Difficult To Assess This Series

[Chi Town Sox]

Honestly, the way the Sox came out in the Field of Dreams game and against the most popular team in all of sports, knowing the entire world was watching, has me fairly optimistic about this series.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still nervous but what are the chances the Astros make it to 5 straight ALCS'?  Eventually that has to change.   Just pitch solid and I think we can get to theirs, McCullers got beat up last postseason, We hit Valdez hard last time out, Garcia minimal playoff experience.  We already know what our guys are capable of and now they are pretty much fully healthy.  Sheets, Vaughn dangerous bats potentially off the bench.  We have a lot to look forward to.  LFG.

Anything can happen, just play solid ball!  I trust TLR will have them ready.  

Edited October 4, 2021 by Chi Town Sox

[bighurt574]

It's a little hard to say before the match-ups are announced, but to take the "backend type" in Valdez, you're still talking about a guy with a 3.18 ERA and 3.58 xFIP.  

With the natural regression we've seen from Lynn in the second half (3.66 ERA), Giolito/Lynn and McCullers/Garcia is really a wash in my book.  Rodon/Valdez, if that's the matchup, is a wash in my book.  Cease is really our one edge there.  Like I said, the starting pitching isn't all that different.  

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

18 minutes ago, bighurt574 said:

It's a little hard to say before the match-ups are announced, but to take the "backend type" in Valdez, you're still talking about a guy with a 3.18 ERA and 3.58 xFIP.  

With the natural regression we've seen from Lynn in the second half (3.66 ERA), Giolito/Lynn and McCullers/Garcia is really a wash in my book.  Rodon/Valdez, if that's the matchup, is a wash in my book.  Cease is really our one edge there.  Like I said, the starting pitching isn't all that different.  

You're silly.

[Chi Town Sox]

30 minutes ago, bighurt574 said:

It's a little hard to say before the match-ups are announced, but to take the "backend type" in Valdez, you're still talking about a guy with a 3.18 ERA and 3.58 xFIP.  

With the natural regression we've seen from Lynn in the second half (3.66 ERA), Giolito/Lynn and McCullers/Garcia is really a wash in my book.  Rodon/Valdez, if that's the matchup, is a wash in my book.  Cease is really our one edge there.  Like I said, the starting pitching isn't all that different.  

So I assume the wash can be broken since Gio has a 2.66 ERA in the second half?  By far the best of the four.  I'm just kidding, this doesn't really mean anything IMO.  

Not sure why I noticed this but so many L's  between these starters not even including Carlos, Dylan and Valdez.  I didn't realize L was so popular in names.  

Lance McCullers 

Lucas Giolito 

Lance Lynn 

Luis Garcia 

 

Edited October 4, 2021 by Chi Town Sox

[bighurt574]

2 hours ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

You're silly.

Maybe.

Or maybe two starting staffs that had pretty identical ERAs over 162 games aren’t all that different (Sox finished #4 in MLB at 3.57 and Hou #5 at 3.60).  And yes, I know Kuechel inflated the Sox numbers.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=sta&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2021&month=0&season1=2021&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2021-01-01&enddate=2021-12-31&sort=16,a

[bmags]

3 hours ago, Chi Town Sox said:

Honestly, the way the Sox came out in the Field of Dreams game and against the most popular team in all of sports, knowing the entire world was watching, has me fairly optimistic about this series.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still nervous but what are the chances the Astros make it to 5 straight ALCS'?  Eventually that has to change.   Just pitch solid and I think we can get to theirs, McCullers got beat up last postseason, We hit Valdez hard last time out, Garcia minimal playoff experience.  We already know what our guys are capable of and now they are pretty much fully healthy.  Sheets, Vaughn dangerous bats potentially off the bench.  We have a lot to look forward to.  LFG.

Anything can happen, just play solid ball!  I trust TLR will have them ready.  

Love this

[poppysox]

8 hours ago, 35thstreetswarm said:

(Reposting in the thread where I intended to post).  

