Toronto Blue Jays vs Chicago White Sox Predictions, Betting Odds & Picks

Garcia’s 2021 record: (24-19-2)

How to Watch Blue Jays vs White Sox

Ryu and Keuchel Faceoff in Battle of the Lefties

It’s going to be southpaw on southpaw crime on Thursday when Huyn Jin Ryu and Dallas Keuchel face off Thursday evening on the South Side of Chicago. The two have had fairly different seasons but both come in with stellar records.

Keuchel has an impressive 4-1 record but that’s likely better than he’s pitched, given his 1.29 WHIP and 4.25 ERA. Of his 12 starts this year, just three have been quality starts (where he’s gone six innings or more while giving up three runs or fewer).

However, he is coming off one of his stronger starts of the season when he gave up just one earned run on five hits over six innings in a win over Detroit last week.

On the other side, Hyun Jin Ryu’s 5-3 record isn’t quite as impressive, but his 3.23 ERA and 1.11 WHIP both rank in the top 32 in all of baseball. And, that’s even after his worst start of the season that ballooned his ERA by nearly 0.6 of a point, from 2.62.

Ryu faced one of the toughest offenses in all of baseball in the Astros and gave up a season-high six earned runs in 5.2 innings. Prior to that Ryu had held opponents to two earned runs or fewer in eight of his past 10 starts.

Will Offenses Wake up for the Series Finale?

Many people expected fireworks in this series offensively with the White Sox and Blue Jays both ranking in the top 10 in all of baseball in runs scored this season.

Well, two games in, and that hasn’t exactly happened. Chicago took the series opener 6-1 and Wednesday’s contest was an even lower scoring affair with it also going under the total.

But both of these offenses are plenty deep and should have an opportunity to put up a few in this one. The reason the Blue Jays might put up crooked numbers is that Keuchel hasn’t been great this season. They haven’t done that much against left-handed pitching lately, losing seven of their last 10 games against lefties, but they have depth and can put up runs in a hurry.

The White Sox have a tougher task against Ryu, but that shouldn’t phase them — they absolutely dominate left-handed pitching. Chicago is 13-3 straight up in its last 16 games against lefties

Up and down the White Sox lineup are hitters that pound left-handed pitching. Five players are hitting .298 or better against lefties this year and SEVEN  different players with at least 23 at-bats have an OPS above .900.

With all that taken into account, there’s a decent chance we see more runs than initially expected on Thursday.

X-Factor to Watch

We talk about how both of these offenses have tons of power, now it’s just about identifying which player might be the one who is flying under the radar.

For the Blue Jays, we’re going to go with the red-hot Bo Bichette who has been hitting as well as anybody on the team over the past week. Bichette is 6-for-19 (.316) with a double, a triple, and two RBIs during that span.

For Chicago, we’ll go with Nick Madrigal who can seemingly do no wrong these days. The up-and-coming second baseman is a blistering 7-for-15 — with one double and one home run — the last week with two walks and just one strikeout. It also doesn’t hurt to mention he’s hitting lefties at a .373 clip this year with a .989 OPS.