The Chicago White Sox had some amazing moments with Lance Lynn on their pitching staff. He came in third place for the AL Cy Young vote in 2021 because he was so dominant. He also was a hardcore fan favorite because of the attitude that he played baseball with. It was so fun to watch.
Things started to slowly but surely decline for Lynn in a White Sox uniform. That is partially because of the fact that the team around him became so bad and it probably wasn’t very much fun to be a part of this team.
At the trade deadline this past summer, the White Sox traded Lynn to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Of course, LA is a winning team and has a chance to win the World Series coming into every year. They felt no different in 2023 at the time of this trade.
Lynn pitched pretty well for them down the stretch and they ended up winning the NL West Division title. It was a great year for this group when it came to the regular season. That is the norm for this organization.
Lance Lynn did not have a good postseason start on Wednesday night.
Unfortunately, the postseason isn’t always going to go your way. The Dodgers had a first-round bye this year as a result of having the second-best record in the National League. Only the Atlanta Braves were better.
They got to sit around and wait for the winner of a Wild Card Series. That ended up being the Arizona Diamondbacks who are just red hot right now. Much to the displeasure of the Dodgers, the D-Backs won the first two games of the series. That set up a Lance Lynn start with the team’s back against the wall.
It was sad to see but Lynn was horrible. He gave up four runs on six hits. He didn't walk anybody but he only had one strikeout. After those four runs were given up, he was pulled after 2.2 innings. He really let his team down in that situation.
The bullpen came in and didn't allow another run but the offense was only able to bring them back to within two runs. Eventually, they lost the game by that final score of 4-2. They have been swept and are eliminated from postseason contention.
The Diamondbacks will face the winner of the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. Philly leads Atlanta 2-1 in the series with game four taking place on Thursday.
As for Lynn, it will be interesting to see what becomes of his future. The White Sox were lucky to have him when they did but they got rid of him just in time.