Last week was tough for the Chicago White Sox, who could have practically shut the door on the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central race but couldn’t finish the job. With six games remaining in the regular season, the Good Guys start the week with a three-game road trip to face the Kansas City Royals. At this point in the season, the White Sox still control their fate by simply winning games, but the first-round bye that accompanies the division title sounds a whole lot better.
The good news is that
the Royals have been struggling again lately, going 3-7 in their last 10, and the South Siders are coming off a rest day and a 3-1 series win over the Detroit Tigers. But let’s not ignore the fact that the one loss was devastating; yes, the one where they blew a 6-0, then 8-2 lead that dropped Chicago out of first. You know the one.
After a day off, the bullpen should be more rested ahead of these final six games, though it would be most ideal for left-handed starter Anthony Kay to own at least five innings. The southpaw looked solid in his last start after a rough stretch. Though two runs scored with Kay on the mound, neither was earned, and the Guardians managed just two hits off him before he was pulled after four frames.
It’s understandable that manager Will Venable keeps a shorter leash on Kay, who owns a 6.00 ERA in his last seven starts and has surrendered 22 earned runs across 33 innings, but there’s also room to evaluate each situation accordingly. Kay relies on a six-pitch arsenal, but tends to throw the sweeper (23.1%) and four-seamer (22.1%) most often; when it’s on, the sweeper is a knockout pitch, drawing a 33.7% whiff and holding opponents to a .238 batting average and a .217 xBA.
With lefthander Daniel Lynch IV on the mound for the Royals, the White Sox are rolling with a classic righty/lefty matchup for the batting order. While Randal Grichuk typically takes the DH role against lefties, he will remain in left field while Tristan Peters takes another day to rest after colliding with the outfield wall in Friday night’s game. Before you ask, yes, Venable does in fact have the ability to play left-handed hitters despite facing a southpaw, but instead of doing that and letting Sam Antonacci play, you will get 38-year-old Tommy Pham batting second, and you will like it.
Your AL Player of the Week, Miguel Vargas, will take over for Chase Meidroth in the leadoff position, which is totally fair considering he posted the seventh-highest OPS (1.250) in MLB over the last seven days, slashing .313/.500/.750 in 16 at-bats. Brenton Doyle has also been getting more playing time with Peters out, but he’s been excellent over the past seven games with a .364/.364/.500 slash line.
Lynch will make his ninth start of the season and his 54th appearance in 2026, and he’s been great for Kansas City this year. The lefty has pitched most of the season out of the bullpen (46 IP as a reliever), but has also shifted into a starting role (30 2/3 IP) since mid-August. As a bonus for the South Siders, Lynch owns a 5.28 ERA as a starting pitcher, and batters are hitting .241 against him compared to a 1.96 ERA and a .185 opponent BA as a reliever.
Even with a lefty on the mound, the Royals will stick with the five left-handed hitters in their lineup, though it’s not like Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia, and Salvador Perez are players to scoff at. The biggest threats in the lineup are Carter Jensen (.773 OPS), Witt (.799) and Jac Caglianone (.821).
We’ve been hoping for meaningful baseball for years, and now we have it. I can’t say I don’t wish we’d already clinched; however, we’re probably all collectively losing our minds game by game. Temperatures in Kansas City are in the low 70s and upper 60s, so it should be a beautiful night for some baseball that can only get better with a White Sox win. Tune in to CHSN for the TV broadcast, or ESPN Chicago AM 1000 for the radio and we’ll catch you here after the game.
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