The Chicago White Sox are wrapping up what has been a horrific season for them. Things have gone far from how they planned as they are one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball. The entire off-season will be them trying to figure out how to get better.
In the meantime, the White Sox only have three more series to go. They have the one that starts Friday at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox. This series will close out the road portion of their schedule this year.
Then, they will come home to face the Arizona Diamondbacks for three and the San Diego Padres for three. Those nine games in total (road and home) are the final nine of the year. We finally made it to the end of this extremely sour year.
What is the point of watching them? They aren't going to the playoffs and will probably be bad next year too. Well, there are actually a few reasons to watch and stay locked in. These are the three biggest reasons:
1. Dylan Cease finishing strong
The Chicago White Sox need to see Dylan Cease have a strong finish.
Dylan Cease has had a terrible year by his standards. It isn't bad by typical MLB standards of being a pitcher in this league but it isn't ace quality or even close. He is 7-8 with a 4.85 ERA and a WHIP of 1.448.
Cease has made 31 starts this season and 32 is a full season for a starting pitcher this year. He will make his 32nd start on Saturday but there is even room for him to make a 33rd start if they so please. That might depend on how things go to end the year.
Cease is currently sitting with 196 strikeouts. Getting those four more to reach 200 should be on his mind as well as he loves striking out batters. It is what he's the best at. Having 196 strikeouts in 165.0 innings pitched is one of the bright spots of his season.
Sox fans should be interested in seeing how he finishes the year. He has a lot of potential and this was just a bad year with a bad team around him. If they don't trade him in the off-season, they need him to pitch well next year so that his value rises again.