The New York Mets (58-70) are in the Windy City to open a weekend series against the Chicago White Sox (66-61) tonight. The Sox continue to control the AL Central leading the second-place Twins by 3.5 games while the Mets despite having played better since the Trade Deadline including four of the last five continue to hold down last place in the NL East.
A few numbers help explain why these teams have such vastly different records but none moreso than runs scored. The Sox have outscored the Mets 605-531.
The Mets will look Sean Manaea (4-5, 4.22 ERA) to slow down the ChiSox offense tonight. The veteran has been solid over his last five starts allowing ten runs over 31.1 innings. He averages about one strikeout per inning, but his numbers vary game-to-game. Sean Burke (7-6, 3.15 ERA) gets the ball for Chicago. The righthander saw his streak of 10 starts in which he allowed two or fewer earned runs snapped this past Sunday when he allowed four earned runs over 4.1 innings in Motown against the Tigers.
Lets dive into today’s matchup and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game Details and How to Watch: Mets vs. White Sox
- Date: Friday, August 21, 2026
- Time: 8:10PM EST
- Site: Rate Field
- City: Chicago, IL
- Network/Streaming: MLB.TV, WB New York, CSN
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The Latest Odds: Mets vs. White Sox – August 21
The latest odds as of Friday courtesy of DraftKings:
- Moneyline: New York Mets (+131), Chicago White Sox (-140)
- Spread: Mets +1.5 (+175), White Sox -1.5 (+144)
- Total: 8.0 runs
Starting Pitchers and their Stats: Mets vs. White Sox for August 21
- Mets: Sean Manaea
Season Totals: 111.0 IP, 4-5, 4.22 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 113K, 37 BB - White Sox: Sean Burke
Season Totals: 140.0 IP, 7-6, 3.15 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 154K, 42 BB
Who’s Hot? Who’s Not! Mets vs. White Sox
- Bo Bichette is 2-3 in his career against Sean Burke
- In his last 5 starts starting with his most recent, Sean Burke has struck out 2, 8, 4, 10, and 10 hitters
- Randal Grichuk is 6-19 including 2 HRs in his career against Sean Manaea
- Carson Benge is hitting .311 (19-61) in August
- A.J. Ewing is 2-21 over his last 6 games
- Sam Antonacci is 1-17 over his last 5 games
- Miguel Vargas had his 6-game hitting streak (10-24) snapped yesterday
- Munetaka Murakami has struck out 28 times in 68 ABs in August
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Top Betting Trends & Insights: Mets vs. White Sox
- The White Sox are an MLB-best 76-51 on the Run Line this season
- The Mets are 59-69 on the Run Line this season
- The OVER has cashed 56 times in games involving the Mets this season (56-62-10)
- The OVER has cashed an MLB-best 71 times in games involving the White Sox this season (71-54-2)
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Expert picks & predictions: Mets vs. White Sox for August 21
Rotoworld Bet Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for tonight’s game between the Mets and the White Sox:
- Moneyline: Rotoworld Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline.
- Spread: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the White Sox on the Run Line.
- Total: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Game Total OVER 8.0.
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