Newcomb starting G2?

1) Burke

2) Newcomb/Martin (0 for his last 16 appearances...yikes!)

3) Kay/Fedde

Lambert starting Sun for Houston

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by caulfield12

3 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Newcomb starting G2?

1) Burke

2) Newcomb/Martin (0 for his last 16 appearances...yikes!)

3) Kay/Fedde

Lambert starting Sun for Houston

Are they really pitching Burke on three days rest? Feels like he should start game #2 on regular rest and give us the best chance to win that game. He’d then be on regular rest for games #2 & #5 of the ALDS (if we can somehow make it there). With no other reliable SPs, I’d try to optimize his chance for success.

Martin shitting the bed yesterday is super concerning. Is his calf still hurting him or does he just not have the stones to pitch in high pressure situations? Regardless, it’s going to be very hard to rely on him this post season. Given the lack of other options, he’s probably still part of the mix for game #3.

Honestly, I may start Sandlin game #1. As insane as that sounds, he’s our hottest SP at the moment. Hagen should get two innings in relief and Taylor should get one to close things out. Not sure who throws the other couple of innings that will likely be needed. Ideally Kay would piggyback with him but that may not be possible if he starts today.

I just can’t bring myself to start Fedde game #1 of a playoff series. He needs to pitch at some point, but I’d rather roll the dice on Sandlin in game #1. Also, the failure of the Castillo trade looms large here. It’s absolutely crazy that we have one reliable SP going into the playoffs. There is no one to blame but ourselves for that. I won’t dwell on it any further, but is super frustrating nonetheless.

game 1: Newcomb opener, Sandlin bulk

game 2: Burke

pop a cork in the locker room, quick celebration, get on the plane and get ready for Saturday against Cleveland .

58 minutes ago, Falstaff said:

game 1: Newcomb opener, Sandlin bulk

game 2: Burke

pop a cork in the locker room, quick celebration, get on the plane and get ready for Saturday against Cleveland .

do you really think they're going to trust a rookie pitcher to carry the load in the biggest game of the season?

by relative importance to the organization, Hagen or Schultz could benefit even more as fellow rookies

no matter what they choose, it's going to be second guessed

Sandlin either does pretty well or gets totally bombed out of the stadium the early going

then you're talking on the road against a highly seasoned playoff team

according to this, it would be Sandlin then Burke then Martin

God knows whether Kay Hudson or Hagen/Schultz are openers bulk guys or back of the bullpen at this point

at least the Astros are also not going to be able to pitch Hunter Brown until G2/3 as well

they still were looking at crazy options like McCullers Imai Burrowes and Verlander coming into the weekend

but guess it's Lambert as of now

meaning rookie Pecko could be the best G1 option at the moment

Chicago Sun-Times

White Sox prioritizing rest, division race as they set fi...

The White Sox passed on an opportunity to line up staff ace Sean Burke for Game 1 of a potential wild card series, hoping a rested rotation will aid pursuit of AL Central title instead.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by caulfield12

6 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

do you really think they're going to trust a rookie pitcher to carry the load in the biggest game of the season?

by relative importance to the organization, Hagen or Schultz could benefit even more as fellow rookies

no matter what they choose, it's going to be second guessed

Sandlin either does pretty well or gets totally bombed out of the stadium the early going

then you're talking on the road against a highly seasoned playoff team

They don’t really have a lot of choices at the moment. If you were a Blue Jays fan you would have pissed your pants about how they relied on Yesavage last season. Sometimes a guy comes out of nowhere and carries a team

2 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

according to this, it would be Sandlin then Burke then Martin

God knows whether Kay Hudson or Hagen/Schultz are openers bulk guys or back of the bullpen at this point

at least the Astros are also not going to be able to pitch Hunter Brown until G2/3 as well

they still were looking at crazy options like McCullers Imai Burrowes and Verlander coming into the weekend

Chicago Sun-Times

White Sox prioritizing rest, division race as they set fi...

The White Sox passed on an opportunity to line up staff ace Sean Burke for Game 1 of a potential wild card series, hoping a rested rotation will aid pursuit of AL Central title instead.

Sandlin pitched well against a good offense that was very hot. Look at what KC did to Cleveland this weekend. Personally, I'd throw fedde but I also understand using fedde as a jack of all trade guy in your pen.

