After a surprisingly excellent result in Atlanta for the White Sox, they will now travel to New York to face an underachieving Mets club.
The Chicago White Sox are 40-55, fourth in the American League Central, and 8.5 games out of first place.
The New York Mets are 43-50, fourth in the National League East, and 18.5 games out of first place.
It's going to be a matchup between two underwhelming teams but nonetheless, the White Sox will go into the series with some fire after defeating the best team in all of baseball on the road.
The Chicago White Sox and New York Mets will face off this week.
Tuesday night, Lucas Giolito will go head-to-head with Carlos Carrasco. Giolito remains in trade rumors but if nothing official happens, the plan is for him to potentially make his last start in a Chicago White Sox jersey.
Giolito is 6-5 with a 3.45 ERA and has reinvented himself into a premier starting pitcher. 2022 was not the Lucas Giolito anyone expected him to be and his 2023 season has been a positive to a primarily negative White Sox club.
Carrasco, who the White Sox saw a lot of during his time spent in Cleveland, has been struggling to find any rhythm this year. In only 61 innings pitched, he has a 1.43 WHIP along with a 5.16 ERA.
The White Sox should have the odds in game one, especially if the offense is rolling how it was for the majority of the series at Truist Park.
Game two will be a David versus Goliath type of match-up as the newly profound White Sox dark horse Touki Toussaint will square up against the 2022 AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander.
Toussaint has pitched a limited amount of innings for the south side so far but the White Sox would be in a much bigger hole than they already are without his presence. Touki has stepped in to start, relieve, and ultimately pitch whenever the club needs someone to fill in.
His performance has given him a chance to be in the rotation while some of the other starters are injured and he has been making the most of it, so much so that if the success continues, he may potentially have a long-term spot somewhere for the team.
Verlander is another guy for the Mets who has seen the White Sox numerous amount of times. In 47 career starts against the White Sox, he is 22-14 with a 3.72 ERA and 283 strikeouts.
He's not what he has been in the past this season but he's still a first-ballot hall of famer on the mound. The White Sox will need to pounce early in order to have success.
The series' final game will be between Michael Kopech and former White Sox all-star Jose Quintana.
Kopech was nothing short of awful in his last start as he went 0.2 innings, walking four and allowing four earned runs on a Matt Olsen grand slam.
Whether he was in his own head or still dealing with a pre-existing injury, he needs to have a solid bounce-back performance or he will most likely get himself into more trouble.
Quintana will make his first start of the 2023 season. He spent five and a half years on the White Sox, so it's always cool seeing friendly competition on display. If Eloy Jimenez is cleared to play, he will go up against the guy that the White Sox traded for him.
The White Sox need as many wins as possible if they want a real shot at a division title. A series win would be ideal before heading to Minnesota for a three-game series.