Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox preview, Monday 8/17, 7:05 CT

Today’s roster moves: Here

Monday notes…

• NOT GOING FIRST: The Cubs have not scored a run in the first inning of their last six games. They haven’t even made a hit, going out in order in five games and earning a pair of walks in the other. They made a sacrifice fly and a forceout to end the first inning of the game before the streak started, so they have been hitless in 22 consecutive first-inning PA. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• GOING FIRST: The Cubs have won their last five games when facing an opponent for the first time, including the one-game make-up vs. the Blue Jays. They have won seven of eight, raising their record for the season in first games to 21-20. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• AGAINST WINNING TEAMS: The Cubs are 32-25 in games in which their opponents began with a winning record. They had won four in a row before losing yesterday. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: Kyle Hendricks throws six strong innings and Ian Happ’s sixth-inning homer is the difference in a 2-1 Cubs win over the Reds that breaks a 12-game losing streak that followed the big selloff in 2021. It happened five years ago today, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021.

The Cubs lineup was not available at posting time. Please check BCB social media for the Cubs lineup.

White Sox lineup:

Shōta Imanaga, LHP vs. Luis Castillo, RHP

Shōta Imanaga had a rough outing his last time out against the Nationals but still has a 2.49 ERA and 1.125 WHIP over his last 11 starts covering 61.1 innings.

He has not faced the White Sox this year. Here’s the start he made against them last year, July 25, 2025 at Rate Field. Please don’t click on that boxscore link. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Hi there, Luis Castillo! The new White Sox starter is quite familiar to us after all those years with the Reds. He has made 18 career starts against the Cubs, though the last was more than two years ago, April 14, 2024 at Wrigley Field while with the Mariners.

Currently active Cubs are batting .273 (24-for-88) against Castillo with four home runs. Nico Hoerner is 6-for-11 (.545) against him and Alex Bregman, Michael Conforto, Michael Busch and Ian Happ account for the four homers.

Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. It’s also on CHSN and WCIU-Ch. 26 with the Sox announcers.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page 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 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, 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.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.