Chicago White Sox were 3-1 vs. San Francisco Giants in 2014

Aug 12, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford (35) throws the ball for an out at first base as Chicago White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers (21) safely reaches second base during the seventh inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

For the 2014 season, the Chicago White Sox faced both of the World Series participants in the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals.

In ’14, during interleague play, the White Sox were 3-1 against the eventual NL champion Giants with two wins in June and one win in August, in two two-game series.

On June 17 and 18, the White Sox defeated the Giants 8-2 and 7-6 with John Danks and Chris Sale being the winning pitchers.

In the game on June 17 at US Cellular Field, the White Sox winning pitcher John Danks pitched 6.1 innings, allowing one earned run on five hits and three walks. Hunter Pence hit a home run off Danks in the win.

The loss went to Matt Cain, who allowed seven earned runs in the game.

On the following day, the White Sox gained the win on a day where Sale allowed three earned runs in six innings. In that start, Sale allowed eight hits and walked one.

Tim Hudson had the start for the Giants in that second game against the Giants, where he gave up seven earned runs in 4.2 IP on 12 hits and one walk. Hudson gave up two home runs to Jose Abreu, the Sporting News AL Rookie of the Year, and Adam Dunn.

The two teams didn’t play against each other again until Aug, 12 in San Francisco. The White Sox won that meeting 3-2, but lost the Aug. 13 game by a 7-1 score.

Sale was the starting pitcher for the White Sox on Aug. 12, where he allowed no runs on four hits and two walks. He ended up with a no decision but did strike out 12 San Francisco batters.

The win eventually went to Zach Putnam, where he pitched 1.1 innings of relief. The Giants had Ryan Vogelsong as their starting pitcher, where he on that day pitched seven innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits and two walks in what was also a no decision.

Chicago lost the final meeting against the eventual NL pennant winners on Aug. 13 with former White Sox, Jake Peavy getting the win. Peavy pitched seven innings in the win, allowing one earned run on four hits and three walks. Three White Sox batters were struck out by Peavy, and he allowed a home run to Dunn in the fourth inning.

Jose Quintana was the losing pitcher for the White Sox, allowing four earned runs in 6.2 IP. He did have seven strikeouts in the loss.

So if there is one positive from this season, it was the White Sox who competed very well against the NL champions in the four games they played against each other. Against the Royals, that wasn’t the case, where they were outscored 93-64 in their 19 meetings.

Against KC, the White Sox were 6-13.

This World Series should be very interesting and competitive to watch, and again, maybe the White Sox can eventually reach the level of these two teams, as they already showed they were able to compete competitively against one of the two teams in the Fall Classic.

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