SoxBlanco

And if we went that route, there would have been so much bitching about the lack of making a deal.

Jesus. You are the worst.

Yep. And by saving McCullers for game 5, you give yourself a chance at the absolute best case scenario, which is winning game 4 without him and having him available to start game 1 of the ALCS. I would be saving McCullers for game 5 without a doubt if I were Dusty.

Found out late last night that I will be in attendance today. Gonna try my hardest to bring home a W.

Couldn’t think of a better guy to start this must-win game thread. Also pumped because that means you’ll be starting the game thread for game 1 of the ALCS. @Chicago White Sox, really sorry about your dog. Let’s get this W.

I wanted Sheets at first too, but it wouldn’t make sense. I’d rather save him for a pinch hit for Engel (or Leury) later.

Me too. But you can definitely get through 5 innings with Tepera, Bummer, Kimbrel, and Liam.

It was a joke.

Let’s GO! Lots of pressure on Houston. They need to win one of the next three if they want to force a game 5.

This is exactly why I wanted Lynn in game 1 and Giolito in game 2. Some people here are acting like the series is over. Everyone said we wanted to leave Houston with 1 win, and that’s still very possible.

Sheets and Grandal got one in the zone during the first time through the lineup.

Yep. Remember when we were up 3-0 against Oakland last year?

AJ wants the Sox to win, 100%.

Expanded playoffs. We weren’t in the ALDS.

This is another way I look at it: If I could lock in a win right now for either game 1 or game 2, and let the other one play out, I’d be locking in game 2. That’s why I want Lucas in game 2. He’ll also be facing a worse pitcher for Houston, so we just maximized the chances of winning one of the first two games. And since he can still pitch game 5 on full rest, it makes the decision easier.

Gio wouldn’t be on short rest. But I agree with you on Lynn.

I like it because they will have the option of Lynn or Lucas in game 5.

I’ve shared my thoughts in other threads, but I agree with this decision.

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.

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.

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

No way they can wait until Wednesday to announce the times, can they?

If you could sign up for a Sox/Jays ALCS right now, would you do it? Or would you let it play out?

This is pretty funny now that we’ve seen the lineup.