The Chicago White Sox traveled to Tampa, Fla., on Thursday night for a weekend series at Tropicana Field between the teams with the best records in the American League.
It won’t get nearly the same attention as the Field of Dreams game, but it should be just as intriguing.
Here are six things to know about the series.
1. This could be a preview of the American League Championship Series.
Or at least a division series, depending on which of the three division winners has the most wins.
The Sox and the defending AL champion Rays appear to be October-bound, though the latter remains locked in a tight race in the East with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, while the White Sox already are a virtual lock to win the Central.
The White Sox are 71-51 after Thursday’s 5-4 loss to the Oakland Athletics, who avoided a four-game sweep on Matt Olson’s go-ahead, two-run home run off Michael Kopech in the seventh inning.
The Rays are 75-47 after their 7-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles, leaving them a season-high 28 games over .500 for the first time since ending 2019 at 99-69. They’re 15-5 in their last 20 games, giving the Rays some breathing room over the red-hot Yankees, who beat the White Sox in two of three last weekend and are the AL wild-card leaders.
The White Sox have won five of their last six meetings at the Trop and took two of three from the Rays in June on the South Side.
2. One of the Sox’s biggest nemesis is now with the Rays.
Former Minnesota Twins designated hitter Nelson Cruz, who has 25 home runs in 107 games against the White Sox, was the Rays’ biggest acquisition in July. In 2019, Cruz hit three homers in a game against Sox starter Lucas Giolito with distances of 430, 473 and 433 feet. Giolito is set to start Friday. Cruz is hitting .202 with seven home runs in 22 games since joining the Rays. The Sox could’ve signed him last offseason, but instead Cruz re-signed with the Twins.
3. Tim Anderson figures to have some added motivation.
Rays manager Kevin Cash was the AL manager in the 2021 All-Star Game who got Anderson in but didn’t get him an at-bat.
“I’ll see him in Tampa, so I’ll take it out on him then,” Anderson joked after the game at Coors Field in Denver.
Said Cash said afterward: “The only guy I’m sick to my stomach about is Tim Anderson” not getting an at-bat.
Anderson said it didn’t really bother him.
“That’s not going to be my last one, I hope,” he said.
Michael Wacha, who is scheduled to start Friday for the Rays, has served up a home run to the first batter in his last two starts. Anderson has four leadoff home runs this season.
4. The bullpens likely will decide the series.
Cash popularized the “opener” trend in which teams start relievers and use them for an inning or two before using the rest of the bullpen.
The Rays bullpen entered Thursday with a league-leading 3.09 ERA, second in the majors behind the San Diego Padres’ 3.04. White Sox relievers averaged 10.72 strikeouts per 9 innings, third-best in the majors.
5. Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel and Reynaldo Lopez will start, with Carlos Rodón’s return slated for the upcoming series in Toronto.
Keuchel, who starts Saturday afternoon’s game, is 0-4 with a 5.74 ERA in five career starts at Tropicana Field. He’s also 2-5 over his last 10 outings with a 5.54 ERA and has pitched more than six innings only once.
The Sox will have to sit one starter in the postseason, and Dylan Cease has outpitched Keuchel so far.
6. The Sox and Rays have met once in the postseason.
The Rays won 3-1 in the 2008 AL Division Series on their way to the first World Series appearance in franchise history. Both managers — Joe Maddon and Ozzie Guillén — are long gone.
Tony La Russa never has managed in Tropicana Field with the White Sox. The Rays team, then called the Devil Rays, began play in 1998, 12 years after La Russa was fired in his first stint as Sox manager.
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