MLB Gameday: Cubs at White Sox, Probable Pitchers, Lineups, and more

Edited July 26, 2025Jul 26 by WestEddy

I defended Schriffen last year because I didn’t feel he deserved all the hate. I’d still say some of the reactions to him are over the top, but he’s not a great listen.  

I like that he doesn’t have “announcer guy voice,” but for a PBP guy, he simply talks too much. He sells the team too hard. And he doesn’t really seem to know that much about or have any experience in baseball. People always made fun of Hawk for his arcane references, but at least they were baseball related. Schriffen asks his partners a lot of dumb questions.

The radio broadcast is way better.I don’t see Schriffen improving over time, but (huge but) I thought DJ was terrible -really terrible - when he was on tv, and he got much better. I guess I can hope for the same with Schriffen.

Let’s give the Cubs the colonic treatment and blow these a-holes out again. South Side, Stand Up!

21 minutes ago, Middle Buffalo said:

I defended Schriffen last year because I didn’t feel he deserved all the hate. I’d still say some of the reactions to him are over the top, but he’s not a great listen.  

I like that he doesn’t have “announcer guy voice,” but for a PBP guy, he simply talks too much. He sells the team too hard. And he doesn’t really seem to know that much about or have any experience in baseball. People always made fun of Hawk for his arcane reference s, but at least they were baseball related. Schriffen asks his partners a lot of dumb questions.

The radio broadcast is way better.I don’t see Schriffen improving over time, but (huge but) I thought DJ was terrible -really terrible - when he was on tv, and he got much better. I guess I can hope for the same with Schriffen.

Let’s give the Cubs the colonic treatment and blow these a-holes out again. South Side, Stand Up!

Schriffen is nowhere near as grating as Benetti for my taste.  I have a Detroit fan friend who can't believe the nonsense he brought with him.  I'll take Schriffen's shtick any day.

John was better with Plezac. Stone is just as bad as hawk in his final couple years imo. Jason is his own problem but having an engaged color guy goes a long way. Stone does zero research and has 2-3 talking points he hammers endlessly.

Like boy the ball carries well in mid summer! Say more Stone never knew that.

18 minutes ago, Middle Buffalo said:

I defended Schriffen last year because I didn’t feel he deserved all the hate. I’d still say some of the reactions to him are over the top, but he’s not a great listen.  

I like that he doesn’t have “announcer guy voice,” but for a PBP guy, he simply talks too much. He sells the team too hard. And he doesn’t really seem to know that much about or have any experience in baseball. People always made fun of Hawk for his arcane references, but at least they were baseball related. Schriffen asks his partners a lot of dumb questions.

The radio broadcast is way better.I don’t see Schriffen improving over time, but (huge but) I thought DJ was terrible -really terrible - when he was on tv, and he got much better. I guess I can hope for the same with Schriffen.

Let’s give the Cubs the colonic treatment and blow these a-holes out again. South Side, Stand Up!

I think if he watches baseball 162 times a year for, like, 4 or 5 years, he might start to actually like the sport. Sort of like an arranged marriage, you grow to love the person/bat-and-ball game over time, and maybe that love is stronger and more meaningful than it otherwise would have been had you actually wanted to marry the person/talk about baseball every other day out of the year. Maybe your parents know you better than you know yourself, Sox fan. I think in this analogy, Brooks Boyer is Sox fans' mom.

I like Schriff's attitude, I like his calls when interesting things happen. They're goofy but amusing. He's very jocular, just seems like a nice guy. My favorite thing about Schriffen is that he can actually track the ball off the bat when it's hit somewhere meaningful. Benetti was so funny to watch because he has absolutely no depth perception and could not for the life of him tell if a ball was going to be a home run or not. I watched some Detroit game this year where the batter CRUSHED a home run, an absolute no doubter, and Benetti is like "maybe...maybe...it's going back..." and the outfielder wasn't even trying to go for the ball. Way gone. Context clues, Jason! I think he's better at basketball and football for precisely this reason.

Schriff has "the tools" to do the job but does he have the "passion"? I'd call him, like, a 60 FV prospect and he's just in his second year...but you're absolutely right, I've been listening to the radio broadcast a lot more this year and it's far better (and easier to justify listening to at 1:00pm on a week day). Can't let Stone off the hook either, he's been pretty bad for a couple years now. Not crazy about Plesac, but the Beckham/Schriff games have been pretty good. I'll give Schriff credit, last night he talked about how the Sox were 'punishing' the fastball, and they actually were. I don't think a producer told him that, I think he just saw it and thought it would be good information to tell the audience...which it was. 

