Game Thread: White Sox at Athletics

A little bit of thump in the lineup, a little bit of consistency on the mound

Fifteen games in, and while the White Sox playing pace is just 43-119 over a 162-game season (hey! that’s an improvement! rebuild is back on!) there have been some encouraging signs:

• Miguel Vargas and Lenyn Sosa putting some thump into the ball, in both cases overdue and necessary, with Sosa carrying forward from his solid 2024 finish. If he truly should not field regularly, hey, DH is wide-open as well
• A pitching staff that has, generally, impressed, be it present (Shane Smith, Davis Martin) or future (Grant Taylor! Peyton Pallette! The first-round lefties!)
• Lack of downright stupidity from management (Will Venable, at least)

Last game I covered berated the White Sox for not winning and looking pretty bad while losing; not one contest later the South Siders exploded for 18 runs. Not sure what they’ll do in light of some praise and encouragement. Let’s find out together.

It’s not an Opening Day lineup, but it’s no bag of doorknobs, either. Short-term renter Martín Pérez is on the mound.

Funny how the White Sox “can’t” or “shouldn’t” spend anything on players to get out of a historically bad season, but the A’s — who have NO HOME now or in the foreseeable future — manage to bring in (foolhardy or not) a Luis Severino for 2025 on a “big money” deal. Yep, we are now even smaller-market than the SACRAMENTO/WHERE’S THE UHAUL RENTAL DUE AGAIN? Athletics.

Not certain if “A’s cast” above means a gamecast on the A’s website or just the radio feed via MLB or shortwave radio, but either way I’ll be writing off of Gameday. Huzzah, MLB! First pitch is rumored to be at 3:05 p.m. CT.