First pitch: Wednesday, 8:10 p.m. ET
Line: Cubs -200, White Sox +185, Total: 9.5

The Cubs will be going for their fourth win in five games when they meet the White Sox on Wednesday.

The Cubs have been on a roll lately, as they have now won nine of their past 11 games and currently sit just 0.5 games back in the NL Central. The defending World Series champs had their fans feeling frightened in the first half of the season, but it seems as though they are ready to step things up and give themselves another shot at a World Series crown. It would, however, be big to win games like these against the White Sox, as they can’t afford to lose to teams that don’t have much to gain with a victory. The White Sox have lost 10 of their past 11 games and have almost no chance of making the postseason this season. They do, however, want to beat their cross-town rivals, but that is not going to be easy. The starters in this Wednesday night matchup are set to be RHP Jake Arrieta (9-7, 4.11 ERA, 111 K) for the Cubs and RHP James Shields (2-2, 5.79 ERA, 34 K) for the White Sox. Arrieta has had a bit of a down year for the Cubs this season, but they’ll still feel confident with him on the mound against Shields. The Cubs are a ridiculous 30-7 against the money line as a road favorite of -125 or more over the past two seasons with Arrieta on the mound.

The Cubs are rolling right now, but they’ll need Jake Arrieta to start performing like the guy he has been for the past few seasons now. His 4.11 ERA would be the highest number he’s posted since playing for the Orioles, and Chicago desperately wants him to get back to the 3.50 area. He should be able to turn in a good performance in this one, as he is facing a White Sox team that is really struggling right now. Offensively, the Cubs have a number of guys that should be able to step it up in this one. The ones to really look out for are, however, 3B Kris Bryant (.278, 19 HR, 42 RBI) and 1B Anthony Rizzo (.253 BA, 23 HR, 62 RBI). Bryant has been hot lately, as he has seen his average rise from .265 to .278 over the past 10 games. He badly struggled in the first half of the year, but a return to the mean was likely always going to happen. Look for him to continue to hit well moving forward. Rizzo, meanwhile, is due for a homer. It’s been seven games since he went yard, and he should be able to do just that against Shields here.

The White Sox aren’t playing for much at this point of the year, but they definitely will want to play whatever part they can in trying to prevent the Cubs from making it to the postseason. While there is still a lot of baseball to be played moving forward, a few more wins over the Cubs in this series would certainly set the defending champs back. If they are going to find a way to win then Shields is going to need to come through on the mound. He was absolutely awful in his last time out, allowing six earned runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings of work. The White Sox can’t win unless he is far better than that. Offensively, they can use somebody like 1B Jose Abreu (.296 BA, 16 HR, 61 RBI) coming up big. Abreu is having a great season for Chicago, and it’d be huge if he can go yard here.