Prior to this season, the White Sox faced every AL Central opponent 19 times in a given year, but with Major League Baseball altering the schedule to have every team face every team, it required shaving six games from divisional opponents.
Credit the White Sox and Guardians for their resourcefulness. They packed 19 games' worth of antipathy into a tidier 13-game package, cresting in their penultimate meeting, when Tim Anderson dropped his glove to invite José Ramírez to a fistfight, a decision Anderson would soon regret.
The White Sox ended up winning that game despite the lowlight, they took the series finale the next day, and that's characteristic of the season series on the whole. The White Sox lost the fight, but won the war by taking eight of 13 games this season.
Or at least they won one war. If you consider the AL Central standings as its own military conflict, then the White Sox will assuredly lose that, too, but if those in the Guardians sphere are looking for reasons they can't climb over .500 and stay there, the White Sox certainly helped gum up the works. The Sox have had difficulty winning series all year, yet they went 3-0-1 in the four meetings against the Guardians. The Guardians used the White Sox as a springboard to run away with the AL Central last September, complete with chants of "F--- the White Sox" and "Fire Tony." They still might be saying the former, but for a different reason this time around.
The last 10 years
| Year | Wins | Losses | RS | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 2022 | 7 | 12 | 72 | 96 |
| 2023 | 8 | 5 | 53 | 37 |
| Total | 76 | 99 | 650 | 755 |
The games
- May 16: White Sox 8, Guardians 3
- May 17: White Sox 7, Guardians 2
- May 18: Guardians 3, White Sox 1
- May 22: Guardians 3, White Sox 0
- May 23: White Sox 4, Guardians 2
- May 24: White Sox 6, Guardians 0
- July 27: Guardians 6, White Sox 3
- July 28: White Sox 3, Guardians 0
- July 29: White Sox 7, Guardians 2
- July 30: Guardians 5, White Sox 0
- Aug. 4: Guardians 4, White Sox 2
- Aug. 5: White Sox 7, Guardians 4
- Aug. 6: White Sox 5, Guardians 3
Defining Hitters
Tim Anderson: For obvious reasons, mostly. He hit just .229/.275/.313 against the Guardians, although that comes with the only homer of the season. But it has to do with the extra-curriculars -- not just the brawl, but knocking Brayan Rocchio's hand off the base to steal an out the day before.
José Ramirez: The White Sox largely kept Ramírez in check this year, as he hit just .237/.293/.526 with five RBIs in 10 games, but he did have one highlight that won't show up in the box score.
Jake Burger: He hit .265/.350/.765 over 10 games, with six of his nine hits going for extra bases. Five left the yard, including a two-homer game on July 27, and the other was a triple. As Terry Francona said, "It seems like every time we make a mistake to Burger, we see him wearing that sport coat over there." Now that Burger's in Miami, they won't have to account for him.
Will Brennan: He hit .325/.357/.425 over 11 games, which allowed Terry Francona to keep running him out there for his defense, where he made one sliding or diving catch after another.
Brayan Rocchio: The rookie was at the center of a lot of Cleveland misfortune, going 4-for-21 at the plate, getting his hand knocked off second base by Anderson, and then committing a pair of ninth-inning errors that allowed the White Sox to steal a win against Emmanuel Clase.
Defining pitchers
Michael Kopech: Two of Kopech's five wins came against the Guardians -- seven shutout innings early, and then his outing the brawl interrupted. He also delivered the Most AL Central Quote of all-time: “Bottom line, we’re not playing our best baseball right now, but we’re not going to get bullied by a team that’s also playing less than .500 baseball."
Hunter Gaddis: The White Sox actually fared decently against Cleveland's starters, including one of Shane Bieber's roughest outings to date. But Gaddis threw six easy zeroes against the Sox for what is still his only MLB victory to date in a game that was characteristic of offensive ineptitude.
Nick Sandlin: The Sox literally found Sandlin unhittable, as he threw six innings over six appearances and allowed only one walk.
Jimmy Lambert: The White Sox had a team ERA of 2.58 against the Guardians this year, so most every pitcher found a way to bolster his numbers against Cleveland. Jimmy Lambert might've benefited more than most. He threw five shutout innings over four appearances, including his first MLB save. Against everybody else, his ERA this season is 6.65.
Defining characteristics
Offenses took turns: Four of the 13 games ended in shutouts -- two apiece -- and the losing team was held to three or fewer runs in 12 of 13 games. In the exception, the White Sox scored four.
Strength vs. strength: White Sox pitchers averaged just 6.7 strikeouts per nine innings against the Guardians, which is easily their worst performance against any team this year (next-lowest is 7.6 against the Mets). On the other hand, White Sox hitters outhomered their Cleveland counterparts 17-8.
The fight: I'm assuming the White Sox will exercise Anderson's team option, but even if he's not around next year, Ramírez is under contract with Cleveland through 2028, so White Sox fans will see that highlight and radio call over and over and over...
