With just two games left in the regular season, time is running short to tie (i.e., catch) the Cleveland Guardians for first place in the AL Central and the associated free pass to the ALDS via the American League’s No. 2 seed. Naturally, that makes tonight’s final night game of the regular season a must-win — and as should be clear from the above, the White Sox could not have written a better script to send off their season.
Former ace/No. 2 starter Davis Martin takes the mound, with current ace Sean
Burke scheduled for Sunday. And while you might not expect much of a starting pitcher challenge from a 57-win Rockies team, we’re catching a couple of Colorado’s weakest to finish the season. That begins with Old Friend Jose Quintana taking the mound for the purples on Saturday.
Jose is pitching to a 5.40 ERA over 10 starts, and believe it or not he’s lucky to have that modest an ERA given 18 walks against a mere 22 strikeouts this season. At 37, he’s just about done for his career, and he will retire as the best Columbian-born MLB pitcher ever. He also forever remains the best, if not only, “lottery ticket” pickup for the White Sox by GM Rick Hahn.
The White Sox have their “vs. lefties” order rolled out tonight, which unfortunately is missing Chase Meidroth (hamstring) but includes Tommy Pham (GM intimidation). However, with the shift of Sam Antonacci to second base opening up left field for Randal Grichuk, there may not be a lot lost without Meidroth despite how scorching hot he was for the Kansas City series.
Mild roster news comes from the maternity ward, as Jake Rogers is on the verge of becoming a dad and thus has taken the weekend off for paternity leave; Drew Romo, close enough to the club to have been featured as a non-rostered participant in the beer and champagne showers on Thursday, slots in Rogers’ stead.
Finally, for the many of you who have lost faith in Chicago’s ability to tie (overtake) Cleveland here in the season’s waning days, note that a few Royals are licking their chops at the prospect of digging in against tonight’s Guardians starter Tanner Bibee:
The Royals and Guardians tip off at the same 6:10 p.m. CT the White Sox do, and all season finale games run at the same time tomorrow, so it will be quite the scoreboard-watching weekend.
CHSN/WMVP-AM/La Ley 107.9 FM on your dials as usual, and Chrystal O’Keefe will be around to supply your celebratory recap postgame.