We have better starting pitching, a better bullpen, and the offenses are a toss-up. I think we are a more complete team on paper.  It will just come down to execution.  It all starts with stealing one in Houston, which I hope we can do right out of the gate with Giolito on the mound.

 

I don't think we need to steal anything...we are the better team.  Let's  and move on.

[hi8is]

Potential breakout players for October, as listed on mlb.com by each respective team’s beat writer:

WHITE SOX: OF/DH Gavin Sheets

It’s tough to include someone such as Luis Robert, Eloy Jiménez or Yoán Moncada in this group because they’ve already established themselves as premium frontline Major League talent. So the nod goes to Sheets, who figures to get playing time at the very least against right-handed pitching in the postseason. Sheets worked diligently to take this next step forward during this past offseason after not being invited to the team’s alternate site training facility in ’20, and he posted 11 home runs, eight doubles, 34 RBIs and an .830 OPS in 54 games with the White Sox. He’s a true left-handed power bat, which the White Sox otherwise don’t really have, and he hit .268/.344/.556 against right-handed hurlers with all 11 of his homers in 160 plate appearances. -- Scott Merkin

[hankchifan]

5 hours ago, bighurt574 said:

 

Not really.  Look at the numbers.  They've having strong years, including some nice outings against us.  If Rodon was healthy, maybe.

I believe the Sox pitching is leading the majors in strike outs. We should have an advantage there.

[hankchifan]

5 hours ago, ShoeLessRob said:

Cesar Hernandez looks like he’s swinging a bat way heavy for him. 

Don’t we have hitting coaches?

[SoxBlanco]

Do we know who is pitching game 1 for us yet?

[Chicago White Sox]

10 hours ago, hi8is said:

Potential breakout players for October, as listed on mlb.com by each respective team’s beat writer:

WHITE SOX: OF/DH Gavin Sheets

It’s tough to include someone such as Luis Robert, Eloy Jiménez or Yoán Moncada in this group because they’ve already established themselves as premium frontline Major League talent. So the nod goes to Sheets, who figures to get playing time at the very least against right-handed pitching in the postseason. Sheets worked diligently to take this next step forward during this past offseason after not being invited to the team’s alternate site training facility in ’20, and he posted 11 home runs, eight doubles, 34 RBIs and an .830 OPS in 54 games with the White Sox. He’s a true left-handed power bat, which the White Sox otherwise don’t really have, and he hit .268/.344/.556 against right-handed hurlers with all 11 of his homers in 160 plate appearances. -- Scott Merkin

Great choice…kid is a potential game-changer for us against RHP.  He needs to be in the center of the lineup against McCullers given our track record against him.

[Chicago White Sox]

10 hours ago, SoxBlanco said:

Do we know who is pitching game 1 for us yet?

Don’t think so.  But if it ain’t Giolito, then these dudes have gone mad.

[CentralChamps21]

10 hours ago, SoxBlanco said:

Do we know who is pitching game 1 for us yet?

We know, we're just not telling Houston yet.

[SoxBlanco]

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Don’t think so.  But if it ain’t Giolito, then these dudes have gone mad.

I usually agree with you on most things, but I would probably lean toward starting Lynn in game 1 if it were up to me.  I don't feel strongly either way though, so I would be 100% behind Giolito getting the ball.

[ChiSox59]

3 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

I usually agree with you on most things, but I would probably lean toward starting Lynn in game 1 if it were up to me.  I don't feel strongly either way though, so I would be 100% behind Giolito getting the ball.

If there is a guy who I want going 2x in the series, its Gio.  Lynn's knee still is not right.  

[mmmmmbeeer]

One thing that gives me great optimism is TA's thirst to be under the bright lights on the big stage and thriving.  I don't know how to pull the stats, but it seems he is always having great games when we're on national TV.  Last year's playoff was a great example.  How about the FoD game?  He's an absolute stud and the team performance when he performs is striking, to say the least.  

Beyond that, I just think our pitching staff is considerably better and deeper than Houston's.  Key is that our pen uses breaking stuff to set up fastballs and keeps those breaking balls in/close to the zone.  If our relievers toy around with non-competitive breaking balls, Houston WILL punish them when they have to come back in the zone with heat.  

