn’t be so sure.

First, let’s talk about Lynn. The righty has been great for the south-siders, going 7-3 with a 2.06 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 90 strikeouts in 78.2 innings. However, there’s no doubt he’s struggled of late — Chicago has lost his last four starts although he only got to throw 47 pitches in his most recent outing that got suspended due to rain.

His ERA in June was 3.81, tallying 33 strikeouts in 26 innings across five starts, so he will certainly look to get right this time around.

On the other side, Mize had a similar June but has been fantastic for 11 straight starts. During that stretch, Mize has nine quality starts and has given up three runs or fewer in each outing.

Mize enters the game at 5-4 overall with a 3.46 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 71 strikeouts in 88.1 innings. There’s a chance this might be Mize’s last “full” start before the All-Star break, as manager AJ Hinch has hinted at the idea of putting Mize and fellow rookie Tarik Skubal on pitch counts around the middle of summer to save their arms.

Mize has faced the White Sox twice this year, throwing quality starts (six innings or more while giving up three runs or fewer) in both, but picking up losses in each.

Tigers Trending the Right Direction

Over the previous four years before the 2021 season, the Tigers played 20 full months of baseball and finished with an above-.500 record for a full month just one time.

They’ve now done that two months in a row and there’s a pretty simple reason why — the AJ Hinch effect. It’s what he preaches. You focus on winning a game, then you try to win a series. Once you do that a few times, you start to win the month.

Detroit was dreadful to open the year, coming out the games with a 8-23 start including a 2-15 stretch that went almost three weeks. Since that time, they’ve gone a respectable 28-22 in their past 50 games.

Akil Badoo has sparked the lineup since moving to the leadoff spot, Jonathan Schoop was one of the five best hitters in baseball in June, Jeimer Candelario has proved himself an above-average third baseman and Miguel Cabrera is finally coming around.

After hitting .140 in April and .204 in May, the big fella hit .329 in June with a .356 OBP and .850 OPS — certainly not the Cabrera of old, but a nice bat in the middle of the lineup.

Then, you look at the bullpen, which all of a sudden has four dare we say reliable arms: Gregory Soto, Michael Fulmer, Jose Cisnero and Kyle Funkhouser and you can see that this team is an actual problem for opponents when it scores first.

X-factor to Watch on Both Sides

For all that positive talk about the Tigers, the White Sox are still the team to beat in this division and possibly the league. Their lineup is stacked which makes choosing an x-factor difficult, but for thjis oone we’re going to go with Yasmani Grandal.

The catcher is on a tear the past week, batting .300 (6-of-20) with three home runs, eight RBIs and seven runs scored.

For Detroit, we’ll look at Zack Short, a recent call-up from Triple-A as the Tigers seek to find someone to bring stability to the shortstop position. Not only does he have the name for it (get it?) but he’s been good early on, batting .385 (5-of-13) the last week with one home run and three RBIs.