It was a great year for the Chicago White Sox. They won the AL Central Division with a record of 93-69. There was room for improvement but they handled the adversity of injuries to key players as well as any team in the league would. They made it into the playoffs where they were defeated by the Houston Astros in four games. It was a tough way to end an otherwise tremendous season.
The Astros are just a better team right now. They are just a tad deeper, received better pitching, and had more timely hitting. Experience has a lot to do with that as Houston has had many deep playoffs runs over the past half-decade or so.
The hope is that the White Sox young stars learned a thing or two from this series and take it with them going forward. They are going to be a very good team for a long time. There is so much talent there that is just scratching the surface of their potential in Major League Baseball.
With all of this in mind, it is hard to think about what could have been if not for the rainout last week. Game four was rained out on Monday of last week and made up the next day on Tuesday. In the ALCS between the Red Sox and Astros, it became clear that the weather may have helped Houston in their series with the White Sox.
The Chicago White Sox were let down by the weather in game four of the ALDS.
Jose Urquidy was supposed to start that game that was rained out. Instead, with an extra day of rest due to the rain, Houston started their ace in Lance McCullers Jr. He dominated and sent the White Sox packing for the winter.
Why is this important? Well, last night the Boston Red Sox absolutely dominated Urquidy. He didn’t make it through two full innings as he went 1.2 with five earned runs against and six total. He walked two batters and gave up five hits before Dusty Baker came out to go to the bullpen.
It makes you wonder what the White Sox would have done to him if given the opportunity in game four of the ALDS. It would have been nice to see but the rain had other plans. Maybe Lance McCullers would have dominated a game five but you just never know how those winner-take-all games go.
The White Sox have just as explosive of an offense as the Red Sox if not more explosive. It is the past now and they need to look forward but it was tough to think about on one night. In that previously mentioned ALCS, the Red Sox holds a 2-1 series lead with game four tonight at Fenway Park.