Way back when Major League Baseball announced the 2021 schedule, everybody could flip ahead to September and see a four-game series in Cleveland with major implications. The meeting grew heftier in early June, when a postponed finale of a four-game set added a fifth game over four days at Progressive Field.
Sure enough, the season series ended up reflecting two evenly matched teams that might need six months to determine the victor. It took 11 games until the White Sox or Cleveland could claim two wins in a row, and the winner of the season series wasn't determined until the final meeting of the season.
The rest of the schedule told a different story.
The two teams went nearly two months without seeing each other at one point, as they finished a series to start June, then reconvened to close out July. The Sox led by just 2½ games when Cleveland took two out of three in a rain-shortened series, but by the time their paths crossed again, the White Sox led by eight games. The margin required multiple Cleveland sweeps to put a dent in the margin, but the evenness of the direct competition wouldn't allow it.
Sure enough, when the White Sox headed to Progressive Field on Sept. 23, they had a 10½-game lead with 11 to play. An easy victory in the front end of a doubleheader eliminated the remainder of the drama.
| Year | Wins | Losses | RS | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 11 | 7 | 120 | 72 |
| 2013 | 2 | 17 | 57 | 118 |
| 2014 | 9 | 10 | 71 | 78 |
| 2015 | 10 | 9 | 73 | 66 |
| 2016 | 8 | 11 | 79 | 88 |
| 2017 | 6 | 13 | 53 | 92 |
| 2018 | 5 | 14 | 50 | 104 |
| 2019 | 11 | 8 | 88 | 79 |
| 2020 | 2 | 8 | 30 | 41 |
| 2021 | 10 | 9 | 81 | 74 |
| Total | 74 | 106 | 702 | 812 |
THE GAMES
- April 12: White Sox 4, Cleveland 3
- April 13: Cleveland 2, White Sox 0
- April 14: White Sox 8, Cleveland 0
- April 15: Cleveland 4, White Sox 2
- April 20: White Sox 8, Cleveland 5
- April 30: Cleveland 5, White Sox 3
- May 1: White Sox 7, Cleveland 3
- May 2: Cleveland 5, White Sox 0
- May 31: White Sox 8, Cleveland 6 (Game 1, 8 innings)
- May 31: Cleveland 3, White Sox 1 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- June 1: Cleveland 6, White Sox 5
- July 30: White Sox 6, Cleveland 4
- July 31: Cleveland 12, White Sox 11
- Aug. 1: White Sox 2, Cleveland 1
- Sept. 23: White Sox 7, Cleveland 2 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Sept. 23: Cleveland 5, White Sox 3 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Sept. 24: White Sox 1, Cleveland 0
- Sept. 25: Cleveland 6, White Sox 0
- Sept. 26: White Sox 5, Cleveland 2
DEFINING HITTERS
Brian Goodwin: Goodwin joined the White Sox in mid-June, and a back injury kept him out of the final series, so he only appeared in four of the 19 games. That said, he reached base seven times and homered twice, putting his indelible stamp on the season with this walk-off homer:
José Ramirez: The White Sox kept the annual MVP candidate relatively contained, as he hit .242/.342/.530. Yet he contributed go-ahead hits in three of Cleveland's nine victories, and his five stolen bases in five attempts contributed to the White Sox's woes in slowing the running game. The Future Guardians swiped 17 bases in 18 attempts.
José Abreu: The White Sox only hit .237/.317/.372 as a team, and Abreu contributed to those struggles with a .175 average while slugging .281. Yet he ended up posting a .368 OBP thanks to 13 walks and five HBPs, including a painful one we'll get to in a bit.
César Hernández: The second baseman who played a big role in Cleveland's late usurping in the standings in 2020 didn't really factor into any side of the fight. Before the trade, he hit just .216/.293/.459 against the Sox, although he did slug three homers in 10 games. After the deal, he hit .308 against his former team, but with zero extra-base hits and just one walk. Now we'll have to wait to see what comes of Konnor Pilkington.
DEFINING PITCHERS
Carlos Rodón: The White Sox won all three games Rodón started against Cleveland in 2021, and Rodón personally went 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA. One of those starts was a no-hitter, which was the first of four games where Cleveland was held hitless in 2021, but nobody knew it was going to be a nigh monthly occurrence at the time.
Shane Bieber: In his first start against the White Sox, Bieber threw nine shutout innings in a tremendous pitchers' duel with Lucas Giolito that needed 10 innings to settle. In his last outing, he threw three perfect innings in a game Cleveland lost 1-0. That was the only game where Bieber came away empty-handed, as he went 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA against the White Sox overall. He did all the damage he could in the head-to-head games, but the injury that cost him most of June, July and August had a drastic impact on the standings.
Michael Kopech: He pitched in five of the 19 games, alternating between looking dominant and mortal. In his two successes, he threw five shutout innings while allowing just one single. In the three flops, he gave up nine hits over just 2⅔ innings, including a five-run disaster on July 31 that left a mark on his season.
James Karinchak: Cleveland's setup man opened the season with four scoreless outings against the White Sox, allowing just one hit while striking out eight. When the teams met in June, Steve Stone took notice of the way Karinchak repeatedly accessed a patch inside his glove during all of his between-pitch machinations.
The White Sox figured him out a little before the league cracked down on sticky stuff (remember Adam Eaton's final homer as a White Sox?) But throw in the threat of a suspension, and Karinchak melted. The White Sox lit him up for multiple runs in each of their last four meetings, including one where he beaned Abreu. He was demoted to Triple-A for the entirety of September, so the White Sox didn't see him in the final series.
DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS
Bloopers: A COVID-reduced crowd got to see one of the White Sox's stranger walk-off victories in April when Yu Chang's attempt to start a double play bounced off the helmet of Grandal and into shallow left field.
And in June, Billy Hamilton pulled off one of his crowd-pleasing feats with a Little League homer.
Beefs: The Karinchak beanball wasn't the only time the benches cleared. way back in April, Adam Eaton caused everybody to meet in the middle of the diamond when he got into a shoving match with Andres Gimenez at second base.
Backup catchers: The White Sox's leader in slugging percentage against Cleveland in 2021? Seby Zavala with 1.444, thanks entirely to his three-homer game. Cleveland's leader in SLG versus the Sox in 2021? Austin Hedges at .720, thanks to four homers over eight games. They combined for 10 hits, seven of which left the yard.
