Need Eloy in the lineup and if Garcia is ready to go, he's gotta be out there over Mazara.

Fiers seems like a guy that will give the Sox fits. 

Sounds like the A’s rotation will be (1) Manaea, (2)  Bassitt, & (3) Luzardo.  We haven’t faced the first two guys much, but here’s how our players have performed in their careers against them:

Manaea: .154 OPS across 53 plate appearances

• Mazara: 4/17, 3 K, 0 BB, 0 XBH, .513 OPS
• Encarnacion: 1/8, 4 K, 0 BB, 0 XBH, .250 OPS
• Dyson: 1/9, 0 K, 0 BB, 0 XBH, .222 OPS
• All Other: 1/19, 5 K, 0 BB, 0 XBH, .125 OPS

Bassitt: .314 OPS across 60 plate appearances

• Abreau: 3/12, 2 K, 0 BB, 0 XBH, .500 OPS
• Sanchez: 0/8, 3 K, 0 BB, 0 XBH, .000 OPS
• Anderson: 2/6, 1 K, 0 BB, 2 XBH, 1.000 OPS
• Moncada: 1/6, 0 K, 0 BB, 0 XBH, .333 OPS
• Mazara: 1/6, 2 K, 1 BB, 0 XBH, .452 OPS
• All Other: 2/19, 4 K, 2 BB, 0 XBH, .333 OPS

Very small sample sizes, but surprisingly ugly nonetheless.  Also, note that none of our hitters have ever faced Luzardo.

The beginning of the Tuesday game is going to suck for TV. The NL game starts 3 hours before it, and you know it will last longer than that. Hopefully they will put the start on another espn channel.

7 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

The beginning of the Tuesday game is going to suck for TV. The NL game starts 3 hours before it, and you know it will last longer than that. Hopefully they will put the start on another espn channel.

You mean Wednesday? 

3 minutes ago, SonofaRoache said:

You mean Wednesday? 

Yes, Wednesday.

Playing a best of 3 vs. Oakland isn't bad. if they had kept the standard playoff format for this season, the Sox would have played Cleveland in the WC game. 

9 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Yes, Wednesday.

Playing a best of 3 vs. Oakland isn't bad. if they had kept the standard playoff format for this season, the Sox would have played Cleveland in the WC game. 

Yep. I do like that we would have made the real playoffs for history sake. And we don't beat Cleveland in that one game either. No way. 

10 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Yes, Wednesday.

Playing a best of 3 vs. Oakland isn't bad. if they had kept the standard playoff format for this season, the Sox would have played Cleveland in the WC game. 

Ew. This team, despite their finish, definitely deserved 3 games instead of 1 to decide their fate. 

 

 

This is the first time in franchise history the Sox have made it to the postseason without at least winning a division.  (For the record, I don’t consider the WC game a playoff game, I consider it a play-in game.  Just my personal view.)

Edited September 28, 20205 yr by asindc

4 minutes ago, asindc said:

This is the first time in franchise history the Sox have made it to the postseason without at least winning a division.  (For the record, I don’t consider the WC game a playoff game, I consider it a play-in game.  Just my personal view.)

Game 163 was technically a regular season game.

For all the choking and shitty managing and underachieving and etc., playing Oakland is pretty nice.  And who gives a fuck about home field advantage when all the other series are in a bubble.

What's nice is that if Eloy is at DH and Engel is in the OF, ideally Engel and Leury or Dyson, we have the players to play great OF defense in that park.  I'm hoping Ricky lines us up for the defense but my guess is it'll be Eloy in LF and Mazara in RF.  If there's one thing we should take away from past struggles in Oakland it's the Hawkism of "The first rule in baseball is catch the ball."

2 minutes ago, YourWhatHurts said:

Game 163 was technically a regular season game.

Yes, I know.  I wasn’t referring to that game, I was referring to the one game between two “wild card” teams.

12 hours ago, SouthWallace said:

Of course NYY gets that prime 7p time slot. 

To be fair, do you want to watch Chris Bassit, Tommy LaStella, Mark Canha & Co. v. Sox .... or do you want to watch Bieber v. DeGrom. Jose Ramirez, Lindor, Judge, Stanton, Torres, etc?

I think 95% of people would rather watch the Indians and Yankees. And eyes drive money which drives the TV times. 

If they truly go Manaea game 1 i will be very happy. we also have to take advantage of that. 

If i were them I'd be going Luzardo, Bassitt & then matchups via bullpen/Montas/Minor/Manaea game three. (though I'm not sure how quickly after this series the next series starts ... i think it's like Monday? I stand by this if there are 3 days in between)

 

For Sox i think you approach the same way, Gio, Keuchel and then bullpen game of Dunning/Rodon/Crochet, etc. I actually wouldnt mind mixing that up too ... putting the bullpen game two against bassit and then keuchel game 3. 

31 minutes ago, asindc said:

This is the first time in franchise history the Sox have made it to the postseason without at least winning a division.  (For the record, I don’t consider the WC game a playoff game, I consider it a play-in game.  Just my personal view.)

Kind of ironic since Eddie Einhorn was one big proponent of expanding the playoffs and until this shortened season the White Sox didn't take advantage of that. I don't expect the Sox to go too far, but that doesn't take away what the team has accomplished this season despite that nightmarish last week and a half.

When do we have to officially declare the playoff roster? And what does that look like compared to years past eg. players being shifted on and off the official roster?

50 minutes ago, SonofaRoache said:

Yep. I do like that we would have made the real playoffs for history sake. And we don't beat Cleveland in that one game either. No way. 

I actually kinda disagree. Giolito pitches really well against them for whatever reason and the bats seemed like they were waking up a bit yesterday. As insane as it sounds after last week, I'd actually take one game against Cleveland right now.

**That's not to say I would prefer one game against Cleveland to three against Oakland**

Edited September 28, 20205 yr by oneofthemikes
Clarification

26 minutes ago, BrianAnderson said:

To be fair, do you want to watch Chris Bassit, Tommy LaStella, Mark Canha & Co. v. Sox .... or do you want to watch Bieber v. DeGrom. Jose Ramirez, Lindor, Judge, Stanton, Torres, etc?

I think 95% of people would rather watch the Indians and Yankees. And eyes drive money which drives the TV times. 

What the hell????? When did the Yanks get deGrom????? This isn't fair. 

 

?

While I would have preferred a late night start for my own personal reasons, I much rather play at that crappy ballpark in the daytime than at night.   All my bad memories there feel like they happened at night.   Although that bizarre weekday game where everyone was thrown out and Dye had to play SS happened during the day.  

 

 

 

 

41 minutes ago, turnin' two said:

What the hell????? When did the Yanks get deGrom????? This isn't fair. 

 

?

I read that as he is playing like Degrom.

34 minutes ago, HOFHurt35 said:

While I would have preferred a late night start for my own personal reasons, I much rather play at that crappy ballpark in the daytime than at night.   All my bad memories there feel like they happened at night.   Although that bizarre weekday game where everyone was thrown out and Dye had to play SS happened during the day.  

 

 

 

 

The game where Crede got ejected cause the umpire said he let the pitch hit him on purpose? It's always something out of our control in that damn stadium. I remember we almost swept them in Oakland to start the year in 2016, but the A's were terrible back then.

1 hour ago, YourWhatHurts said:

For all the choking and shitty managing and underachieving and etc., playing Oakland is pretty nice.  And who gives a fuck about home field advantage when all the other series are in a bubble.

What's nice is that if Eloy is at DH and Engel is in the OF, ideally Engel and Leury or Dyson, we have the players to play great OF defense in that park.  I'm hoping Ricky lines us up for the defense but my guess is it'll be Eloy in LF and Mazara in RF.  If there's one thing we should take away from past struggles in Oakland it's the Hawkism of "The first rule in baseball is catch the ball."

Downside is the banner. That division banner would have been huge for our guys staking their claim in this division. Finishing in third sucks, but this year it's about advancing in the playoffs as well. Our draw of Oakland and Minny/Stros is not a bad one at all. It certainly beats Yankees and Rays. 

Id rather face the As than anyone else. I know we have been bad at their home but no fans and this is basically a while new group of players.

As far as I am concerned, this season is legitimate unless the Cubs win it all. Then it's a huge asterisk. 

5 minutes ago, SonofaRoache said:

Downside is the banner. That division banner would have been huge for our guys staking their claim in this division. Finishing in third sucks, but this year it's about advancing in the playoffs as well. Our draw of Oakland and Minny/Stros is not a bad one at all. It certainly beats Yankees and Rays. 

I agree.  But the best part is that it puts us in the 2nd lesser bracket away from the Twins, Yankees, and Rays, which makes it easier for us to put up a AL Divisional Series Championship Banner and all the other banners that follow.