Despite tonight’s loss to the Reds, the White Sox saw their magic number to clinch the division drop down to 6 thanks to the Twins loss to the Cubs. Both series continue tomorrow.
Category / Baseball
Back To The Postseason
The White Sox punched their post-season ticket and reduced their magic number for the Central Division title to 7 with today’s victory over the Twins. The team is now guaranteed to make their first playoff appearance since 2008 and hold a 3 game lead over the second-place Twins after taking 3 out of the 4 games in this crucial series.
Don’t stop now boys!
9 To Go
Following tonight’s victory over the Twins, the White Sox saw their magic number for clinching their first division title since 2008 drop to 9. Their magic number for clinching a playoff spot sits at 2.
As the immortal Hawk Harrelson was fond of saying, don’t stop now, boys.
RIP Tom Terrific
Former White Sox pitcher and Hall of Famer Tom Seaver passed away Monday at the age of 75. Seaver won 311 games, had a 2.86 earned-run average and struck out 3,640 batters over a 20-year career that began in 1967. The 12-time All-Star led the National League in wins three times, ERA three times and strikeouts five times. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992, earning 98.8 percent of the vote, the highest voting percentage ever received at the time.
Seaver joined the White Sox at the end of his career, acquired in the free agent compensation draft in 1984. He quickly made his mark on the south side, earning two wins in the same day by pitching the final inning of a suspended, 25 inning contest from the day before and then starting the regularly scheduled game against the Brewers. On August 4, 1985, Seaver threw a complete game to earn his 300th career victory against the Yankees in New York.
Seaver is survived by his wife Nancy and daughters Sarah and Anne.
No-No
In 2018, Lucas Giolito was, statistically, the worst starting pitcher in baseball. That offseason, he began rebuilding his game from the ground up, leading to an All Star appearance last year and culminating in a no hitter last night. Giolito held the hapless Pirates hitless, striking out 13 while facing one batter over the minimum of 27.
Giolito’s no hitter was the first of 2020 and the 19th in White Sox history, the first since Phillip Humber’s perfect game against the Mariners in 2012.
The End Of An Era
Now that baseball is back with the designated hitter in both leagues, the potential exists for the complete end of pitchers hitting, a tradition going back well over 100 years. While pitchers may return to the dish in 2021, assuming there is a “normal” 2021 season, it is likely that the next CBA, which will take effect following the 2021 season, will implement a universal DH permanently.
Last August 24th, I took in my final National League game of the 2019 season, meaning that Cubs starter Jose Quintana may very well end up as the last pitcher I will ever see bat. Let’s take a look at the batting leaders among pitchers in all of the games that I have seen in person between 1984 and 2019.
Home Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Carlos Zambrano | 4 |
| Kerry Wood | 3 |
| 10 tied with | 1 |
Hits
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Carlos Zambrano | 24 |
| Kerry Wood | 10 |
| Jason Marquis | 9 |
| Mark Prior | 9 |
| Ted Lilly | 8 |
Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Carlos Zambrano | 11 |
| Jason Marquis | 6 |
| Kerry Wood | 4 |
| Mark Prior | 3 |
| Matt Clement | 3 |
| Sean Green | 3 |
RBI
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Carlos Zambrano | 13 |
| Kerry Wood | 8 |
| Jason Marquis Continue reading → |
On The Move Again
Robert Feder reported yesterday that the flagship radio home of the White Sox will likely be changing next season. While nothing is official, all signs are pointing to a deal with WMVP ESPN 1000, the team’s radio home from 1996 through 2005.
A station change may also lead to a shakeup in the booth. Current play-by-play man Andy Masur, a WGN mainstay, is on a one year contract following the death of Ed Farmer. Darrin Jackson, who has been in the radio booth since 2009 and part of the overall broadcast team for the Sox since 2000, is nearing 60. With the White Sox poised to be contenders for the next several years, the new bosses at ESPN 1000 may want to refresh the presentation.
Homer History
The White Sox have been on a historic home run streak over the past few days. Sunday, versus the Cardinals, they notched the 10th occurrence in MLB history of 4 consecutive home runs when Yoan Moncada, Yasmani Grandal, Jose Abreu, and Eloy Jimenez went deep back to back to back to back in the 5th inning. The first three home runs also became the first time a team had 3 Cuban-born players go back to back to back.
This was the second time the White Sox have accomplished this rare feat, joining the Nationals as the only franchise to do it more than once. Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramírez, and Juan Uribe did the same on August 14, 2008 against the Royals.
The White Sox followed up on that with a little more history on Monday night. Last week, in Detroit, Tim Anderson and Eloy Jimenez led off the game against starter Matthew Boyd with back to back home runs. Boyd was back on the bump against the White Sox Monday night in Chicago, and again served up two home run balls to start the game, to Anderson again and Yoan Moncada. This made the White Sox the first team to ever lead off a game with back to back home runs against the same pitcher twice. They also halved the previous record of time between games with back to back home runs to start a game, down to 5. The Dodgers held the previous record, at 10 games.
Here We Go Again
Tomorrow’s scheduled game between the Cardinals and the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field, which originally was tonight’s scheduled game in Iowa at the Field of Dreams site, has reportedly been cancelled as yet another Cardinals staffer has tested positive for the corona virus. The current plan is for the Cardinals, who have played a grand total of 5 games so far this season, to arrive in Chicago on Saturday, by rental car if necessary, and play a double header against the White Sox, followed by the normally scheduled game on Sunday.
Assuming that goes off without a hitch, they would stay in town to face the Cubs, adding an additional double header to make up one of the games missed last weekend. At this point, the chances of the Cardinals completing a “full” 60-game season seem rather remote, even if everything else goes as planned for the rest of the year.
A Pause In The Season
This weekend’s series between the Cubs and the Cardinals in St. Louis has been cancelled after an additional two Cardinal players and a staff member have tested positive for COVID-19. In total, nine Cardinals players have tested positive for the corona virus since last week and the team has not played since July 29th. Assuming they can resume play on Monday, they will need to play 55 games in just 49 days in order to complete their 60 game schedule.
The Cubs will head back to Chicago tonight, and then likely hold work outs at Wrigley Field before resuming their schedule on Tuesday in Cleveland. They aren’t scheduled to return to St. Louis this year, so making up these games will likely include some combination of double headers at Wrigley and mutual off days, if the games are made up at all.