The Sox head into the City Series playing their best baseball of the young season. They have won five straight and 11 of 15, including a 6-2 victory<\/a> against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night to complete a three-game sweep.<\/p>\n Every Friday during the regular season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened \u2014 and what\u2019s ahead \u2014 for the Cubs<\/a> and White Sox<\/a>.<\/p>\n Want the latest baseball news? Subscribe to the Chicago Tribune<\/a> to read it all \u2014 and sign up for our Cubs Insider<\/a>\u00a0and White Sox Insider<\/a> newsletters.<\/p>\n \u2018Juice\u2019 on the South Side Nico Hoerner has seen both sides of the City Series rivalry.<\/p>\n There haven\u2019t been many meetings between the Cubs and White Sox when both organizations are playing well and trending up. But regardless of the state of the teams any given season, Hoerner always appreciates how Chicago comes together for the biannual series. The Cubs and Sox meet for the first time in 2026 on Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field, where packed crowds are expected all weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cI love playing at that stadium,\u201d Hoerner told the Tribune on Thursday. \u201cI think it\u2019s a cool vibe, especially the night games there, it\u2019s all dark and the energy is fun. And you can tell the fans are into it, and it means a lot to people. Players are obviously aware of those things. And then for them to be creating a new identity with a lot of players that are having breakout seasons and Will Venable\u2019s a really easy guy to root for, yeah, it\u2019s exciting.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an athlete, it\u2019s cool to be in settings where fans are passionate. And it\u2019s a bit of a boiling point when you have two fan bases that coexist through all points of the year and then finally have a chance to go head-to-head.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cubs hold the all-time series lead over the White Sox at 77-75, including winning nine of the last 10. Right-handers Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon and Colin Rea will start for the Cubs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a fun series, and we welcome that,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cEvery player wants energy in the stadium and wants juice in the stadium. So anytime you\u2019re going to a series like that you\u2019re excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Nicky Lopez gets to be on the other side of the rivalry this time. He started two of the City Series games in 2024 with the Sox, getting in the lineup for one game at each ballpark. The Naperville native understands the history of the franchises and what these games mean to both fan bases.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re easy games to get up for,\u201d Lopez told the Tribune. \u201cObviously every big-league game is, but both teams are wearing Chicago across their chest. The fans are into it. It\u2019s one of those things that\u2019s exciting when it approaches and one of those series that you look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n A lively atmosphere Sean Burke experienced the City Series for the first time last season, making one start and appearing in a bulk role during his two outings against the Cubs.<\/p>\n With the Sox in second place in the American League Central and the Cubs leading the National League Central this season, the right-hander is anticipating an electric feel around Rate Field when the teams meet this weekend.<\/p>\n Burke is slated to be on the mound for the Sox on Friday for the opener of the three-game series.<\/p>\n \u201cI expect this place to be packed out,\u201d Burke said Wednesday. \u201cDefinitely looking forward to throwing Friday night. With how we are playing right now, and they are having a good season, too, the weekend should be good.\u201d<\/p>\n Burke comes into the start second among Sox starters with a 3.68 ERA in eight outings (six starts). He has 36 strikeouts and 10 walks in 44 innings.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been doing a much better job of getting ahead of guys and being more efficient with my innings,\u201d Burke said. \u201cMaking hitters be on the attack and forcing them to hit my stuff. The stuff isn\u2019t too much different. The usage is a little bit different with throwing the two-seam a little bit more and adding the cutter.<\/p>\n \u201cTrying to diversify my attack. You see (fellow Sox starter) Davis (Martin) throwing the kitchen sink at guys and trying to take a little bit of that and add it to my game.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin is scheduled to start for the Sox on Saturday, followed by Erick Fedde in the series finale Sunday. As a group, Burke said the Sox are \u201cnever satisfied with where we are at.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust keep winning games,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are doing a pretty good job right now of just trying to stay series to series, game to game, trying to win that night and figure out the next day.<\/p>\n \u201cYou see the buy-in from everybody and everybody pulling on the same rope. It\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Number of the week: 20<\/p>\n The Sox won their 20th game of the season Tuesday in their 41st game. They didn\u2019t reach 20 victories last year until June 5, their 63rd game.<\/p>\n Week ahead: Cubs Friday: vs. White Sox, 6:40 p.m., Marquee, CHSN, The U The trip hasn\u2019t been the best stretch for the Cubs offense.