[Balta1701]

8 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

If there is a guy who I want going 2x in the series, its Gio.  Lynn's knee still is not right.  

Makes sense to me. Plus, if Gio could only give 4 innings with the Astros working counts, Lynn coming out of the bullpen for an inning could make sense.

[bmags]

Overall, I am a pessimist on this series, and mostly find myself just hoping they get at least one win to get two playoff home games.

Optimist on:

- Robert, Anderson, Moncada, Grandal (offensively

- Starting Rotation

Pessimist on:

- Defense, but we do have good def subs in engel, hamilton

- Holding runners

- Bullpen

- Houston offense - you couldn't build a better playoff offense. They make a lot of contact, they don't strike out. Totally negates our bullpen velocity, especially with their propensity to get wild. Bummer could be a GOAT or a goat in this series.

[bmags]

Lynn will just spit on his knee and pitch. He won't feel pain in the post-season. 

[SoxBlanco]

8 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

If there is a guy who I want going 2x in the series, its Gio.  Lynn's knee still is not right.  

Exactly.  Whoever pitches game 2 will be on normal rest for game 5, so we would still have the option of Lynn or Giolito for game 5.  I look at it like this...there are three different scenarios for Lynn/Giolito to pitch in the first two games:  series tied 0-0, we are up 1-0, or we are down 0-1.  The most dire scenario is if we lose the first game, in which case I want Gio on the bump for that super important game 2.

The other way to look at it is obviously that if Giolito just pitches game 1 and we win, we won't even face that game 2 scenario where we are down a game.  But I would hate for a scenario to happen where Gio pitches well in game 1 and our offense goes cold, and we lose 2-1 or something like that. Then we are in trouble.

Like I said, I'm fine with either decision, but I would personally go with Lynn in game 1.

[2Deep]

Not much respect given to us here.......

I think I kind of like it this way.  F the national media 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/2021-mlb-playoffs-expert-picks-postseason-predictions-another-dodgers-astros-world-series/

[Balta1701]

3 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

Exactly.  Whoever pitches game 2 will be on normal rest for game 5, so we would still have the option of Lynn or Giolito for game 5.  I look at it like this...there are three different scenarios for Lynn/Giolito to pitch in the first two games:  series tied 0-0, we are up 1-0, or we are down 0-1.  The most dire scenario is if we lose the first game, in which case I want Gio on the bump for that super important game 2.

The other way to look at it is obviously that if Giolito just pitches game 1 and we win, we won't even face that game 2 scenario where we are down a game.  But I would hate for a scenario to happen where Gio pitches well in game 1 and our offense goes cold, and we lose 2-1 or something like that. Then we are in trouble.

Like I said, I'm fine with either decision, but I would personally go with Lynn in game 1.

Honestly I would have so preferred to get Lynn into a home game that Id have even tried to finagle Rodon and the bullpen heavy into game 2, especially coming off extra rest this week and before an off day.

But with this team…if I think Giolito gives me the best chance to win on the road right now, I want him in game 1.

[Balta1701]

6 minutes ago, 2Deep said:

Not much respect given to us here.......

I think I kind of like it this way.  F the national media 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/2021-mlb-playoffs-expert-picks-postseason-predictions-another-dodgers-astros-world-series/

If it helps the team focus to see stuff like that fine, but I see no reason to get bent out of shape about it. A team that hasn’t won a playoff series in 16 years up against a veteran team, with them finishing with a better record and home field advantage, and stomping us head to head this year? Of course they’re the expected pick. It’s up to the White Sox to surprise and overcome those expectations.

Now if the Giants want to be pissed about the odds being on the Dodgers, they earned that right.

[Quin]

26 minutes ago, 2Deep said:

Not much respect given to us here.......

I think I kind of like it this way.  F the national media 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/2021-mlb-playoffs-expert-picks-postseason-predictions-another-dodgers-astros-world-series/

Ken Rosenthal is probably my favorite national writer and he has us in 7 over the Dodgers, so I choose to believe that.