There were three games postponed due to inclement weather on Wednesday night, creating the need for two doubleheaders on Thursday. This one, which features the Cardinals and the White Sox, will get underway at 2:10 p.m. ET this afternoon.
Erick Fedde will make his return to the south side after being traded by Chicago at the deadline last season. He’ll face-off with a White Sox squad that has lost six in a row, including their 50th of the season back on Tuesday evening.
Let’s preview this interleague matinee matchup with the help of some odds and lines on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Cardinals vs. White Sox Game 1 prediction, preview
While I have my doubts that the White Sox will be able to capitalize on any of these flaws, it’s worth noting that Fedde’s underlying statistics are a dumpster fire in 2025. Though the veteran RHP does possess a 3.65 ERA over his 79.0 innings of work this season, he’s also registered a 13th percentile expected ERA (4.98), due primarily to how much quality contact opposing lineups have been making. To wit, Fedde sports fifth percentile marks in both strikeout rate (15.5%) and whiff rate (17.5%). That’s no way to live and Fedde’s surface numbers should begin to fall off a cliff as soon as a .258 opponent BABIP and a 6.2% HR/FB ratio start to normalize. But like I said, I’m not sure that today is that day.
Thought it looked like Chicago’s bats were starting to come around a little at the end of May, June has been a nightmare. In the month, the White Sox pair an MLB-high 26.0% strikeout rate with AL-worst marks in both wOBA (.280) and wRC+ (77). Not surprisingly, in the team’s current losing streak, Chicago’s been held to two runs or fewer in four of the six defeats. Bleak.
That level of run support just isn’t going to cut it when you’ve got starters like Sean Burke taking the mound every fifth day. To be fair, Burke’s been better of late, with quality “starts” in five of his last eight appearances — he threw six innings and allowed just two earned runs against the Orioles on May 30, but worked behind an opener that afternoon. Still, Burke can explode, as we saw last Wednesday in Houston. The rookie RHP imploded, surrendering eight hits and seven earned runs in a lopsided loss. That inflated Burke’s xERA all the way back up to 5.45 for the season as a whole, which ranks in the eighth percentile of the league. Not ideal.
Cardinals vs. White Sox Game 1 pick, best bet
Best Bet: Cardinals ML (-150)
The White Sox are much better at home this season, but they have dropped their last six games coming into Game 1 on Thursday.
Strong Lean: Over 8.5 (-133)
Both Burke and Fedde are outperforming their xERA by massive amounts. There should be a couple crooked innings.
