Chicago’s offense hopes to stay hot in Tuesday’s game against the Athletics after the White Sox dropped 11 runs on the Colorado Rockies in just one inning on Monday afternoon for their fourth consecutive win. The irony here is that both the Sox and the Rockies are essentially the worst teams in baseball, yet they both rank in the top four in Spring Training OPS — just like they drew it up.
Typically, the A’s would be right there with them at the bottom, but they, too, have an exciting young core of
players. They’ve flipped a switch offensively over the past week and are currently riding a three-game win streak. Just in the last seven days, the Athletics have the most hits (78), home runs (13), and RBIs (53), and are also tied for most doubles (17). Their pitching staff, however, hasn’t experienced the same success recently. While the A’s pitchers are leading MLB with 72 strikeouts over the past week, they have also allowed the most walks, hits, and earned runs while posting a 6.21 ERA.
With righthander Shane Smith taking the mound for the Good Guys, ideally, the Athletics are brought back down to earth as Smith prepares for his 2026 Opening Day debut. In two spring starts, Smith has accumulated a 5.79 ERA in 4 2/3 innings with two strikeouts. Yes, it’s in a tiny sample size, but his strong performance last season tells us that we shouldn’t be worried about a few Spring Training innings. It also certainly helps that the South Side offense has mashed the most hits (174) and triples (10), and is slashing .282/.363/.483 as a team.
Lefthander Jeffrey Springs is making his third start of the preseason for the Athletics, with a rough 9.00 ERA in only four innings, but like Smith, he was decent for the A’s in 2025 with a 4.11 ERA across 171 frames. Springs holds a 3.64 career ERA across 177 games and 67 starts, though if there’s a team that has been hitting lefties well, it would be the White Sox. Against southpaws, the South Siders hold the third-best OPS (.877) and are tied with the LA Dodgers for the top slugging percentage (.505).
While there isn’t a live television broadcast for this game, an MLB.TV or MLB+ subscription will allow you to listen in via the A’s radio broadcast. First pitch is at 3:05 p.m. CDT — let’s get five in a row!