6 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

They don’t really have a lot of choices at the moment. If you were a Blue Jays fan you would have pissed your pants about how they relied on Yesavage last season. Sometimes a guy comes out of nowhere and carries a team

Sure but that was more like Brandon McCarthy at the end of 2005 catching fire and being more consistently dominant

"For the Rangers, left-hander MacKenzie Gore is expected to get the ball in a do-or-die start against Twins right-hander Dean Kremer. Houston will start right-hander Peter Lambert on short rest, according to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. Astros manager Joe Espada also reportedly said every Houston pitcher except Saturday's starter, right-hander Hayden Wesneski, will be available on Sunday."

So Houston will go with Brown Wesneski and then Lambert all on three days in the playoffs or insert rookie Pecko in there somewhere as well

those options all seem as bad as the White Sox lol

they were giving Hunter Brown at least a month's worth of starts in late August and early Sept with five full days of rest until more recently...

https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/4717803/hunter-brown

of course the ESPN report says they could go back to Brown on just two days' rest on Sunday out of the pen as necessary...which would definitely knock him out of G1 consideration

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by caulfield12

18 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

do you really think they're going to trust a rookie pitcher to carry the load in the biggest game of the season?

by relative importance to the organization, Hagen or Schultz could benefit even more as fellow rookies

no matter what they choose, it's going to be second guessed

Sandlin either does pretty well or gets totally bombed out of the stadium the early going

then you're talking on the road against a highly seasoned playoff team

I would rather see Burke on his normal rest schedule and he pitches Wednesday.

Sean Newcomb has excellent career stats for playoff pitching with Atlanta. I think using him as an opener + would calm Sandlin down and ease him into the game.

Newcomb in 6 playoff games is 1-0 1.08 era

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Falstaff

32 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Sure but that was more like Brandon McCarthy at the end of 2005 catching fire and being more consistently dominant

"For the Rangers, left-hander MacKenzie Gore is expected to get the ball in a do-or-die start against Twins right-hander Dean Kremer. Houston will start right-hander Peter Lambert on short rest, according to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. Astros manager Joe Espada also reportedly said every Houston pitcher except Saturday's starter, right-hander Hayden Wesneski, will be available on Sunday."

So Houston will go with Brown Wesneski and then Lambert all on three days in the playoffs or insert rookie Pecko in there somewhere as well

those options all seem as bad as the White Sox lol

It’s unfortunate but the Sox do not have the option to re-order the starters. Everything isn’t a 1:1 ending for something that happened 20 years ago

41 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

They don’t really have a lot of choices at the moment. If you were a Blue Jays fan you would have pissed your pants about how they relied on Yesavage last season. Sometimes a guy comes out of nowhere and carries a team

I agree with this: Go with Sandlin Tuesday. As far as I’m concerned, he’s their best starter right now, even over Burke.

Plus let’s be honest, any Sox starter they use is gonna be new to the playoffs and nervous. Go with Sandlin.

Well actually, Castillo has plenty of playoff experience and . . . .

On 9/23/2026 at 11:23 AM, vilehoopster said:

I know Newcomb has been bad a couple times in a row, but to throw him in with those other three is crazy. He has really had a very good year, very good. I think his arm, hopefully only for now, is falling off from overuse. I hope he can recover and be outstanding again.

In fact, about a month ago Schriffen and Stoney were discussing who is the Sox’s 2nd MVP after Vargas. Right away Schriffen went with Peters (who was back to being hot at the plate), and Peters was my choice too. But Stoney said he would go with Newcomb because he has come in for shorts stits and long 3-inning outings and he has been really good and dependable whenever/ however used. And as I thought about it, Stoney convinced me he was correct.

Now I know Newcomb’s had, I think, two clunkers in a row, but come on people; our memories have to last longer than just the last week or so.

I've said it before but with the popularity of pro football a week to week mentality has overtaken fan logic and the " every team wins 50 (usually) and losses 50 and the highs and lows of the 162 game schedule is now treated like a week to week 17 game schedule. People panic with a bad stretch and get overly exuberant during a good stretch. Same thing with roster moves that don't immediately make an impact or trading away a guy who makes a good 1st impression with his new team. People can talk s%*# about everything bad in a weekly matter over and over and when things turn it's routinely forgotten and pointing out how very wrong people are is considered gauche. There is no depth perception, no seeing the forest for the trees, no big picture perspective.