The game is Monday, April 4th at 9:05 PM CT in Oakland, where the forecast for first pitch is 57 degrees with a 0% chance of rain and 5 MPH NE winds.

 

Chris Sale makes his 3rd career Opening Day start for Chicago (missed last year's due to injury) despite earlier April Fools' reports stating that he has elbow soreness. Sale is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his Opening Day starts. Worth noting: Oakland's Billy Butler is 15-41 (.366) with 3 HR and 10 RBI against Sale; Oakland's Jed Lowrie is 5-13 (.385) against Sale.

 

Sonny Gray makes his 3rd career Opening Day start for Oakland. He is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in his two Opening Day starts. He finished 3rd in Cy Young voting in 2015. Worth noting- Jose Abreu is 2-6 (.333) with 1 HR and 4 RBI against Gray.

 

EDIT: Gray scratched with food poisoning. Rich Hill starting.

 

White Sox:

Eaton

Rollins

Abreu

Frazier

Cabrera

Garcia

Lawrie

Navarro

Jackson

 

Oakland:

Burns

Lowrie

Reddick

Valencia

Davis

Butler

Canha

Vogt

Semien

Edited April 5, 20169 yr by raBBit

It might be fun if we each posted our predictions for the line for each starting pitcher as well as the final score.

 

My guesses are:

 

Sale - 7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K

Gray - 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

 

White Sox win 6-4 behind an Abreu 3 run shot and a solo homer by Frazier.

Man you think Sale is going to give up runs to the f***ing A's?

I hope Sale gets 2 or 3 important strikeouts, and is more economical with his pitches to go deeper in the game.

 

How about 8 innings, 6 hits, 1 run, 1 bb, 6 ks in an easy 4-1 Sox victory...

I'd like it to be 0-0 in the 7th so I can still be scared and then the Sox rip off 10 runs in the 8th and 9th innings.

I certainly wouldn't mind that lol

6 to 5 White Sox

 

Guys, aces struggle on opening day. Remember?

6 to 5 White Sox

 

Guys, aces struggle on opening day. Remember?

Well the OP says otherwise.

4-1 White Sox

 

Sale, 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 HR (Some asshole with no power, or Marcus Semien), 2 BB, 8 K.

Robertson with the save.

Lawrie with a 2-run HR because HA!

Over/Under on how many innings I watch is 3. It's not old age or my early wake up to blame. It's parenthood preventing my late afternoon prep nap. How I miss that nap. I do expect to see 8 strikeouts by then.

For what it's worth (which is nothing), I've played this game 3 times in MLB 16 The Show, and for some reason, in every single one of them, Brett Lawrie went either 3-4 or 4-4.

For what it's worth (which is nothing), I've played this game 3 times in MLB 16 The Show, and for some reason, in every single one of them, Brett Lawrie went either 3-4 or 4-4.

Former team venom? Lol I don't know but I hope so.

 

 

I'm going to go with 2-1 Sox

 

Sale 7.1 IP 8 Ks 2 BBs 1 ER

Abreu solo HR and Rollins doubles bringing in Eaton.

 

Robertson and Jones lock it down in the pen.

 

The one run comes off As Butler solo HR

 

Gray 7 IP 6 Ks 2 ER

Edited April 2, 20169 yr by SouthSideSale

@JaneMLB Sogard (neck) could potentially begin season on DL.

Damn, he sucks. Would have been nice having our lefties go up against him.

He's the 2B with glasses right? I haven't paid attention to his numbers only the glasses lol

Not that we haven't seen this already this spring, but Robin confirms Rollins will bat 2nd and Melky will bat 5th start the season.

 

https://twitter.com/ChiTribKane/status/716333332192043008

Going to the game next Saturday when Sale (hopefully) pitches his 2nd start against Cleveland. Wanted to go to opening day, but it's probably Danks or Latos pitching and I don't feel like sitting in the nosebleeds when it's in the 40s when I could get tickets for almost the same price on the lower level the next day with Sale pitching lol.

Sox-A's at 9pm central, while Cubs-Angels, and the NCAA championship are going on...this could be the least watched opening day game ever. (I may be exaggerating.)

Sox-A's at 9pm central, while Cubs-Angels, and the NCAA championship are going on...this could be the least watched opening day game ever. (I may be exaggerating.)

Especially if the Tar Heels are playing, I'll be glued to that. I'll have to flip back and forth.

Not that we haven't seen this already this spring, but Robin confirms Rollins will bat 2nd and Melky will bat 5th start the season.

 

https://twitter.com/ChiTribKane/status/716333332192043008

Sox-A's at 9pm central, while Cubs-Angels, and the NCAA championship are going on...this could be the least watched opening day game ever. (I may be exaggerating.)

 

Won't be any worse than a 1 o'clock game on a work day.

Can't wait. Got new shirts for the kiddos and get to see it the local spot for dinner!!

Not that we haven't seen this already this spring, but Robin confirms Rollins will bat 2nd and Melky will bat 5th start the season.

 

https://twitter.com/ChiTribKane/status/716333332192043008

 

I honestly agree with this. Melky down in the order gives a switch hitter and gives him chance to be more of a run producing bat.

I honestly agree with this. Melky down in the order gives a switch hitter and gives him chance to be more of a run producing bat.

Without another impact bat in the middle, I agree. He makes sense there.

Not that we haven't seen this already this spring, but Robin confirms Rollins will bat 2nd and Melky will bat 5th start the season.

 

https://twitter.com/ChiTribKane/status/716333332192043008

 

While not ideal, it is the best use of the players we have.

While not ideal, it is the best use of the players we have.

Oh, it's far from ideal, wouldn't you say? The team that was dead last in offense in the league last year STILL features Melky Cabrera in the middle of the order, STILL will be giving regular at-bats to Avisail Garcia, and NOW is graced with the offensive juggernauts that are Austin Jackson, Alex Avila, and Jimmy Rollins. That's not very promising at all.

 

We will probably be better overall offensively than we were last year, but seriously, with this cast of characters, we could still be last in offense once again. We are going to need some big time career years and surprises to avoid that outcome.

Edited April 2, 20169 yr by Thad Bosley

Oh, it's far from ideal, wouldn't you say? The team that was dead last in offense in the league last year STILL features Melky Cabrera in the middle of the order, STILL will be giving regular at-bats to Avisail Garcia, and NOW is graced with the offensive juggernauts that are Austin Jackson, Alex Avila, and Jimmy Rollins. That's not very promising at all.

 

We will probably be better overall offensively than we were last year, but seriously, with this cast of characters, we could still be last in offense once again. We are going to need some big time career years and surprises to avoid that outcome.

 

Leave it to the King of the buzzkill to take the absolute worst out of an off season that saw a ton of improvement in this line up, especially at 2nd, 3rd, and C. We don't need a ton of career years to avoid being "last in offense". We need career average years from most of the team, which we didn't see from a lot of players last year.