When you plan on winning the World Series, a few things need to be settled with your team. You need a prolific starting lineup that can score runs on a consistent basis, a bullpen that can lock down the opponent when you have a lead, and a starting rotation that is well crafted with versatility. The Chicago White Sox are a team that is looking like a team with all of those attributes.
Tony La Russa nailed the Chicago White Sox rotation order at the top.
We know that Lucas Giolito is the best pitcher (currently) on the White Sox staff. He is the guy who has led the team in that department for two years now and he still might be getting even better. Tony La Russa named him to be the Opening Day starter on Monday. It didn’t come as much of a surprise because he deserves it in every way.
What we didn’t know is how he would handle the rest of the “big three”. The White Sox watched Dallas Keuchel have an outstanding year in 2020 for them and know it will continue into this year. The big flaw of the White Sox last year, however, was a good number three to come after Giolito and Keuchel.
The Sox went out this offseason and got the best possible number three they could find. In fact, Lance Lynn would be number one on a lot of teams in Major League Baseball. Well, La Russa announced that would be exactly how the rotation was going to go. Dallas Keuchel and Lance Lynn are going to follow Lucas Giolito in that order. He absolutely nailed that decision.
For one, it is the order of tenure for this team in particular. That should never matter when it comes to making baseball decisions but it is nice that it works out in this case. It is also set up now where the White Sox are going to sandwich a lefty in between two righties. That will be really nice for matching up against the opposition. It is really nice to have that sort of option as a manager and he got the decision right as of now.
Tony La Russa says Lucas Giolito will be the Opening Day starter, followed by Keuchel and Lynn.
— Chuck Garfien (@ChuckGarfien) March 15, 2021
What we don’t know is how the rest of the rotation will stack up. You can probably expect Dylan Cease to be the number four. He was awesome in his exhibition debut and is clearly the man for the job. Reynaldo Lopez and Carlos Rodon are battling it out for that fifth spot.
You can expect to see Michael Kopech and Garrett Crochet as starters at some point but they will begin the season in the bullpen. It is cool to see La Russa making good decisions but now we have to hope they all work out.