White Sox: 4 players who should make the playoff rotation
The Chicago White Sox have been riding their starting pitching to the postseason. This is a far cry from last season when lack of rotation depth in the rotation cost them against the Oakland Athletics in the AL Wild Card Series.
After Lucas Giolito’s dominant performance in Game 1 of the series, Game 2 became a must-win close-out game. The White Sox liked their chances with Dallas Keuchel and his 1.99 ERA set to take the mound. Unfortunately, the White Sox veteran left-hander only lasted 3.1 innings and the White Sox were left scrambling to find a starter the next day for an elimination game.
Rick Renteria opted to go with rookie Dane Dunning. It quickly turned into a bullpen game and when the dust settled the White Sox got sent packing. This series of events forced the White Sox to acquire some help during the offseason.
Rick Hahn wanted to make sure this didn’t happen again so he traded for Lance Lynn and resigned Carlos Rodón. Both of these moves paid dividends. Lynn is the front runner for American League Cy Young while Rodón was named an All-Star and has fired a no-hitter.
Pitching is going to be a big key for the Chicago White Sox in the playoffs.
Meanwhile, Dylan Cease is making huge strides in his development while Lucas Giolito has been his usual reliable self. Rounding out the rotation is four-time Gold Glove winner, two-time All-Star, and 2015 Cy Young recipient, Dallas Keuchel.
With all these great pitchers at Tony La Russa’s disposal, he has some tough decisions to make. The playoff rotation will ultimately be cut down to four so one of these pitchers will be getting bumped from the rotation.
Dallas Keuchel has the worse numbers of the group but can you leave a guy that has the third most playoff starts out of any pitcher since 2015 and a World Series ring on the bench? Postseason experience is a great luxury to have.
La Russa also has to decide how he wants to line up the rotation and who gets the ball for Game 1 of the playoffs. Here is the most likely order for how Tony La Russa will line them up for the Chicago White Sox playoff run in October:
Lance Lynn needs to be the game one starter for the Chicago White Sox.
If you want to set the tone early in a series then there is no better pitcher than Lance Lynn to do it. His mannerisms and intensity on the mound are unmatched by any other pitcher on the Chicago White Sox. The 34-year old right-hander has been dominant for them this season.
Lynn has a 2.20 ERA which is the best in the American League and the second-lowest in the MLB. His .199 opponent batting average is the lowest on the team while his 10 wins are tied for first. With his work up to this point, Lynn finds himself as a front runner for AL Cy-Young this season. He also earned a trip to Denver to pitch in the All-Star Game.
Lance Lynn has already pitched in some big games for the White Sox this year and has risen to the occasion each time. During the home opener, he delivered an 11-K complete-game shutout against the Kansas City Royals.
He took the ball against the Milwaukee Brewers on a nationally televised Sunday night game on ESPN stole the show. Lynn fired six-inning innings of one-run ball and punched out six Brewers. He even had a base hit in the second inning that drove in two runs en route to a 3-1 White Sox victory. The most impressive part of the base hit was that it came on an 0-2 count against Brandon Woodruff. He won’t need to do too much hitting in the playoffs but he will be pitching on some big stages.
Lynn also started the Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville Iowa, which was the most-watched regular-season MLB game in over a decade. He struck out seven Yankees in five innings of work. Tony La Russa has already won a World Series ring with Lance Lynn in 2011. That is the last time either of them has won a ring so Lynn should take the ball on Game 1 of the postseason.
Carlos Rodon is going to be a big part of the Chicago White Sox playoff rotation.
In Game 2, the White Sox goes from one Cy Young candidate to another. Carlos Rodon has given the White Sox all they could have asked for and more after they signed him for a one-year deal during the offseason.
In 114.2 innings Rodon has a 2.43 ERA to go along with a stellar 10-5 record. His 163 strikeouts rank third on the team. He also boasts an impressive 0.97 WHIP and opponents are hitting just .192 off of him. On April 8th Rodon threw the 20th no-hitter in franchise history and was just two outs shy of a perfect game. He was elected to his first All-Star team for his efforts.
The 28-year-old left-hander has a nasty assortment of pitches that includes a fastball that can touch 100 mph and a sweeping slider. The problem with Rodón is that he accumulates pitches very quickly. His high strikeout totals make him work hard for outs and result in early exits from games. A perfect example of this was his 11 strikeout performance against the Cubs. He came just five strikeouts shy of the White Sox single-game record but was also only able to make it through five innings.
He hasn’t pitched enough innings to be a qualified starter in the MLB leaderboards otherwise he would have a great case for Cy Young. Rodón is the favorite to get the No 2 starter assignment during the playoffs but the bullpen should be wary because they may need to cover a few more innings during Rodons starts.
Lucas Giolito can make a claim to be at any spot in the Chicago White Sox rotation.
While Lance Lynn and Carlos Rodón have stolen all the headlines, Lucas Giolito has quietly been his usual reliable self. This season he has a 3.68 ERA with a 1.10 WHIP. He also ranks second on the team with 175 strikeouts.
Giolito was also impressive in his only postseason start to date. He allowed one run on two hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings. He retired the first 18 batters he faced. It seems that the brighter the lights the better the former All-Star pitches. Giolito has been brilliant against playoff teams this season.
The right-hander tossed seven innings of two-run ball with eight strikeouts, no walks, and only three hits allowed against the Tampa Bay Rays. His fastball-changeup combination is his bread and butter but he was able to work in his slider effectively. It accounted for swings and misses. He only needed 13 pitches to make it through the first inning.
That inning included two strikeouts of Brandon Lowe and Nelson Cruz to bookend it. Against the Astros, he threw a complete game giving up only one run and striking out eight. Against the Brewers, he worked six innings and only allowed one run.
His only major hiccup of the season came against the Boston Red Sox. For most teams in the MLB, Giolito would be considered the ace of the staff. The White Sox get to trot him out as their number three starter for the playoffs. Scary.
Dylan Cease of the Chicago White Sox would probably be the best number four starter.
A year ago the White Sox didn’t trust Dylan Cease enough to be a starter during their elimination game against the Oakland Athletics. What a difference a year makes. The 25-year old right-hander has shown flashes of brilliance and taken major strides in his development. His fastball touches the upper 90s while his slider has the highest spin rate in baseball. He also features a devastating knuckle curve.
Cease has a 3.92 ERA and leads the White Sox pitching staff in strikeouts. His 177 punchouts are the third-most in the AL. After his start against the Blue Jays, Cease has now allowed three earned runs or less in 22 of his 26 starts this season. Only three pitchers have more such games.
Meanwhile, the regression of Dallas Keuchel has been ugly. Heading into Friday’s start against the Cubs, Keuchel had a whooping 6.02 over his previous nine starts. Lasting only one inning against a triple-A caliber Cubs lineup doesn’t help matters.
This has been the story of Keuchel’s season. His 5.4 K/9 strikeout rate ranks near the bottom of the league. All the contact he gives up places him in the bottom 10 percentile in expected ERA, expected batting average, and expected slugging percentage. Simply put he is getting shelled. Even his outs are tattooed off the bat. Keuchel ranks second in the AL in hard-hit outs which are balls that are put in play over 95 mph.
Both of these factors are enough to leave Keuchel out of the playoff rotation. While Cease certainly has its flaws Keuchel has been unbearable to watch. It is difficult justifying throwing him out for a playoff game at this point.
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