New York Yankees vs Chicago White Sox: Preview, Prediction & Odds - Aug. 15, 2021

Game time: 2:10 p.m. ET

Venue: Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago, IL

Where to watch: WPIX, NBCSCH, TBS

Yankees: 63-52 (3rd place, AL East)

White Sox: 68-48 (1st place, AL Central)

DJ LeMahieu (R) 2B

Brett Gardner (L) CF

Aaron Judge (R) RF

Joey Gallo (L) LF

Giancarlo Stanton (R) DH

Luke Voit (R) 1B

Rougned Odor (L) 3B

Kyle Higashioka (R) C

Tyler Wade (L) SS

Tim Anderson (R) SS

Cesar Hernandez (S) 2B

Jose Abreu (R) 1B

Eloy Jimenez (R) LF

Yoan Moncada (S) 3B

Andrew Vaughn (R) DH

Luis Robert (R) CF

Adam Engel (R) RF

Seby Zavala (R) C

Probable starting pitchers: Nestor Cortes (NYY) vs Lucas Giolito (CWS)

DraftKings: White Sox -195, Yankees +165; O/U 8.5

Yankees: 3-3 in last six

White Sox: 5-2 in last seven

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That Field of Dreams game was incredible on Thursday night. Drama, home runs, and of course, we predicted the winner and total from the other day.

More importantly from a standings perspective, the Chicago White Sox emerged from the corn field in Dyersville, Iowa with an important walk-off victory. Now the three-game series shifts back to normal, back to Guaranteed Rate Field with the New York Yankees in need of some wins.

Front and center of the biggest home run ever hit in the state of Iowa was leadoff man Tim Anderson, hitting the walk-off and then pulling off the Vince Carter “It’s Over!” as he walked to first base.

“He's the man of our team. What a leader. He came through today. He carried us,” said White Sox bench coach Miguel Cairo, who was taking the place of manager Tony La Russa tending to a family matter. “That was awesome. That was a really good game, an exciting game. It was really special.”

Lest we forget the Yankees rallied with four runs in the top of the ninth to even get Anderson a chance to walk it off. Aaron Judge hit two homers and had five RBI, including one in the ninth to make it a 7-6 game. Then Giancarlo Stanton gave the Yankees the lead with a two-run blast shortly after.

The stadium dimensions were destined to make the over desirable. Eight homers were hit into the corn, giving starters Lance Lynn and Andrew Heaney the rest of the night off after 5 IP each. Lynn, the White Sox ace, had seven strikeouts despite allowing four runs.

“We came back and almost gave them a terrible loss,” Stanton said. “But you never want the game to finish like that, especially battling back. But we’re still in this series, and we need this series.”

The Yankees do need this series to not only gain ground in the wild card race, but to prove that they are still a contender worth being talked about in September. The trade deadline acquisitions of Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo (once he returns from COVID) will need to get going. They will also benefit once Gleyber Torres (sprained thumb) returns.

For all the pomp and circumstance that went to this epic game, to lose in that fashion wasn’t ideal for New York.

“That ruined it a little bit, honestly,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’re here with business to do and these games are huge. It’s tough to walk in here after a tough loss, after it looked like you stole it back. But that said, it was as special and breathtaking a setting for a baseball game that I can ever remember being a part of.”

Nestor Cores will carry his 2.70 ERA and 0-1 record into the series finale.

The White Sox don’t have much to worry about, whereas the Yankees continue to look behind to see the Toronto Blue Jays and ahead at the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. 

The White Sox hold an 11-game lead for first place in the AL Central heading into Saturday. They won’t have to worry about the Minnesota Twins or Kansas City Royals. Lucas Giolito is expected to get the call on the mound for Chicago.

The White Sox are 17-5 when the money line is between -100 to -150 at home. When it creeps toward -125 and -175, they’re 21-5 (+13.4). The over is 15-9 in that stretch.

Given how these teams hit the ball, offenses should carry over strongly back to Chicago. Maybe it was the Iowa air, or maybe the dimensions really did have that much of an impact. Saturday will be a good tell for how it looks, but in this series finale, we expect Chicago to get a crucial series victory. If that over stays at 8.5 long enough, the over is such an enticing bet that it’d be so hard to convince us otherwise. White Sox win, under cashes.

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