Chicago White Sox: Tough weekend against Cincinnati Reds

The Chicago White Sox had a subpar weekend against the Reds but are in a good spot.

There haven’t been too many times this year that we wake up in the morning after a Chicago White Sox series and have to talk about a loss. They have been so good all season long and it has earned them a right to go to the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. Now, the magic number is four to get into the postseason as the American League Central champions. They weren’t able to get that number lowered after a tough series with the Cincinnati Reds.

The Reds are white-hot right now. That is no excuse but Sunday’s win over the White Sox brought them to 8-2 in their last ten games. The White Sox were coming off a tough series fought against the Minnesota Twins where they clinched right before and they weren’t able to grind out the compete level needed to win a tough series like this. After this series, the Reds are eyeballing a playoff spot themselves after a very disappointing start.

The White Sox went 1-2 in this series and the one positive that came out of it is their win. It came against Trevor Bauer who is one of the best pitchers in the National League. They didn’t look intimidated at all. In fact, it was their best game of the series in a game that was probably the hardest of the three to win. It makes you wonder if the White Sox have the ability to wake up for games that they know are going to be challenging. Hopefully, that is the case as we roll towards the playoffs.

All season long, the White Sox have had the ability to put a bad series behind them (although there haven’t been many). Before they leave Ohio to come back to Chicago, they are going to play the Cleveland Indians one last time. That is a huge series for them because they are trying to clinch the division and continue playing well heading into the playoffs. It would also be nice if our Detroit Tigers friends were able to help us out by beating the Minnesota Twins.

Regardless, the White Sox need to fix some of the things that hindered them in this Reds series. The rookie starting pitcher can be replaced until he is ready and the walks that were a problem in game three need to come way down. There should be some better pitching for the Sox in this upcoming showdown with the Indians. This wasn’t the best series for them in general but we are on to Cleveland.