The Chicago White Sox, for whatever reason, struggle against the Oakland A’s in Oakland. On Tuesday, they defeated the Athletics for their first win in Oakland since 2017. They then lost the next two including the game on Thursday. They can now say that they haven’t won a playoff series in Oakland since 2016. It is crazy how bad the White Sox have been in that place, regardless of where either team is in the standings.
For most of that stretch, the A’s were awesome and the White Sox were bad. In 2020, they didn’t play each other in the regular season but they did match up in the postseason. Oakland eliminated the White Sox which fits the narrative perfectly. Here in 2021, the White Sox beat them three games to one in Chicago but lost two of three in their park.
The offense failed them in the final two games of the series. They showed up in the first game and won but only scored two runs over the final two games. They need to be better at scoring runs down the stretch if they want to be impactful in the playoffs.
Now, there are some excuses. In Wednesday’s game, Dallas Keuchel was not very good on the mound. He hasn’t been for a while now. It was clearly hard for the offense to get going in a game that they had no chance to win because of the pitching.
The Chicago White Sox lineup has been set up to fail with some of the injuries.
In Thursday’s game, the lineup was set up to fail. Billy Hamilton, Seby Zavala, Danny Mendick, and Romy Gonzalez were all in the starting lineup. Yasmani Grandal was the DH so he was still in but they were missing Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, and Eloy Jimenez for a variety of reasons. It clearly makes a big difference when this team is not at full strength. Against a good team like the A’s, they had no chance.
We received some good news on Lucas Giolito, Carlos Rodon, and Lance Lynn before the game on Thursday. All three of them are coming back to make their next starts. If this offense gets everyone back quickly, they will start to win big games again. With some games coming up at home, there should be some really good times ahead with these guys.
It all begins on Friday against the Boston Red Sox. Rodon is going to take the ball for the White Sox against Tanner Houck. It is going to be a big series for the White Sox as they try to get closer to clinching. It is also a big series for Boston as they try to stay afloat in the American League Wild Card. If the offense gets going again at Guaranteed Rate Field, they should do plenty of winning.