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

The Chicago White Sox is about to take on the Houston Astros. It is going to be a very good series between two very good teams. The White Sox are the AL Central Division Champions with their 93-69 record so you know they are a really good team. In order to go far in the postseason, you need a lot of things to go your way. It all begins with Houston. They will win if these five things happen:

1. Lucas Giolito

Lucas Giolito is one of the most important players in the Chicago White Sox organization.

Lucas Giolito is going to start the second game of the series in Houston. I would have started him in game one, given that he has had much more success this season against the Astros than Lance Lynn has had.

There are two big reasons why Giolito starting one of these first two games is vital to the White Sox. Number one, his change-up is the perfect antidote to the Astros’ great capacity to hit fastballs. The best change-ups look like a fastball coming out of the pitcher’s hand. Giolito has one of the best in Major League Baseball which is why he gets lots of swings and misses with it.

He pitched once against the Astros this season and the game was in Chicago. It was a nine-inning complete-game victory. In this game, he struck out 8 batters, walked no one, gave up 1 run on 3 hits. The lone run was a home run.

Then we have Lance Lynn losing a blowout to the Astros in Houston in June. He gave up 6 runs in 4 innings. Giolito’s one-game mastery of the Astros very much connects to reason number two. The White Sox, desperately, needs to win one of these first two games in Houston. Both the White Sox and Astros are great home game teams.

The Astros are at their best at home. Their strength as a team is their lineup, especially in conjunction with their home-field advantage. The good news is if the White Sox bats can help steal a game in Houston with a well-pitched game, it gives them lots of momentum to go to Chicago and close out the series. The bad news is if the White Sox do not win one of these first two games in Houston, they will have a very steep mountain to climb for them to win this series.

2. Luis Robert is on fire

Luis Robert is slowly becoming one of the best players on the Chicago White Sox.

Luis Robert is laser-focused on smashing baseballs. The exit velocity on an abundance of the balls he has hit in the last four to six weeks is staggering in its consistency and speed. As he has become more selective in pitches he swings at, he has shifted from potential super star to superstar in the making. If I was the manager of the White Sox I would have Robert batting third and Abreu batting cleanup.

I fully expect this to be a possibility in 2022. However, seeing as how it has not happened during the 2021 regular season, it is highly unlikely to start in the playoffs. What could happen though, is that Luis Robert’s hitting could very well outshine the hitting of every other White Sox hitter in this playoff series, including both Tim Anderson and Jose Abreu.

This could happen even if both Anderson, Abreu, and others have a very good series. For example, I also believe the left-handed Gavin Sheets has a great shot to be one of the many post-season heroes that have come out of nowhere.

Tony LaRussa described Sheets as a hungry hitter. He should be at his hungriest in the playoffs and the rest of the White Sox hitters should be feeling just as hungry as their teammate. The importance of the White Sox lineup peaking at this point is especially heightened for this reason.

The Astros pitchers are talented but not unhittable as compared to say Carlos Rodon when he is in top form. More than a few White Sox hitters should have their moments of glory in this series. However, Luis Robert facing off against the Astros pitching staff is sure to be some of the most entertaining matchups in the entirety of these MLB playoffs.

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.

5. Tony La Russa has had a good year

Tony La Russa has been everything that the Chicago White Sox needs and more.

Last but not least, we have the not-so-young Tony LaRussa. Now that Tony is done tinkering with lineups and the roles of his relievers, we should see the best of what he can bring as the White Sox manager.

I strongly suspect, outside of the wear and tear of a long season, that Tony’s constant experimenting with where guys hit in the lineup and how the bullpen guys were used took its toll on his players.

It is well-known that ball players want consistency in how they are used and typically don’t respond well to lots of surprises. However, that is what Tony did to his players all during the season. A good example of this is in the last game of the regular season when Reynoldo Lopez was brought in to start the ninth inning.

I cannot recall Lopez ever pitching in the ninth inning. His pitching that day was like a very bad joke. Presumably, he was not at all prepared to be put on the mound in a ninth-inning role. The other piece of evidence regarding this is how often the very talented White Sox bats were held in complete check by opposing pitchers.

That is the bad news. The good news is his experimenting is over and Tony has figured out exactly how he wants to use these guys. James Fegan of The Athletic confirmed this in an article that includes conversations Fegan had with players Tony has managed in the past.

Based on Fegan’s research, Tony is also locked and loaded for the playoffs in terms of just how he is going to use his guys in this hopeful march to the World Series. Extrapolating what Tony has done during the season and is expected to do in the playoffs leads me to this conclusion.

Based on Tony’s previous approach to managing in the playoffs, we should see the best of what this White Sox team is capable of during these MLB playoffs. They already finished strong in the last week of the season.

Given the White Sox top to bottom abundance of talent, being led by a Hall of Fame manager, it is quite realistic to expect this team to make it all the way to the World Series. However, first, they have to beat the Astros in at least one road game in Houston.