The White Sox were swept by a division rival, the Cleveland Indians, and lost their lead in the AL Central. After the embarrassing losses, I hoped to see a team fired up and ready to beat their crosstown rivals, the Chicago Cubs. Instead, the Cubs wiped the floor with them. The Cubs weren’t coming into hot either. They had just been shut out by the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates 7-0, and the offense has been in a year-long slump., But on Friday night, they got up to face the White Sox and smashed them to the tune of 10-0.
Dylan Cease (4.2IP 5H 5ER 2BB 5K 84PC 1L) was no match for Yu Darvish (7IP 3H 0ER 1BB 5K 94PC 1W), as the Cy Young contender took it to this poor-hitting White Sox lineup. Cease needed to have a good performance heading into the playoffs, but he looked worse his last outing against the Reds. With this performance, Cease cost himself the third rotation spot for the first series of the playoffs. The White Sox should use Dane Dunning as their third starter.
This offense has been awful for about a week and a half, since the Twins series and clinching a playoff spot. The White Sox could only muster up three hits and no runs. This once scary offense who led them to a fair number of wins this season has now become the team’s most significant liability. If they don’t start hitting, it won’t matter if they win the division or finish second or third because they will not get anywhere in the playoffs.
The White Sox will send out Dane Dunning, and the Cubs will send out Jon Lester for their last time out before the playoffs begin. This game will be Dunning’s first taste of this rivalry since he missed the first series earlier in the season. The White Sox desperately need a victory to stop this downward slide. Lester has been a roll and will be looking for some revenge after the White Sox bombed him for eight earned runs, a season-high. The White Sox haven’t lost to a left-handed starting pitcher this season, so there is still a sliver of hope the offense will pick up.