Eye on the Enemy: Scouting the Chicago White Sox as the Cubs play their final series of 2020
2020 record
34-22, 1 game back of Twins in AL Central
Pitching matchups
Friday: Yu Darvish (7-3, 2.22 ERA) vs. Dylan Cease (5-3, 3.52 ERA)
Saturday: Jon Lester (3-2, 4.40 ERA) vs. Dane Dunning (2-0, 3.19 ERA)
Sunday: TBD vs. Reynaldo López (1-2, 4.68 ERA)
Injury report
OF Eloy Jiménez exited Thursday night’s game against Cleveland in the 7th inning with an injury after sliding into home plate. Here’s the rest of the injured White Sox:
RHP – Jimmy Lambert – 60-day IL since July 29
RHP – Evan Marshall – 10-day IL since Sept. 15
OF – Leury García – 60-day IL since Aug. 11
Outlook
The White Sox have been in a bit of a rut with the playoffs just around the corner, having lost 5 in a row. Since they clinched a playoff berth last Thursday in a 4-3 win over the Twins, the White Sox have gone 1-6, including being swept by Cleveland. The struggles start at the plate for the White Sox. In that 7-game stretch, they are hitting just .186. Their struggles have extended to their pitching staff, too. Opponents have a .772 OPS against their pitching corps and their pitchers have a 5.03 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP.
Luis Robert, who seemed like a lock for the AL Rookie of the Year a few weeks ago has struggled in the White Sox rut, going 0-for-20 with 10 strikeouts. The struggles aren’t just limited to Robert, though. Tim Anderson, Yoán Moncada and Yasmani Grandal are a combined 9-for 65 in the last seven games with 24 strikeouts. The White Sox offense will hope they can get a kickstart this weekend, to gain some momentum heading into their first postseason appearance in 12 years.