If you think the White Sox are more watchable this season, you have company across Chicagoland.
White Sox' TV ratings are back to starting with a "1."
That doesn't sound like anything worth writing about, but after spending 2016 (0.95) and 2017 (0.88) on the wrong side of a rounding error before plummeting further with the team's record last season at 0.68. They were the only team with an average rating below 1.00 last season, so that's why that number holds some special meaning.
NBC Sports Chicago hopes this has some stickiness, because with the Cubs departing for their own network after the season, the network won't be the default channel for anybody wanting to watch summer baseball, or play it in their establishments. The White Sox are doing a decent job getting fans to tune in on their own merit, even if the tough part -- whether you're talking about the 2019 schedule or the arc of the rebuild -- is only just beginning.
Spare Parts
Lucas Giolito leads the way on Mike Petriello's list of the pitchers who made the biggest jumps, but while the leading explanations are simple for Minnesota's Martin Pérez (a new cutter) or old friend Frankie Montas (a new splitter), Giolito simply gets "so many reasons."
For those who hadn't followed Giolito's winding path to the majors, Michael Baumann of The Ringer sums it up nicely.
Marcus Stroman has been on the front of mind for some White Sox fans who want Rick Hahn to show he's serious about upgrading the rotation. Here's what the state of Stroman's game looks like this season, and why it should work for most teams.
Ken Rosenthal isn't the first to lament the lack of balls in play or suggest Major League Baseball should deaden the major-league baseball, but he makes a good point that the league might react differently to the surge in power if Christian Yelich or somebody else threatened the single-season home run record. Instead, the spike in homers has been fairly well distributed, making it hard to target distaste or backlash.
Ohtani isn't pitching due to Tommy John surgery, so he isn't the object of fascination among baseball fans he once was. That said, becoming the first Japanese player to hit for the cycle and raising his line to All-Star level (although it's short on playing time) will go a long way toward restoring the excitement.
And finally, Aaron Gleeman on Twitter has found a few different ways to sum up the depth of the Twins' attack:
