Game Thread: White Sox at Mets

Jonathan Cannon will lead the South Siders as they attempt to even up the series with New York

Prior to tonight’s game, the White Sox announced that catcher Matt Thaiss was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for minor league outfielder Dru Baker. Tampa drafted Baker as the 130th overall pick in the 2021 draft and has spent the most time in High-A and Double-A over the past two seasons. He spent all of 2024 with the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits, where he slashed .288/.344/.328 with a .672 OPS in 467 plate appearances, and so far has posted a .646 OPS in 17 Triple-A games.

Baker split his time almost evenly across all three outfield positions — with a few more games in left than the others — but the good news is that he had a 1.000 fielding percentage in all positions. He has only a small 16 AB sample size in the majors and is batting just .091, but he has, however, been able to get on base a respectable amount with five walks (.375 OBP).

This trade was likely triggered by the fact that Korey Lee has officially returned from his stint on the IL. Prior to landing on the IL, Lee was performing well offensively, and slashing .333/.412/.467 in his first nine games (15 ABs). Thaiss being gone adds an interesting factor into when Kyle Teel might be called up from Triple-A, but it also helps take away some of the question marks by having two “extra” catchers rather than just one.

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The White Sox (17-37) are coming off yet another brutal loss on a blown lead (the 19th, to be exact) to the New York Mets (33-21), who walked off the South Siders after an excellent six-inning scoreless outing from Adrian Houser. Chicago really needs to get the offense going when their pitchers are having a good day, because you really never know when the bullpen will take over and ruin it all.

Righthander Jonathan Cannon will be making his ninth start of the year and has been solid for the White Sox in 2025. In 55 innings, he has garnered a 3.76 ERA and a 1.309 WHIP with 42 strikeouts — the second highest on the White Sox (behind Shane Smith), but averaging just a 17.7% strikeout rate overall. Cannon had a few rough starts in April, but has since bounced back with a 2.74 ERA in his four May starts, and has given up just one home run, compared to five in April.

Although Chase Meidroth officially ended his 12-game hit streak, he still got on base twice with two walks Monday, and will continue to hold down the leadoff spot with a .444 OBP over the last two weeks. Miguel Vargas is rocking a cool 1.000 OPS over his past 13 games (53 ABs) and is batting third tonight behind Mike Tauchman, who officially returned from the IL last week. Lenyn Sosa (.963 OPS) and Joshua Palacios (.887) are the other hot hitters for the South Side over the last two weeks, and they will follow each other in the order at six and seven.

For the Mets, Tylor Megill will be making his 11th start of the season, and has been efficient for New York in 2025, posting a 3.56 ERA and 66 strikeouts over 48 innings. Megill tends to strike out a lot of guys, and has a 31% strikeout rate on the season — his best so far as a major leaguer — and his slider helps with a lot of those. Though he relies on his fastball 42% of the time, he has the best whiff rate on the slider (39.5%), and his changeup is right behind it with a 38% whiff rate, accompanied by a .077 opponent batting average.

The usual Mets sluggers are holding down the top of the order, and Francisco Lindor has the leadoff spot on lock with a .272 average and .802 OPS on the season. Pete Alonso has been on one all season as well, slashing .291/.392/.533 with a .925 OPS on the season — my fantasy team thanks you, Pete.

The game will kick off at 6:10 p.m. CT (7:10 p.m. ET) and can be found in the usual locations. Watch along on CHSN and listen in at ESPN Chicago AM 1000.

The Mets also made an announcement about tomorrow’s game prior to first pitch! The game will now be played at 12:10 p.m. CT due to weather in the forecast for Wednesday.