A familiar face returns to Rate Field on Friday when the White Sox face center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and the New York Mets.
Robert played six seasons for the Sox (2020-25), earning All-Star honors in 2023. The Sox dealt him to the Mets for infielder/outfielder Luisangel Acuña and minor-league pitcher Truman Pauley in the offseason.
The Cubs wrapped up a .500 homestand, including a series win over the White Sox in the City Series, before Thursday’s off day. They embark on their last long trip of the season to Seattle and Phoenix and will roll with three lefties — Matthew Boyd, David Peterson and Shota Imanaga — against the Mariners this weekend.
Every Friday during the regular season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Cubs and White Sox.
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It starts at the top
Left fielder Sam Antonacci began Saturday’s game against the Detroit Tigers getting hit by a pitch. He later scored on a Braden Montgomery two-out single.
The next day, Antonacci led off with a double. He scored again on a Montgomery two-out hit.
“Just trying to, like I’ve always said, just get on base for the guys behind me,” Antonacci told the Tribune before Wednesday’s game against the Cubs. “Just because you never know, the time that they can leave the yard is pretty much in the snap of a finger.
“So just being on base for that and not trying to do too much and just be who I am.”
He aided the team defensively Wednesday with a sensational leaping catch near the wall in the seventh inning of the 3-0 victory.
Antonacci also continues to be a spark at the top of the Sox lineup. The rookie has a .268/.364/.393 slash line with eight home runs and 36 RBIs in 107 games.
“Just still taking it all in and doing everything I can to be a better player, be a better teammate,” said Antonacci, who is from Springfield. “It’s coming to the field every day, trying to find different ways as much as I can to just better myself.”
He has been hit by a pitch 23 times, matching the franchise single-season record.
“It’s why he’s a psychopath, it’s what makes him great,” Sox hitting coach Derek Shomon said Sunday. “It’s part of the ‘finding the way’ type deal. How do we create 90s? How do we touch a pillow as many times as we can? And that’s a way that (Antonacci) can and will do it.”
Embracing change
Cade Townsend had a rare number of the back of his Cubs pinstriped jersey.
The 2026 first-round pick wore No. 65 as he took in Wrigley Field on Wednesday morning with a special meaning behind the number choice.
“A lot of people said, ‘Man, you’re just a 6-foot right-hander,’ and when I’m on the mound, I think I’m 6-5,” Townsend said Wednesday. “So, I really think I’m better than you in every way and I don’t care how small I am.”
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Wednesday wasn’t Townsend’s first time at the ballpark. He attended a few games during the 2015-16 seasons.
“It’s unreal, I mean, I don’t think there’s another organization like it,” Townsend said. “And I told my agents the day before the draft, I said, ‘Get me here, no matter what. This is where I want to be.’ And you really see that now, and it’s really cool to see the process of ‘How does every guy work together?’ And it’s really a family, and I really appreciate that.”
In the weeks since Townsend signed with the Cubs, the right-hander has embraced the adjustments the organization envisioned implementing with the 21-year-old. When Townsend first arrived at the Cubs complex in Mesa, Ariz., after signing in mid July, he sat down with the development side of the organization to go over goals, what they wanted to accomplish and how to attack it. The first task, which initially was Townsend’s idea: lowering his arm slot.
The hope is that will keep Townsend throwing harder, keep him healthier and allow him to throw more innings. The tweak is a notable difference, going from around 60-62 degrees this past season at the University of Mississippi to between 55-56 degrees now. He already is seeing an increase in velocity. He maxed out at 91 mph during his bullpens at Ole Miss and averaged more than 95 mph in his starts. Right now Townsend is currently touching 93-94 mph during his pens in Arizona, which he believes will translate to more velocity in game action.
Townsend could tell over the course of his season with Ole Miss that his arm slot kept getting higher.
“I kind of knew it, you just can feel it when you get to a certain point of, hey, this feels better in catch play, like, it’s going to get better on the mound,” Townsend said. “And then I told them, and they’re like, yeah, that’s what we’re going to do, that’s exactly right. Like, all the data matches up with what you’re doing.
“The good thing about me is I have an innate ability to just feel my body, I think that’s what makes me great is I can make a change in one throw, so I can just feel it and see, hey, this felt good, this didn’t feel good. And then of course you have video data or the analytics to see is what I’m feeling correct.”
Number of the week: 8.3
With roughly five weeks left in the regular season, Pete Crow-Armstrong has the eighth-best fWAR (8.3) in Cubs history. Only four Cubs hitters have eclipsed at least 9.0 fWAR: Rogers Hornsby (11, 1929), Sammy Sosa (9.9, 2001), Ernie Banks (9.7, 1959) and Ron Santo (9.5, 1967).
