Eight games remain in the regular season, and suddenly the White Sox are fighting for their postseason lives.
The South Siders enter Saturday’s contest against the Tigers in second place in the AL Central and clinging to the third and final Wild Card spot. They lead the Texas Rangers by one game and the Toronto Blue Jays by two. Thankfully, Chicago holds the tiebreaker over both clubs, having won the season series against Texas, 4-2, and Toronto, 5-1.
Those advantages matter, but only if the White
Sox start winning games again.
The pitching staff will try to redeem itself after completely blowing Friday night’s game. The Good Guys put six runs on the board in the first inning and carried an 8-2 advantage into the fifth. That should have been more than enough to push them across the finish line. Instead, the staff surrendered nine unanswered runs in an 11-8 collapse that ranks among the season’s most gut-wrenching losses.
Chicago began the night tied with Cleveland for first place in the division, but holding the tie-breaker. Of course, the Guardians beat the A’s, leaving the White Sox looking up from behind once again.
Can they flush that disaster and rebound this afternoon? Hopefully, Sean Burke can steady an increasingly unstable ship.
The righthander was solid in his last outing against Cleveland on Sept. 14, tossing five innings and allowing one unearned run on four hits. He walked two and struck out four while throwing 94 pitches.
The Baseball Savant numbers offer a fairly clear blueprint for Burke: Stick with what works. His fastball run value ranks in the 94th percentile, while his four-seamer and cutter sit in the 93rd and 89th percentiles, respectively. Those have been his two most effective weapons, and he will need to lean on them against a Detroit offense that is beginning to heat up.
Burke’s breaking pitches are a much different story. His overall breaking-ball run value ranks in the 18th percentile, with his slider in the 28th and his curveball all the way down in the 14th. His sinker hasn’t been especially effective, either, ranking in the 33rd percentile.
In other words, this probably isn’t the afternoon to get cute. Burke needs to establish the four-seamer, work the cutter off it and avoid falling behind in counts where he is forced to bring a lesser secondary pitch into the heart of the zone. His strikeout rate ranks in the 73rd percentile, but his walk rate is below average. Free passes against this lineup could quickly turn into trouble.
Spencer Torkelson is swinging a particularly hot bat, and the Tigers as a whole have posted a team .814 OPS over the last seven days, sixth best in baseball. After Friday’s bullpen meltdown, the Sox desperately need Burke to provide both length and stability.
Jackson Jobe gets the ball for the Motor City Kitties. The righty was Detroit’s first-round pick, No. 3 overall, in the 2021 draft. He has yet to pitch a full season in the big leagues and is coming off Tommy John surgery in 2025.
Jobe returned on Aug. 8 and owns a 2-2 record, a 3.89 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP over seven starts and 34 2/3 innings. He won his last outing against the Rockies after allowing one run on three hits over 6 1/3 frames, walking one and striking out eight.
Jobe brings premium velocity, ranking in the 93rd percentile, but velocity does not necessarily equal dominance. His four-seamer has been one of his least effective offerings, while his changeup has also produced poor results. His sinker has been considerably better and helps explain his 77th-percentile ground-ball rate.
That gives the White Sox hitters a plan of attack. They need to avoid chasing Jobe’s secondary pitches outside the zone, force him to bring the ball over the plate and look to elevate something they can drive. His chase rate is strong, but his whiff rate is not, suggesting hitters can make contact if they refuse to help him.
The Sox should also avoid pounding his sinker into the ground all afternoon. Jobe has allowed plenty of damaging contact when hitters lift the ball, with his hard-hit rate ranking in the 73rd percentile and his launch-angle sweet-spot rate in the 94th. If Chicago can hunt the four-seamer or a changeup left over the plate, there should be opportunities to do damage.
Brenton Doyle is back in the lineup this afternoon. He has found his offensive groove recently and is one of Chicago’s hottest hitters, slashing .353/.353/.529 with a .882 OPS over the last seven days. Chase Meidroth, Miguel Vargas and Sam Antonacci also continue to swing the bat well.
On the flip side, Colson Montgomery, Munetaka Murakami and Kyle Teel remain stuck in the mud. The White Sox have managed only a .663 team OPS over the past seven days. That will not be good enough during a stretch in which every game carries postseason consequences.
White Sox Lineup
Tigers Lineup
Eight games remain. The division lead is gone, the Wild Card cushion is shrinking and the Rangers and Blue Jays are close enough to make things uncomfortable.
Time to see whether the White Sox can pick themselves up off the mat.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. CDT. The game will be televised on CHSN and can be heard on ESPN 1000.
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