The White Sox are officially over .500 for the first time in the 2020 season after their sweep of the Kansas City Royals. It was great to finally see the White Sox play some great all-around baseball and finally win a series.
A lot of what the 2020 season will come down is how well you do against the teams you are supposed to beat, and the White Sox are off to a great start. The offense carried the White Sox in this series, scoring 23 runs over the three games in Kauffman Stadium. The pitching deserves credit as well.
Friday night Dallas Keuchel got his second win of the year. Saturday night Gio Gonzalez made his first start of the year, subbing for starter Reynaldo Lopez. He did not get the win for his start, but he gave up zero runs to the Royals offense before exiting. Dylan Cease, who was awful in his first game against Cleveland earlier in the week, came out and had one of the best starts of his career. Cease played one of his most efficient games, pitching 65% strikes, and got his first win of the season.
Nick Madrigal was called up by the White Sox on Friday and was immediately put into the starting lineup playing 2B and batting 9th for the series with the Royals. In the first two games of the series, Madrigal ended up going 0-9, but only one was a strikeout. Madrigal has always excelled at making contact with the ball, and it was only a matter of time the hits were going to come. That time was Sunday’s game. Madrigal hit the baseball and hit it a lot. He went 4-5 with 2R and 1RBI. No doubt, the White Sox have found their 2B and leadoff hitter for the next 6-10 years.
The White Sox now head to Milwaukee to take on a four-game series with the Brewers, two away and two at home. Monday’s contest will be between Carlos Rodon for the White Sox and Brett Anderson for the Brewers. Much like most of the White Sox starting pitchers, Rodon needs to vastly improve if the White Sox want to keep their win streak alive. The Brewers are coming off a weekend series that got canceled after the Cardinals experienced a Covid-19 outbreak. They will be well-rested.
The White Sox need to take advantage of Miller Park. It is a great hitter’s park for a team that is hitting as well as they are. The White Sox are also getting back one of their off-season pickups, Nomar Mazara. He should be out there playing RF in the first game.
The White Sox pitching needs to take advantage of a Brewers team that is not deep offensively, and their best player OF Christian Yelich (.037 1HR 3RBI 0SB), is genuinely scuffling at the plate right now. The Brewers are also dealing with the loss of CF Lorenzo Cain, who opted out of playing over health concerns, and 2B Mike Moustakas, who went to the Reds in the offseason.
The White Sox have a great chance to win these next four games against the Brew crew and build up the momentum heading into their weekend series with the Cleveland Indians. The season is starting to look brighter each game. The White Sox have finally started living up to the hype, and all the work that Rick Hahn and the organization have put into this rebuild is finally showing itself on the field.