CentralChamps21

If you look at the splits and ignore where guys have been hitting, it should go like this: vs RHP: Moncada, Robert, Grandal, Jimenez, Abreu, Anderson vs LHP: Anderson, Robert, Grandal, Abrueu, Moncada, Jimenez That said, I don't think 10 days before the fist playoff game is the right time to be moving Anderson out of leadoff or Abreu out of 3rd given how long they've occupied those spots. So, I'd go with this for now: vs RHP: Anderson, Moncada, Abreu, Grandal, Robert, Jimenez vs LHP: Anderson, Robert, Abreu, Grandal, Jimenez, Moncada

9/27: Milwaukee has joined the Sox and Tampa in clinching division titles. Houston is off today and can join that club tomorrow. Tampa needs only one win in their Tuesday-Thursday series at Houston to clinch the #1 seed. Houston is 3 games ahead of the Sox for the #2 seed. In the Wild Card race, New York has moved a game ahead of Boston for the first spot, with Toronto 1 back, Seattle 2 back and Oakland 3 back of the second spot. In the National League, Atlanta now up 2.5 over Philadelphia in the East, and San Francisco up by 2 over Los Angeles in the West, with the Giants and Dodgers already locked into the postseason. St. Louis can clinch the second wild card spot as early as tomorrow. Key early week series (all Tuesday-Thursday unless noted otherwise): Oakland at Seattle (Mon-Wed), Boston at Baltimore, NY Yankees at Toronto, Philadelphia at Atlanta, Tampa Bay at Houston, Arizona at San Francisco, San Diego at LA Dodgers.

Imagine there's a giant routlette wheel with 999 black spaces and 1 red space. You can bet on either color, but even though the odds are very different, you win the same amount if you win your bet. However, if you lose your bet, the people closest to you also lose their bet even if they bet on the winning color. Now imagine that they guy next to you tells you that he's betting on red because he knows someone who bet on black and lost. Except that he doesn't actually know someone who bet on black and lost, but he read a post shared by someone on Facebook that claimed that someone bet on black and lost, but nobody has actually verified that this happened. The unvaccinated are the people betting on red, and people betting on something with odds that bad do not need nor deserve to have anyone being a voice for them or having empathy for them.

Cease has the most extreme home/road splits so he should pitch at home. Lynn is historically bad at Houston so he should pitch at home. If the Sox aren't using those two data points to make this decision then something is very, very wrong. That leaves Giolito and Rodon to pitch games 1-2, and Giolito is going to be better able to come back on 4 days rest for game 5, so I send him out for game 1. I would go Giolito/Rodon/Cease/Lynn.

Barring extra innings, the Sox are going to come up 1 short of matching the Bears scoring total in Cleveland today.

We have the same ownership continually hiring terrible GMs, so I really don't think things are going to improve until there's new ownership.

Is it "normal" to bet on the worst odds? Sadly, it may be, but let's not lose sight of what it is.

This team is a total failure in both assembling talent and coaching and Fields won't survive to the end of his first contract if those things don't change.

I think the bigger problem that he and millions of others have is not understanding the difference between anecdotal evidence and statistical evidence. We almost all know vaccinated people who got COVID, and a few of us maybe even know a vaccinated person who got really sick and maybe even died. We might also know someone who had some complications from the vaccine. That doesn't change the hard data that vaccination reduces the chances of getting COVID, the chances of requiring hostpitalization if you do get it, and the chances of death if you do require hospitalization, and the complications from vaccinations are much rarer than complications from getting the actual virus. No amount of sharing of anecdotes on Facebook can overcome that reality.

I imagine that not a lot of people will be watching the 12:10 Chicago at Cleveland game but instead will be watching the 12:00 Chicago at Cleveland game.

I've been OK with not being full gas up until now, but I'm starting to get a bit nervous as we're now 11 days from the first ALDS game.

https://twitter.com/JRFegan/status/1442136404989939716?s=20

I gave it an A for bringing a lot of anxiety to all the geniuses on this board who think they could do better.

Since the 6 run second inning in game 1 on Saturday, the Sox have scored 4 runs in 30 innings. Time to get over the clinching hangover and get into playoff mode.

Tampa Bay is the second team to clinch a division title. Milwaukee and Houston can both join that club today. Houston is 5 behind Tampa and 4 ahead of the Sox for playoff seeding. In the Wild Card race, Boston and New York are tied for the two spots, with Toronto 2 back, Seattle 3 back and Oakland 4 back. In the National League, Atlanta now only up 1.5 over Philadelphia in the East, and San Francisco up by 2 over Los Angeles in the West, with the Giants and Dodgers already locked into the postseason. St. Louis has put an absolute strangle hold on the second wild card spot, now up 5 over Philly, 6 over Cincinnati and 7. San Diego is now eliminated. Weekend series with the biggest impact have the Yankees at Boston, Toronto at Minnesota, Pittsburgh at Philly and Atlanta at San Diego.

I start Gio in game 1 because he'll be better able to start again in game 5.

Giolito should start game 1

Oakland walked off Houston.

I think Sheets/Vaughn is your DH platoon for the postseason. Leury is the primary RF if Engel can't go.

https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/1441854853358231584?s=19 Leury in RF, Vaughn at DH.

Engel being unreliable almost clinches that Goodwin will be on the playoff roster: OF - Jimenez, Robert, Engel, Vaughn, Hamilton, Goodwin IF - Moncada, Anderson, Hernandez, Abreu, Garcia, Sheets C - Grandal, Collins SP - Giolito, Rodon, Lynn, Cease RP - Hendriks, Kimbrel, Tepera, Kopech, Bummer, Crochet, Keuchel, Lopez

I thought this is what Luis Robert would eventually become, but I didn't think he'd get there this year.

Two potential clinches today - Tampa Bay in the AL East and Milwaukee in the NL Central. Houston has a magic # of 3 in the AL West Houston is 4 behind Tampa and 4 ahead of the Sox for playoff seeding. Boston is now 1 ahead of New York in the wild card race, with Toronto and Seattle both 2 behind the Yankees. Oakland is 4 back. In the National League, Atlanta now only up 1.5 over Philadelphia in the East, and San Francisco up by 1 over Los Angeles in the West, with the Giants and Dodgers already locked into the postseason. St. Louis has put an absolute strangle hold on the second wild card spot, now up 5 over Philly, 6 over Cincinnati and 7 over San Diego. Weekend series with the biggest impact have the Yankees at Boston, Toronto at Minnesota, Pittsburgh at Philly and Atlanta at San Diego.

Someone needs to explain to Tony that this is a different kind of blackout.

I feel significantly better about the postseason than I did 10 minutes ago.