<\/p>\n Despite scuffling, which includes a five-game stretch in which they have gone 1-for-34 with runners in scoring position while leaving 32 runners on base, the Cubs have been one of the most potent offenses in the majors this year. They entered Thursday\u2019s series finale in Atlanta having scored the fourth-most runs in MLB with the second-best walk rate and third highest wRC+.<\/p>\n Only two teams are hitting better than .260 this season, with the Braves leading he way at .272. Scoring runs has seemingly become more challenging across MLB.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened when the shift got banned, I think teams did go to defense more,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cSo whether that took some hitters out of the game and put better defenders in the game, both of those things maybe are going to cause less offense. I think that probably did happen, probably subtly.<\/p>\n \u201cThe understanding of defense more and being able to evaluate it and more accurately evaluate it has underscored the importance of it, so teams have shifted to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Week ahead: White Sox Friday: vs. Cubs, 6:40 p.m., CHSN, The U, Marquee With Wednesday\u2019s 6-5 victory against the Royals, the Sox secured another series win.<\/p>\n The Sox have won four of their last five series. They took two of three at home against the Los Angeles Angels and then won two of three in San Diego.<\/p>\n After dropping two of three against the Angels in Anaheim, Calif., the Sox rebounded by winning two of three against the Seattle Mariners at Rate Field. They won the first two heading into Thursday\u2019s conclusion of the three-game series against the Royals.<\/p>\n The Sox are 7-6-1 in series this season.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see everyone is starting to be their true self,\u201d shortstop Colson Montgomery said after Wednesday\u2019s game. \u201cI feel like when you are at your full true self is when you are most confident. Confidence is definitely infectious. So everyone is feeding off each other.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one is in here afraid to make mistakes. If you are in that mindset, you play free and easy and everyone is playing how they want to be playing.\u201d<\/p>\n Montgomery credited the coaching staff for setting the tone.<\/p>\n \u201cIt starts with (manager) Will (Venable) and the rest of our coaches kind of preparing us for everything,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cWhen you have that belief where you know your skip or whoever believes in you and your teammates, I think that\u2019s where it starts. When everyone believes in each other. That\u2019s where the confidence starts.\u201d<\/p>\n What we\u2019re reading today<\/p>\n Quotable<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not going anywhere, that would be my guess. They\u2019re not going anywhere. It\u2019s a record that is earned and makes sense.\u201d \u2014\u00a0Counsell on the Braves\u2019 hot start to the season<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cubs return to Chicago looking to regroup after a challenging trip. While their nine-game trip isn\u2019t technically…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,6279,24,49,4245,12075,158,10448,576,161,5285,4914,133,5173,4,73,33,8567,2003,998],"class_list":["post-699568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-baseball","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chicagocubs","tag-city-series","tag-colin-rea","tag-colson-montgomery","tag-craig-counsell","tag-cubs","tag-davis-martin","tag-edward-cabrera","tag-erick-fedde","tag-jameson-taillon","tag-mlb","tag-munetaka-murakami","tag-nico-hoerner","tag-rate-field","tag-sean-burke","tag-will-venable"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116578533247429123","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CTC-SOX-CUBS515_231791052.jpg\")
White Sox catcher Edgar Quero looks to the ground as Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner reacts after scoring on July 27, 2025, at Rate Field. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
\n![\"White](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CTC-L-CUBS-SOX-051725-16_229356450-e1747523748604.jpg\")
White Sox starter Sean Burke, left, and catcher Edgar Quero cover their mouths while having a meeting on the mound in the second inning against the Cubs on May 17, 2025, at Wrigley Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Cubs](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CTC-Z-CUBS-BRAVES.jpg\")
Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong walks back to the dugout after striking out against the Braves on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Atlanta. (Mike Stewart\/AP)<\/p>\n
\nSaturday: vs. White Sox, 6:10 p.m., Marquee, CHSN, The U
\nSunday: vs. White Sox, 1:10 p.m., Marquee, CHSN, The U
\nMonday: vs. Brewers, 6:40 p.m., Marquee
\nTuesday: vs. Brewers, 6:40 p.m., Marquee
\nWednesday: vs. Brewers, 6:40 p.m., Marquee
\nThursday: off<\/p>\n
\n![\"White](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CTC-L-sox-royals029.jpg\")
White Sox right fielder Derek Hill receives a hug in the dugout after hitting a solo home run in the eighth inning against the Royals on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at Rate Field. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
\nSaturday: vs. Cubs, 6:10 p.m., CHSN, The U, Marquee
\nSunday: vs. Cubs, 1:10 p.m., CHSN, The U, Marquee
\nMonday: at Mariners, 8:40 p.m., CHSN
\nTuesday: at Mariners, 8:40 p.m., CHSN
\nWednesday: at Mariners, 3:10 p.m., CHSN
\nThursday: off<\/p>\n