Week ahead: Cubs
- Friday: at Mariners, 9:10 p.m., Marquee
- Saturday: at Mariners, 6:15 p.m., WPWR-Ch. 50
- Sunday: at Mariners, 3:10 p.m., Marquee
- Monday: at Diamondbacks, 8:40 p.m., Marquee
- Tuesday: at Diamondbacks, 8:40 p.m., Marquee
- Wednesday: at Diamondbacks, 2:40 p.m., Marquee
- Thursday: off
The Cubs will get closer Daniel Palencia back Friday before they begin their series against the Mariners.
Palencia has been sidelined since mid-June because of a flexor strain. The Cubs envision working Palencia back in via non-save situations initially, though ultimately the goal is to get his workload and usage back to that point. They will need to make a 40-man roster move and clear a bullpen spot when they activate Palencia from the injured list.
Left-hander Justin Steele (flexor strain) is on the verge of facing hitters for the first time since his setback in April. He still has a bit to go in the rehab process before Steele would be ready to pitch for the Cubs.
Right-hander Ben Brown (stress reaction in neck) also is taking positive steps. He is scheduled to pitch to hitters Friday at the team’s complex in Mesa, Ariz.
Meanwhile, left-hander Riley Martin (flexor strain) will not return this season. If recovery issues remain from his injury, Martin and the Cubs are expected to consider other options, with surgery among those potential choices. Right-hander Hunter Harvey (triceps inflammation) had been experiencing positive momentum at the start of the month as he progressed to bullpens. However, post-pitching recovery again has become an issue, and the Cubs are nearing a point at which they must decide if Harvey coming back this year is feasible.
Week ahead: White Sox
- Friday: vs. Mets, 6:40 p.m., CHSN
- Saturday: vs. Mets, 6:10 p.m., CHSN
- Sunday: vs. Mets, 1:10 p.m., CHSN
- Monday: vs. Rangers, 6:40 p.m., CHSN
- Tuesday: vs. Rangers, 6:40 p.m., CHSN
- Wednesday: vs. Rangers, 6:40 p.m., CHSN
- Thursday: off
Jake Rogers was in the Tigers lineup July 25. He batted for the Baltimore Orioles on July 31 and hit for the Boston Red Sox on Aug. 6.
He was behind the plate and in the No. 9 slot for the White Sox on Saturday.
“It’s been a lot of flying around and a lot of mileage points for sure,” Rogers said jokingly Saturday in Detroit.
The Sox claimed the catcher off waivers Aug. 14. He became the first player in major-league history to play for the four teams in the span of 21 games.
“It’s been a crazy few weeks here, been a whirlwind to say the least,” Rogers said.
With his single in Wednesday’s game against the Cubs, Rogers became the seventh player in major-league history with a hit for four teams in the same season.
The priority has been connecting with the pitching staff as quickly as possible.
“It’s a little bit like you get thrown in the fire a little bit, but it’s part of it,” Rogers told the Tribune before Wednesday’s game. “You’ve kind of done the same thing your whole life, so you’re a little used to it. But you want to be comfortable with everybody and I think just talking with guys and learning them as soon as possible and really getting out there, catching their bullpens, being in game, I think is the best time to learn them.
“Obviously you’d rather catch them before you get out there. But sometimes it doesn’t work like that. So just talking with the pitching staff and talking with these guys, trying to learn them as quick as possible is the only way. You can watch a little bit of video, but at the end of the day the best course is just catching them a little bit, whether that’s in the bullpen or in the game.”
What we’re reading today
- Column: White Sox are off to the races after salvaging a win against the Cubs in the City Series finale
- City Series: José Urquidy ‘had everything working’ as he steps up in White Sox’s 3-0 win over Cubs
- City Series: 3 takeaways from the Cubs’ series win, including Clay Holmes’ value — and walk-off magic
- Column: 20 years after A.J. Pierzynski became a City Series villain, Pete Crow-Armstrong steps into the void
- 3 arrested at Wrigley Field during City Series, but none related to viral brawl in bleachers, sources say
- Column: It’s never too soon to think about a Cubs-White Sox World Series in Chicago
- How the Cubs will handle Dansby Swanson missing 4 weeks — and Edward Cabrera’s new role after the IL
- Column: David Ross returns to Wrigley Field with nothing but love for the Cubs
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Quotable
“A lot of traffic.” — Sox DH Andrew Benintendi when asked what a White Sox-Cubs World Series would be like