Gamethread: Tigers at White Sox

Powerful Sox offense faced with a tough task at The Rate today

You can look at this year’s White Sox team so far with the good ol’ glass half-empty/half-full expression. Let’s take a closer look…

Glass half-full:

Obviously, it’s been the offense. Like, holy crap, has the offense been good. Top-to-bottom, the White Sox have been hitting the living bejesus out of the baseball. From Jose Abreu to Matt Davidson to Avisail Garcia and many others, the White Sox have been by far the best offensive team through the first week of the season. That just sounds so strange not that far removed from years of Adam Dunn and Adam LaRoche. Even Yoan Moncada, with a .154 batting average, is barreling up the baseball; he is third in the MLB in average exit velocity. This White Sox have struggled offensively for years, so this has been nice to see.

Glass half-empty:

The bullpen and anyone in the starting rotation who won’t be on the 2020 squad has given White Sox fans fits early on. The pitchers have a combined 6.45 ERA and 1.45 WHIP in six games played. Oh, the horror. Thursday’s game was even more frustrating because the Sox held a 7-3 lead in the eighth inning and blew it with their top relievers failing to get the job done. If the offense gets you seven runs, you gotta win the game. It appears teams have figured out how to approach relievers like Juan Minaya and Gregory Infante, who both had success with the White Sox last year. Good luck, Don Cooper.

• Lucas Giolito gets the nod for the White Sox today. He struggled early with his control in his last outing but settled down nicely to keep the team in the game. He’ll be looking to get his breaking ball right in mid-30s weather on the South Side today.
• Michael Fulmer gets the start for the Tigers. Fulmer has a career 3.39 ERA to go along with 249 strikeouts. He was lights-out in his first start of the year, throwing eight innings of one-run ball and getting the loss.

Lineups: