Toronto is looking scary, i wouldnt want to face them in the playoffs right now with how hot they have been.

Sox are off today, but here are the games impacting the AL playoff chase:

Twins @ Yankees 1:05 - Twins are eliminated with a loss

Rays @ Jays 6:07

Astros @ Rangers 7:05

Red Sox @ Mariners 9:10

1 hour ago, reiks12 said:

Toronto is looking scary, i wouldnt want to face them in the playoffs right now with how hot they have been.

They are a good team for sure.  But they will have to make it out of Tampa.  

To be honest, the narrative I'm seeing is that it's going to be a White Sox/Rays ALCS and for as good as the Rays are, it's pretty damn evenly matched.  They are the only two teams built to have any postseason success in the AL.  You need great starting pitching and a very good bullpen.  Yes, Kimbrel has had his struggles in a few games, but I would take the White Sox bullpen against pretty much anyone in the AL.  Let's look at the other teams:

Yankees - An all or nothing offensive team that has no depth at starting pitching and a horrendous bullpen.  They can win slugfests but that's about it.

Red Sox - Maybe a slightly better version of the Yankees but a lot of their success was smoke and mirrors in the first half.  Again, outside of Sale, no starting pitching depth.

Astros - A very solid team but again there starting pitching is going to be tested in a way I don't think the White Sox will be.  As well as their bullpen.

Blue Jays - Their rotation, outside of the White Sox is the best in the AL when it comes to the playoff contenders.  But the Sox also exposed real vulnerabilities in that team.  And they have been having bullpen issues all year.

 

The Red Sox/White Sox series is a perfect example.  The White Sox won the kind of games they will need to win in the playoffs.  The Red Sox were able to win the slugfest.  Blue Jays are scary but I just don't think they are there yet to go deep in the playoffs.

Minnesota loses to the Yankees 6-5. Minnesota was up 5-0 in the game but blew the lead and lost in the 10th inning.

Edited September 13, 20214 yr by maloney.adam

2 minutes ago, maloney.adam said:

Minnesota loses to the Yankees 6-5. Minnesota was up 5-0 in the game but blew the lead and lost in the 10th inning.

Ump gave the Yanks the game in the 8th

1 minute ago, maloney.adam said:

Minnesota loses to the Yankees in the bottom of the 10th. Minnesota was up 5-0 in the game. 

I hate the Yankees but the Bluejays are scaring me a little bit....how about Oakland and Seattle go on a run and take those 2 wildcards??

54 minutes ago, Colome's Hat said:

They are a good team for sure.  But they will have to make it out of Tampa.  

To be honest, the narrative I'm seeing is that it's going to be a White Sox/Rays ALCS and for as good as the Rays are, it's pretty damn evenly matched.  They are the only two teams built to have any postseason success in the AL.  You need great starting pitching and a very good bullpen.  Yes, Kimbrel has had his struggles in a few games, but I would take the White Sox bullpen against pretty much anyone in the AL.  Let's look at the other teams:

Yankees - An all or nothing offensive team that has no depth at starting pitching and a horrendous bullpen.  They can win slugfests but that's about it.

Red Sox - Maybe a slightly better version of the Yankees but a lot of their success was smoke and mirrors in the first half.  Again, outside of Sale, no starting pitching depth.

Astros - A very solid team but again there starting pitching is going to be tested in a way I don't think the White Sox will be.  As well as their bullpen.

Blue Jays - Their rotation, outside of the White Sox is the best in the AL when it comes to the playoff contenders.  But the Sox also exposed real vulnerabilities in that team.  And they have been having bullpen issues all year.

 

The Red Sox/White Sox series is a perfect example.  The White Sox won the kind of games they will need to win in the playoffs.  The Red Sox were able to win the slugfest.  Blue Jays are scary but I just don't think they are there yet to go deep in the playoffs.

I genuinely wonder how different the Sox record this year is if the runner on second in extra innings rule didn't exist.

Just now, fathom said:

Ump gave the Yanks the game in the 8th

League directive??

2 minutes ago, maloney.adam said:

Minnesota loses to the Yankees 6-5. Minnesota was up 5-0 in the game but blew the lead and lost in the 10th inning.

This also means Minnesota is officially eliminated. 

Suck it Twins! But not the next 2 days please. Beat Cleveland. 

Just now, Quin said:

I genuinely wonder how different the Sox record this year is if the runner on second in extra innings rule didn't exist.

Crochet's W-L record would probably be better.

2 minutes ago, Quin said:

I genuinely wonder how different the Sox record this year is if the runner on second in extra innings rule didn't exist.

For a team with  Hall of Famer person as a manager, we have been awful in extras.  Too many dumb mistakes defensively, and then not a lot of strategy offensively.  That has also seemingly shown up in our 15-21 record in one run games as well.

4 minutes ago, fathom said:

Ump gave the Yanks the game in the 8th

Yeah I saw that. Two really awful ball calls on 2-2 and then 3-2 on curve balls that were clearly in the top half of the zone, with 2 outs, followed by a Judge game-tying 3R HR.

Just now, southsider2k5 said:

For a team with  Hall of Famer person as a manager, we have been awful in extras.  Too many dumb mistakes defensively, and then not a lot of strategy offensively.  That has also seemingly shown up in our 15-21 record in one run games as well.

I still say our record in one run games is more a product of not being able to score late to tack on runs, bad/dumb defense and then questionable management.

I think the bullpen useage is exposed becasue of the inability to really bury teams like they were doing earlier in the year which has kept games close.   

Just now, Harry Chappas said:

I still say our record in one run games is more a product of not being able to score late to tack on runs, bad/dumb defense and then questionable management.

I think the bullpen useage is exposed becasue of the inability to really bury teams like they were doing earlier in the year which has kept games close.   

We also suck at moving runners over and getting them in from third. 2 things you need to do well with the runner on 2nd rule in extras. 

1 minute ago, Harry Chappas said:

I still say our record in one run games is more a product of not being able to score late to tack on runs, bad/dumb defense and then questionable management.

I think the bullpen useage is exposed becasue of the inability to really bury teams like they were doing earlier in the year which has kept games close.   

RS-RA

Innings 1-3: 270-193

Innings 4-6: 268-190

Innings 7-9: 158-179

So yeah, it's really the offense and not the bullpen that's screwing us in the late innings. Tampa and the Yankees have very good bullpen ERAs, the rest of the AL playoff contenders are all middle of the pack.

35 minutes ago, chw42 said:

We also suck at moving runners over and getting them in from third. 2 things you need to do well with the runner on 2nd rule in extras. 

At the game Saturday I was joking with fans in the area that the Sox should petition the league office to have the runner start at 1st in extra innings as they seem to do better there than with RISP.

31 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

RS-RA

Innings 1-3: 270-193

Innings 4-6: 268-190

Innings 7-9: 158-179

So yeah, it's really the offense and not the bullpen that's screwing us in the late innings. Tampa and the Yankees have very good bullpen ERAs, the rest of the AL playoff contenders are all middle of the pack.

One issue of note - because they're such a good home team, they often don't have to hit in the 9th inning, and eyeballing it that accounts for maybe 20-25 runs scored on that list that are missing?

28 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

One issue of note - because they're such a good home team, they often don't have to hit in the 9th inning, and eyeballing it that accounts for maybe 20-25 runs scored on that list that are missing?

Sox have won 48 home games and lost 36 road games, so you expect both totals to go down. Yet the drop in runs scored was 10x as much as the drop in runs allowed.

38 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

Sox have won 48 home games and lost 36 road games, so you expect both totals to go down. Yet the drop in runs scored was 10x as much as the drop in runs allowed.

So effectively the Sox have lost 12 more innings than they gained in the 9th?  Assuming 4 run per game, that accounts for like 5ish runs?  

3 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

So effectively the Sox have lost 12 more innings than they gained in the 9th?  Assuming 4 run per game, that accounts for like 5ish runs?  

There are walkoffs and extra innings so it's an approximation, but yeah, the missing bottom of the 9ths account for about 5 runs. Not enough to explain how awful the hitting has been in innings 7-9.

9 hours ago, reiks12 said:

Toronto is looking scary, i wouldnt want to face them in the playoffs right now with how hot they have been.

They just put up 7 on the Rays. 

Toronto on complete fire .hopefully they peak early.

7 hours ago, Quin said:

I genuinely wonder how different the Sox record this year is if the runner on second in extra innings rule didn't exist.

Words cannot describe how much i fucking hate the extra inning rule.  They should do away with it.  If they have to do something like this, take a page from college football.  Add it in after the 12th or 13th inning.  We win Saturday's game without that rule.

9/14:

Magic number = 9

Minnesota has been eliminated. Magic number to eliminate Kansas City is 3, which could happen as early as Wednesday.

Sox are 2 behind Houston for the #2 seed.

Fireworks in the Wild Card race last night. Yankees got two gifts from the home plate umpire that helped them beat Minnesota. Toronto proved that their offense works against teams other than Baltimore in blowing out Tampa. Boston's late night comeback against Seattle fell just short.

Toronto now sits in the #1 WC spot, 1 game clear of Boston and New York in a tie for the 2nd spot. Seattle 2 back and Oakland 2.5 back.

 

Over in the National League, the Giants are  in front of the Dodgers by 2.5. Cincinnati 0.5 game ahead of San Diego and St Louis for the 2nd WC spot with Philly 2.5 back. Philly also within 4.5 of Atlanta for the division lead.

Finally have played the same number of games as Houston, so with the tiebreaker the Sox would need to be 3 wins better than them over their last 19. If they went 10-9, the White Sox would need to go 13-6 for the 2 seed. Lotsa leverage on each remaining loss.