Hot take: get Brooke Fletcher in the booth. That was a good baseball hire, can we credit Getz for that one? The Friday night home games are a definite success for the marketing people in the organization, the games are fun to watch and I think the team feels the energy because they're like 7-1 in those games.

this game's getting rained out anyway, isn't it?

17 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

John was better with Plezac. Stone is just as bad as hawk in his final couple years imo. Jason is his own problem but having an engaged color guy goes a long way. Stone does zero research and has 2-3 talking points he hammers endlessly.

Like boy the ball carries well in mid summer! Say more Stone never knew that.

Schriff and Plesac were a really good listen

You know who is a b****? Al Yellon.

28 minutes ago, nrockway said:

this game's getting rained out anyway, isn't it?

yellow   CHC @ CHW Models have trended a little farther south with the rain (which is good), but I still think a late start is possible and that the game will play regardless

12 minutes ago, DoUEvenShift said:

yellow   CHC @ CHW Models have trended a little farther south with the rain (which is good), but I still think a late start is possible and that the game will play regardless

I think an extra hour or so of drinking is just what this crowd needs to get in the proper mood. 

16 minutes ago, DoUEvenShift said:

yellow   CHC @ CHW Models have trended a little farther south with the rain (which is good), but I still think a late start is possible and that the game will play regardless

good news. thanks for the link, never seen this site, bookmarking it

The Sox have moved up to 29th in position player fWAR and 23rd in pitching fWAR. If we keep playing better through the end of the year and finish with around 55 wins I'll give Getz a straight C for this season which is a decent grade all things considered after the disaster last year.

2 hours ago, poppysox said:

Schriffen is nowhere near as grating as Benetti for my taste.  I have a Detroit fan friend who can't believe the nonsense he brought with him.  I'll take Schriffen's shtick any day.

I’d love to hear how your Detroit friend would react to Schriffen’s nonsense.

8 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

I’d love to hear how your Detroit friend would react to Schriffen’s nonsense.

Jason to me is like a nice cup of tea or coffee that's ruined by too much sugar. If he could just stick to calling the game without so many puns and jokes it would be a very nice experience. 

John is like a rancid 40oz of King Cobra that sat out on the porch all weekend and you take one swig of and start retching. 

No Robert, again. The drinks will flow, and the hugs will spill. 

 

Ready for action pic.twitter.com/CbPTNjO7LI

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 26, 2025

 

2 hours ago, 2Deep said:

Schriff and Plesac were a really good listen

If Plesac put a sock in it once in a while he’d still be irritating. But less so. 

What a stupid fucking lineup. It makes me angry. Hey, Quero congrats on your historic night, now take a seat! 

Round two against the Sox.

Watch tonight's game on the Marquee Sports Network App. pic.twitter.com/ophQ6rGgPe

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 26, 2025

Roberts definitely more hurt than they're letting on

2025 Splits -

Quero vs. RHP: .549 OPS, 60 wRC+
Teel vs. RHP: .773 OPS, 127 wRC+

Quero vs. LHP: 1.017 OPS, 188 wRC+
Teel vs. LHP: .697 OPS, 97 wRC+

It's hard to be against putting young guys at a demanding position in the best situation to succeed each day. This game is hard!

— Jordan Lazowski (@jlazowski14) July 26, 2025

13 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

What a stupid fucking lineup. It makes me angry. Hey, Quero congrats on your historic night, now take a seat! 

He took a Happ backswing to the head and ball to his junk yesterday, so he might just be a little banged up.

11 minutes ago, Snopek said:

He took a Happ backswing to the head and ball to his junk yesterday, so he might just be a little banged up.

And he can’t hit RHP

14 minutes ago, Snopek said:

He took a Happ backswing to the head and ball to his junk yesterday, so he might just be a little banged up.

And got hit a few other times as well. Took an absolute beating

11 minutes ago, fathom said:

And he can’t hit RHP

If he's banged up he's banged up but you know just as well as I do that a 22 year old with platoon splits in a rebuild year should be getting every PA they can to try and fix that. 

10 minutes ago, fathom said:

And he can’t hit RHP

Let him see it. If he has 4 hits yesterday he's seeing the ball well either way. Let him get some knocks from the other side to build confidence and improve. This is the time to give him the opportunity. I hate the idea of just settling him as a platoon guy.