Chicago White Sox: How Houston Astros news effects the Sox

The Chicago White Sox are going to be looking to be better than a lot of teams in the Amerian League in 2020 so this news could help them in that pursuit.

The Chicago White Sox are going to have a hard enough time with their own division. They haven’t been a competitive team for the playoffs since 2012 and they haven’t actually made it to the postseason since 2008. This is a year where they want to participate in the MLB playoffs so they need to be ready for everyone. With the Minnesota Twins likely being a good team and the unknown from the Cleveland Indians, the Wild Card race is also important to monitor for the White Sox.

Two teams who might be in that race with the White Sox are the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox. It appears that the New York Yankees are going to coast to a 100 plus win season so the Red Sox are going to likely need the Wild Card to have a shot. The Houston Astros were formerly an American League West favorite but some things could change that.

The allegations against the Houston Astros suggested that they were using technology to relay signs to hitters while they were in the batter’s box. Major League Baseball has come down on the organization hard after weeks of investigations. They have been forced to forfeit some draft picks, been fined five million dollars, and suspend manager A.J. Hinch along with general manager Jeff Luhnow for one full year. In the hours since the news, Astros owner Jim Crane has fired both Hinch and Luhnow.

This affects the Red Sox because their head coach, Alex Cora, was a bench coach with the Astros in 2017. Then he took over as manager for Boston the next year, where they were accused of sign stealing themselves. The organization that Cora was with won the World Series in back to back years and that doesn’t help his case. The punishment for Cora has not come out yet but a severe one is expected.

So how does this all come full circle to affect the White Sox? Because those are two American League opponents who might get a lot worse on the baseball field. The Red Sox were already not division favorites so if they come out of the Wild Card race that could be a spot the White Sox get. If the Astros fall off so someone like the Oakland Athletics or Los Angeles Angels win the division, that takes another team out of said Wild Card race.

It is not good for baseball to see this happening. However, if it is going to happen the White Sox should take advantage of it. The show will go on so hopefully, the White Sox continues to play some good clean baseball. If this makes each of those two teams worse on the field then the White Sox has two fewer powerhouses to worry about.