Chicago White Sox: Why was the Cleveland Indians series so weird?

The Chicago White Sox were at home to play a very tough series against the Cleveland Indians. We all know it was a battle of power vs pitching and both teams believe that they will be in the playoffs once October rolls around. If you went into the series expecting a 2-2 series split with some good baseball in there, nobody would doubt you. If you went into detail about how it all went down, however, that might be a bit of a shock.

The Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians just wrapped up a very interesting series.

Normally, you expect good games between these two teams. The White Sox are going to have to deal with them all season long and it is only going to get more intense. It was just crazy how each game in this series had something that you don’t see very often in the game of baseball.

Game One:

In the first game of the series, the White Sox won in a very unique way. A throwing error that led to the ball going off of Yasmani Grandal’s helmet allowed Nick Madrigal to walk the game off in the most exciting fashion possible. It was a strange way to see the game end and it wasn’t even close to being the weirdest game of the set.

Game Two:

Game two of the series was wildly impressive. The White Sox lost in extra innings but that is beside the point. We went in knowing that Lucas Giolito vs Shane Bieber is one of the premier pitching matchups that we will see this season. Those guys were so good that the ballgame made it to extra innings with a score of 0-0. It was the definition of a classic pitcher’s duel. It would be surprising if either team sees that type of game again this season.

Game Three:

Of course, game three was one of the games that White Sox fans will reminisce about for years. Carlos Rodon threw the 20th no-hitter in the history of the franchise. It was a dominant display of pitching by a guy who came all the way back from some dark days to get there. It should also be mentioned that the offense exploded for eight runs in this game. Yermin Mercedes hit a big home run that helped this team get the runs it needed to support Rodon.

If this team makes a big run in the playoffs, we will look back at this game as one of the key moments of the season. No-hitters are certainly something that you don’t see too often. We can only hope that Rodon keeps up his upward trajectory.

Game Four:

Game four was a game that started with a unique set of fireworks. A bang-bang play at second base led to a benches-clearing confrontation. No punches were thrown or anything like that but it was a bit of an issue for a few minutes. No supplementary discipline is going to come to anyone (we don’t think) but it was certainly interesting to see.

The White Sox held a 1-0 lead for a lot of the game and Lance Lynn pitched well. He made one mistake to Jose Ramirez and that guy knows how to take advantage of mistakes. The Indians ended up squeaking out a big win and a series split.

These teams will have a healthy helping of each other as the season goes along so it is something to look forward to. They are going to need to repeat their pitching performances from this series and wake up the offense by then otherwise it is going to be a struggle. Either way, this one was very interesting to watch. Now, we get to see them head to Fenway Park to see them take on the Boston Red Sox. It is fair to assume that this upcoming series will also be very interesting.