The four-game sequence that begins Monday between the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros has many intriguing storylines, together with Tuesday’s matchup of the highest two American League Cy Young Award contenders in Justin Verlander and Dylan Cease.
It could possibly be an opportunity for the Sox to show they’re bona fide contenders. Or it could possibly be one other in a sequence of missed alternatives for an inconsistent staff.
Here are 4 issues to observe within the rematch of final 12 months’s AL Division Series.
1. Playoff implications
The defending AL champion Astros are on a season-long roll and convey the league’s finest document (75-41) into the showdown on the South Side. They’ve continued to dominate in 2022 despite the extended absence of Lance McCullers Jr., who returned Saturday to throw six shutout innings in his first begin since struggling a strained proper flexor tendon in Game 4 of the 2021 ALDS.
The Astros have few flaws. Their starters entered Sunday with the bottom ERA (3.15) within the AL, and the bullpen’s 2.76 ERA was one of the best in baseball. The offense ranked third within the AL in runs (519) and second in dwelling runs (158).
A primary-round playoff bye is just about a given. The solely race the Astros are in is with the New York Yankees for the league’s finest document and home-field benefit by means of the AL playoffs. They’ve gone 39-18 since June 12, pulling forward of the Yankees, whom they beat 5-2 within the season sequence.
The Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 5-3 on Sunday to maneuver three video games over .500 for the primary time since a 6-3 begin. They’re 2½ video games behind the Cleveland Guardians within the AL Central despite themselves.
The Sox are also in a packed wild-card race, although successful the division is paramount as a result of it could guarantee home-field benefit within the first-round. The higher-seeded staff is awarded all three video games within the first spherical of the brand new, expanded postseason format.
Though the Sox have had extra success on the street than at dwelling, they clearly would like to play in entrance of their followers at Guaranteed Rate Field.
2. Verlander vs. Cease
These matchups are uncommon in trendy baseball, so treasure them whilst you can.
Verlander, who missed nearly two seasons after Tommy John surgical procedure in 2020, is the consensus favourite to seize his third Cy Young Award. At 39 he’s extra dominant than ever, main the majors with 15 wins, a 1.85 ERA and an 0.86 WHIP.
One of Verlander’s three losses got here towards the Sox on June 18 at Minute Maid Park, the place he allowed seven runs (4 earned) in 3⅔ innings. Since then he’s 7-0 with a 1.17 ERA.
Cease, 26, leads the majors in strikeouts per 9 innings (12.17) and strikeout charge (33%) and has allowed one or no earned runs in his final 14 begins, setting a major-league document (not counting openers). His solely flaw is a ten.4% stroll charge, worst amongst certified starters.
Cease’s 1.96 ERA ranks second to Verlander, but he curiously was left off the AL All-Star staff, a snub that has added to his motivation.
Cease began Game 3 of the ALDS final October however was eliminated within the second inning of the Sox’s 12-6 win over the Astros. He has been lights out since, preserving the Sox in rivalry throughout their up-and-down season.
3. Tony vs. Dusty
The heated rivalry that wants no introduction got here alive within the early 2000s, when Dusty Baker managed the Chicago Cubs towards Tony La Russa’s St. Louis Cardinals. It has mellowed a bit with age, and each veterans now reward one another nearly each time they meet, a mutual respect that has survived some bitter battles through the years.
La Russa has been a human piñata this season, taking warmth for the Sox’s incapability to play as much as expectations. “Fire Tony” chants have been heard the final two months at Guaranteed Rate Field, together with Friday when La Russa eliminated Michael Kopech after six no-hit innings, a transfer made for Kopech’s personal good,
Baker is having fun with a profession 12 months and has weathered accidents to McCullers and left fielder Michael Brantley, who’s out for the season after shoulder surgical procedure. Baker returned final week from a COVID-19-related absence, saying he watched lots of Netflix, together with a Bob Marley documentary.
La Russa has three World Series rings and is within the Baseball Hall of Fame. Baker nonetheless is looking for his first championship as a supervisor, and this could possibly be his final likelihood.
Whether this can be their final faceoff is unknown.
La Russa, 77, reportedly is signed by means of 2023, however the 73-year-old Baker signed a one-year contract after taking the Astros to the World Series final 12 months. “I just had some unfinished business to take care of, but we’re close,” he mentioned after signing.
Baker has a 109-106 edge in head-to-head matchups with La Russa, taking two of three in Houston in June.
4. Joe Kelly’s pouty face
The veteran reliever, who was faraway from his final look with what the Sox termed “lightheadedness,” is notorious in Houston for making a pouty face whereas strolling off the mound in a 2020 recreation when he pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Kelly allegedly threw at Carlos Correa and made the face after hanging him out. The animosity stemmed from the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal.
The pouty face began a benches-clearing incident, earned Kelly an eight-game suspension, and it turned a meme that’s nonetheless extensively shared.
“Everyone knows they’re cheaters,” Kelly mentioned in 2021. “They know they’re cheaters. It’s over. … But now they mess it up by ruining other people’s lives, so they (bleeped) up twice. … When you taint someone’s name to save your own, this is one of the worst things you could probably do. … I think I’ll be irritated forever.”
Rest assured the sensation is mutual.
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com