One thing that this writer wasn’t thinking would happen was seeing the Minnesota Twins winning their first playoff series against the Toronto Blue Jays last week.
The win makes the Twins look a bit better than most people thought that they would be and makes the luster of the Chicago White Sox, if there was any, a little duller.
The White Sox, believe it or not, could take some lessons from the Twins and their newfound playoff-winning ways. The Twins have come up with a formula that has allowed them to lead the AL Central, get to the playoffs, and win a round. What is that formula?
It would appear as if the Twins have built themselves into contender status thanks to their pitchers. They have a strong pitching staff and one that really kept Toronto at bay during the short series with them this last week.
The Minnesota Twins are a team the Chicago White Sox should try and mimic.
With power pitchers like Sonny Gray and Pablo Lopez among others available, this team has shown that pitching is the most promising part of the team. And, with just enough offense to get them by, the Twins are looking a little dangerous in the playoffs.
Could this be their year?
The White Sox should be able to follow the pattern presented to them by the Twins. The first thing that the White Sox need to be able to fix is their pitching. If they can get at least three solid performers on the pitching staff, they could do wonders defensively.
They already have Dylan Cease, who had a bit of a down year, and Mike Clevinger who had a surprisingly good year but after that, the cupboard is kind of bare.
They need to get better production out of some of the guys they have left over, like Touki Toussaint, and if those guys could step up the White Sox would have the first pieces of the puzzle in place to make a run at the AL Central title.
But it takes a little more than good pitching to get into the postseason. You have to have hitting that’s timely and solid. The Twins have had good hitting this season led by guys like Jorge Polanco and Royce Lewis among others. The offense, while not super stellar, has done enough to get them to where they are right now.
The White Sox, on paper, have a pretty decent offense when the guys show up to perform. With Luis Robert, Jr. leading the way, along with reliable guys like Andrew Vaughan and Andrew Benintendi, the Sox have a few guys that they can rely on to hit the ball.
If they could get consistent play out of their offensive players, they would have had a much better chance of making the playoffs. Maybe next year they will find the offensive consistency that they need to be more competitive.
The formula is simple and the White Sox need to utilize it to make the playoffs in 2024. This offseason, they need to go out and find a few more pitchers and perhaps a batter or two to round out their offense.
Then, they need to put it all together and make it happen. The White Sox have quite a bit of talent already, they just need a few more pieces to make it work like the Twins did.