Polling Place: Which is likelier, the White Sox winning 90 games or the Cubs losing 90?

The White Sox certainly aren’t off to a rip-roaring start, but most people still expect them to eventually get into a sustained groove.

The Cubs are off to a discouraging start, and can anyone think of a reason it won’t continue?

In this week’s “Polling Place” — your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter — we asked voters which is likelier, that the Sox will win 90 games or the Cubs will lose 90 games.

“Sox 94-68, Cubs 52-110,” @GeorgeHoldcroft predicted.

We also asked which starter you’d pick for a must-win game: the Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks, the Sox’ Lucas Giolito or the Sox’ Dylan Cease.

“Gotta be honest,” @DanGoodwinIII wrote, “Cease is that dude. I would call on him.”

Finally, we asked in regard to the Bears, Blackhawks and Cubs: Which team is furthest from a championship?

“Is this a trick question?” @revot14 asked.

No tricks, just picks. On to the polls:

Poll No. 1: Which is likelier, that the White Sox will win 90 games or the Cubs will lose 90 games?

Upshot: The earlier 52-110 prediction for the Cubs seems overly dire, but this clearly is a losing team that was up against it in the talent department even before the injury list grew to outsized proportions. The Cubs will have to compete with all they’ve got — and then some — to stay within sniffing range of .500. Wait, did we say .500? We’re beginning to think we meant .400.

Poll No. 2: Must-win game tomorrow, and all three Chicago pitchers are on full rest. Who’s your starter?

Upshot: Anyone else a bit surprised that young Cease got the nod? The veteran Giolito has, after all, been solid as a rock for a few years now. Hendricks has had an excellent career and has invaluable postseason experience. Cease — a former Cubs prospect — has so much talent and lately has been putting it all together. Cracked @WhiteSox_UK: “Dylan Cease would run for president and I would vote for him.”

Poll No. 3: Which team is furthest from a championship?

Upshot: “The parity in this poll speaks volumes for the Chicago sports landscape,” according to @i_am_hoops, who makes, let’s face it, a sensible observation. But it’s the Hawks who win — sorry, lose — this one, and by a margin that could hardly be described as tight. Put it this way: It’s more like a 5-2 loss sealed by an empty netter than a 3-2 loss in an overtime shootout.