With powerpacked lineup, White Sox pose threat
Finally, something fresh. An A’sWhite Sox playoff series sounds like something badly needed in this twisted baseball season.
For 60 games, neither the A’s nor the Giants ventured into the Midwest or East. It was a relentless procession through the West divisions, and there was no relief in sight. The Giants would have played the Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs, if they could just break through, and it seemed nearly certain the A’s would face Houston.
Enough of all that. Let the Astros take their bizarre melodrama elsewhere. A’sWhite Sox is a muchneeded taste of expanded geography.
If only we had a real postseason series, with people in the stands and the A’s getting a taste of Chicago’s South Side along the way. But that’s a bit too much to ask. It’s a bestofthree in front of those everstoic cutouts at the Oakland Coliseum, so get the popcorn ready.
The White Sox haven’t exactly stormed into this matchup. When play began Sunday, they had a shot at the American League’s second seed, as well as the third and fourth. But then they lost to the Cubs. The Twins fell to Cincinnati. The Indians beat the Pirates. And the A’s beat Seattle. After all the predictions and permutations, we’ve got a 2vs7 series completely out of nowhere.
Not that the White Sox’ collapse was any kind of surprise. They took a sixgame losing streak into Saturday’s game against the equally struggling Cubs, prompting the Chicago SunTimes to call the crosstown matchup “The Windy Pity.” The Sox won that game, but it didn’t alter the fractured state of their pitching staff. That’s where the A’s hope to gain an edge, and they would be advised to do so. The White Sox lineup looks decidedly more dangerous than Oakland’s, and it is a treat to behold.
On a historic night at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium on Aug. 2, the White Sox became the first team in majorleague history to fill the first four slots in the batting order with Cubans: Luis Robert, Yoán Moncada, José Abreu and Yasmani Grandal. It was hardly a novelty. Robert has been a rookie revelation in center field, showing fivetool talent. Moncada had a down year but was coming off a .315, 25homer performance last season. Abreu is a solid MVP candidate (.317, 19 homers, 60 RBIs and a .617 slugging percentage), and Grandal is considered one of the best allaround catchers in the game.
There’s really no letup when this team gets hot. Shortstop Tim Anderson, aside from hitting .322 (and winning last year’s batting title at .335), is one of baseball’s most important players, a champion of celebratory exuberance on the field and diligent in his quest to attract young Black athletes into the sport. Outfielder Eloy Jimenez is hitting .296 with 14 homers after belting 31 as a 22yearold last season. (He’s on daytoday status with a sprained foot.)
Designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, he of the 424 lifetime homers, has long been famous for what he calls his “parrot walk” homerun trot, lifting a bent right arm parallel to the ground as he goes. Outfielder Nomar Mozara went deep just once this year, but you never know: In June of last season, he crushed a homer against Texas that stands as the longest of the Statcast era (since 2015) in projected distance: 505 feet.
“It’s unbelievable,” former A’s pitcher Gio Gonzalez, who has worked out of the White Sox bullpen since midAugust, said of his team. “These guys must have been born next to a nuclear power plant. They’re destroying the baseball.”
Robert has slumped badly of late, but his earlyseason impression was especially powerful, filled with linedrive power and superb defense. “I remember seeing Ken Griffey Jr. in the beginning — we broke into the big leagues together in the same year — and Ken had that same type of glow,” said Omar Vizquel, the former Giants shortstop who managed Robert in DoubleA ball. “When you look at Robert, you see a player like that.”
This is a delightfully fun team, and the Sox can get a little nasty, too. After the Cubs’ Willson Contreras made an overbearing show of his Fridaynight homer at Guaranteed Rate Field (how we miss the old Comiskey Park), tossing his bat well toward distant galaxies, Sox pitcher Jimmy Cordero drilled Contreras in the back four innings later. The act was judged as retaliation and got Cordero kicked out the game, along with manager Rick Renteria and pitching coach Don Cooper after the two charged out of the dugout.
It’s not a terrific pitching staff as a whole, by any means, but it only takes two good starts to win a bestofthree. The White Sox feel pretty confident there with Lucas Giolito (97 strikeouts in 721⁄3 innings) and 2015 Cy Young Award winner Dallas Kuechel (62, 1.99).
The best part is the delightful mystery of it all. These teams haven’t faced each other in more than a year. All hail the great unknown.