Back in 2020, as the negotiations dragged and hopes strained for a way to start the pandemic-altered season, every week introduced itself as a "big week for baseball," so much so that it became the name of Marc Carig's column at The Athletic. The phrase grew increasingly trite through repetition, yet its usage was always defensible because there wasn't a strong sense of what was the most likely outcome. Catastrophe always remained in play.
The White Sox's season has been similarly susceptible to such dramatization, because the team has spent every day of the month between four and six games out of first place. One big week can have them in the driver's seat, and one terrible week can bury them.
Instead, they keep finding a way to avoid either end of the spectrum. They're 8-9 in June, but so are the Twins. The Guardians are the ones trying to change the dynamics of the division, but their 13-4 surge this month hasn't been enough to spend a single day out of second place.
So the White Sox embark on a new big week, and with important new story lines. Last week, it was the return of Lance Lynn, the questions surrounding Michael Kopech's ability to throw anything resembling a normal start, with Liam Hendriks' injury throwing a flexor-straining curve into the mix.
With no off days in sight, Lynn and Kopech's sustainability will remain an open question into the week, while Lucas Giolito is trying to recover his mechanics on the fly ...
“I have an idea,” Giolito said of what went wrong. “There’s obviously improvements to be made. But I have confidence in myself, so I need to keep grinding. I felt like with the mechanical stuff, today was a step in the right direction. When it comes to actually pitching and executing, I need to be better.”
... and Lynn and Giolito will get the privilege of fixing themselves against a Blue Jays team that is hitting .293/.361/.518 in June, and has outhomered the White Sox 33-14. (Toronto has played one more game, but I'm assuming the Sox don't have a 15-homer outburst to close the gap to something more negligible.) If they aren't able to go deep into games, here's the first week that pitching staffs are capped at 13.
On the position-player side, the White Sox will welcome back Tim Anderson, who is expected to return to the 26-man roster and bat leadoff tonight, even though he never seemed to run full speed at any point during his rehab stint in Charlotte. The hope is that he was running smart instead of merely running hard, rather than avoiding running hard because his groin still smarts.
In an unfamiliar-but-welcome twist, the bullpen comes into the game with all its high-leverage options well rested. Between the mostly low-leverage scores and useful multiple-inning outings from Tanner Banks, Reynaldo López and Vince Velasquez, Kendall Graveman didn't have to pitch at all against his former team, while Joe Kelly only warmed up late in the rubber match Sunday. Which is good, because with Hendriks and Aaron Bummer out, and Matt Foster slumping before going on the bereavement list, Graveman and Kelly are the only obvious calls in the next close-and-late situation.
Basically every aspect of the White Sox's season remains precarious, and if they seem more stable, it's only because we've grown accustomed to the turbulence, and their steadfast refusal to trend. In the meantime, let's wildly speculate on how the White Sox will make room for Anderson.
