Chicago White Sox: 5 reasons they will beat the Houston Astros

3. The Bullpen is very good

The Chicago White Sox have lots of faith in their bullpen to get it done.

The White Sox relief pitching at the end of the season finally matched if not exceeded the very high expectations their relief corps was expected to live up to at the start of the season. It only took most of the season to get there.

However, that is now not important as they currently have one of the best if not the best relief staff in all of baseball. For example, once Aaron Bummer stopped walking batters at a high rate, he then became the feared left-handed reliever everyone expected him to be in 2021.

His sinker/slider combo is generating both ground balls and strikeouts. This is a rare thing for a big-league pitcher. Then, we have the enigma wrapped in a puzzle called Craig Kimbrel. One of the greatest relievers of all time was walking too many batters and blowing games since he was traded to the White Sox mid-season.

It took him a while to adjust to pitching in the 8th inning but he also finally put it all together for the Southsiders in that role. Liam Hendriks has been nothing short of spectacular as the White Sox closer. He adds to that with his entertaining “The Land Down Under” style.

Reynaldo Lopez has pitched the best baseball of his career in 2021 primarily coming out of the bullpen along with some spot starts. Hard-throwing left-hander Garret Crochet could easily play a vital role in the bullpen along with the right-handed Kevin Tepera.

However, the White Sox reliever who is the toughest one to face when he is on is Michael Kopech. He has a fastball that is in the high 90’s to 100 along with a very nasty hard-breaking slider. He has been stretched out to go three innings which bodes well for us to see another Rodon/Kopech, combo during these playoffs. This bullpen is deep, locked, and loaded for a deep playoff run.