Until The Final Bell: The Chicago White Sox and the Playoffs
Jul 10, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox second baseman Emilio Bonifacio (64) celebrates with Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu (79) after he scores against the Chicago Cubs in the eighth inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
Listen up folks. The 2015 Chicago White Sox are not dead.
Going into last night’s game the White Sox trailed the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays by three games. One team will fall and one team I expect to continue to ascend but you can read about that shortly.
This team has clearly disappointed but in case you missed it they just went 16-10 in the month of July so this team has some fight left.
Are the odds stacked against them? Yes.
Do they have a shot? It’s baseball. Anything can happen.
So like how Rocky kept getting up after being knocked down, this team is still fighting and until that final bell rings in October, I’m not giving up my renewed hope.
In order to make the playoffs though the team must do the following:
Next: Winning is everything.
Jul 6, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox right fielder Avisail Garcia (26) hits an RBI single during fourth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports
The Team Must Play Better
Duh… Clearly continuing to play at this season’s pace won’t get it done. There are 59 games left in the season and the team is 50-53. In my opinion they’ll need to win at least 35 of those 59 games in order to have a shot at the playoffs.
Is it possible? Not likely but we have seen this team play at a high level over short stretches.
Kill the Losing Streaks
When you need to win as many games as possible you cannot afford to lose more than two games in a row. Luckily the White Sox have five starters who could throw a gem anytime though the top three in the rotation are the ones I’d feel most comfortable with. This team can ill afford to have a losing streak let alone multiple ones in the next two months.
Win The Divisional Games
As of right now, there are two teams in the division ahead of the White Sox and one team right on their backs. In order to have a shot, the White Sox will need to beat these teams within their division. Only two series in the month of September are against non-divisional opponents. If the White Sox are to stay in contention they’ll need to win these series and cannot afford to lose ground to their divisional foes.
The one silver lining is that the Detroit Tigers, Twins and Cleveland Indians could be spending September playing their minor leaguers in an attempt to see what they can do while the White Sox could have something to play for.
Next: A little help would be nice.
Feb 18, 2014; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn speaks to the media during MLB media day at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Waiver Moves
The White Sox are in a position of luxury where they can make waiver moves that other teams cannot based on their record. If they want a bat or a pitcher they could always put in a claim and get the player outright like they did with Alex Rios a few years ago.
This team could use a fifth starter to lessen the innings load on Carlos Rodon though he’s doing a good job of that himself with his short starts. Even if they do not make a waiver move they can play spoiler by claiming any and all players who come across the wire.
Other Teams Above Them Falter
The Twins are smoke and mirrors. They did not make a move of great significance to bolster the team. They are a team that’s played well above their talent level. The Twins are 3-7 in their last 10 games which could be the sign that they are starting to come back to Earth a bit.
The Los Angeles Angels are 1-9 in their last 10 games and now sit in second place in the AL West. It looks like they will be losing C.J. Wilson for the year which only furthers doubts that they’ll be able to manage winning the A.L. West let alone the second Wild Card. They’ll play the White Sox seven times in the next two and a half weeks.
With a series looming against the Tampa Bay Rays, the White Sox could do some damage into their hopes while bolstering their own. The Rays are limited offensively and their pitching staff has been ravaged by injuries. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to last the next two months with the way their roster is construed.
Become Fans of the Blue Jays
The only team in Canada scares me and in a one game series I’d want nothing to do with them. Therefore we should all root for them to catch the New York Yankees.
I’d like Chris Sale’s chances more against the Yankees and Masahiro Tanaka than David Price and the offense of the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays only trail the Yankees by 5.5 games but the Yankees pitching depth will be tested without Michael Pineda and they may fall back to the pack.
Though we all know what that offense is capable of after watching this past weekend.
Next: Pitching is the key.
Jul 30, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (49) pitches against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Chris Sale Need to Turn Into Clayton Kershaw 2.0
Sale is arguably the third best pitcher in the game today. The reason why he isn’t one or two is because Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer don’t have that horrendous outing. Sale has given up seven and eight runs respectively in two starts this year.
I’m not bashing the guy. He is by far the best pitcher the White Sox have had in my lifetime but we need him to take that next step. If he does and the White Sox win nine of his next 11 starts then they should be in good position at the end of the year to make some noise.
This is where he goes from fringe Cy Young contender to the most dominant pitcher in the AL.
Quality Start Bonanza
Wins would be great but let us be realistic. The White Sox will lose some games over the course of the next 59 they play. What would be nice is if the starters could go out there and throw quality starts every time.
In case you didn’t know a quality start is six or more innings with three or fewer earned runs allowed. Now I’m not expecting shutouts. Six innings of three-run ball should be enough to win yourself a lot of ball games.
In the end we as fans entered this season with high hopes and have watched our team struggle to play .500 baseball. Yet they are far from out of it and have about 30 days to prove whether they are playoff worthy or a bust. Last year at the 100 game mark the Kansas City Royals were 50-50 and yet they came within two runs of winning the World Series.
Baseball is a mind boggling game and anything came happen. The White Sox have surprised us this year with their awful play. Maybe they can surprise us with some winning baseball for the next two months.
Next: MLB Power Rankings for the week