The Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles are set to clash heads with one another in a three-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The White Sox are currently 5-8 and still trying to get their first series win of the 2023 major league season. The Baltimore Orioles will come into Chicago at .500 with a 6-6 overall record.
The White Sox have already been attacked by the injury bug. As it has previously, it has hurt them detrimentally. Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez, Matt Foster, Joe Kelly, Yoan Moncada, Garrett Crochet, and Liam Hendriks are all unavailable for the club and it's affecting their play on the field.
The White Sox haven't been as destructive without their key players in the lineup. The defense is making rather silly errors/numerous amounts of mistakes. The pitching staff as a whole has been somewhat sketchy.
The Chicago White Sox need to get their season back on track.
The team's schedule will also get harder throughout April and they have to find a way to get back on track before their record becomes a disadvantage. The club is beating itself into the ground right now and a wake-up call is very much needed.
The Baltimore Orioles come into Chicago with an entertaining group of young individuals. They play hard and do the small things that go unnoticed.
It's a club that doesn't have high expectations but has the potential to sneak into the mix of winning the American League East.
Baltimore has a serviceable pitching staff, along with an abundance of young prospects on the verge of breaking out in the major leagues. Adley Rutchman is a name, for example.
In the series' first game, Mike Clevinger will take the bump for Chicago and Tyler Wells will be in charge for Baltimore.
Clevinger has exceeded expectations thus far in his first year as a White Sox pitcher as he's 2-0 with a 3.48 ERA and has 9 strikeouts in 10.1 innings pitched.
Clevinger has gotten multiple opposing hitters out with high fastballs and wipe-out sliders. If Clevinger keeps his command, he should do well enough to give the White Sox a chance to win game one of the series.
Tyler Wells is a 28-year-old right-handed pitcher. He is entering the third year of his major league career after serving his first year as a consistent rotation starter last year for the Birdland.
Through two starts, he has a 3.27 ERA and a 0.55 WHIP. He hasn't allowed many opposing hitters to get on the base paths and that may possibly continue on the south side of Chicago.
The second game will be a battle between Michael Kopech and Kyle Gibson. Kopech has had a horrid start along with one tremendous start. Depending on what version of Michael takes the hill, it could go really well or really ugly for the White Sox on Saturday's second game of the series.
Kyle Gibson is in his first year with Baltimore after departing from the Phillies in the off-season. The veteran has been in the major leagues since 2013 and he's still valuable to major league rosters today.
Through three outings, he is 3-0 with a 3.44 ERA with 18.1 innings pitched. Gibson is a mature pitcher and the White Sox will need to be patient if they want to the 35-year-old early on in the game.
The finale will be a good one as early Cy Young candidate Dylan Cease will go against one of Baltimore's top prospects, Grayson Rodriguez.
Dylan is right where he left off in 2022 with 24 strikeouts through 16.1 innings pitched. The White Sox are also 2-0 in games Dylan Cease has pitched.
Cease is a talent to watch once every five days and it will be that way for an extended period of time. When Cease pitches, the White Sox have the best chance to win the game that particular day, which will play a factor on Sunday afternoon.
Rodriguez has yet to get much success in the major leagues quite yet but his time will come. 2023 is his first year in the MLB and he has much time to grow into himself due to the fact that he's only 23 years old.
Sunday's pitching matchup will be a battle between one of the best in the game right now and one that will be one of the best in the near future.