The White Sox look more Black & Blue through Mid-Season

Visits: 6

The 2022 season was supposed to be a year that the Chicago White Sox were supposed to be a dominant force in the American League.  Coming off back-to-back playoff berths in 2020 and 2021, the White Sox looked to Opening Day, 2022 as the start of another divisional title run and a chance to make it back to the World Series.

Then the wheels fell off.  As we stand just past the mid-point of the season, the Pale Hose are sitting at 39-42 and in third place in the AL Central.  Forget about the AL wild card race; the White Sox are just battling to reach .500 and have a shot at the AL Central title again.  The Minnesota Twins are pulling away slowly but surely and it will take a full turnaround after the All-Star break for the Sox to have any chance at a wild card spot come the post-season. 

What’s going right for the White Sox?

Pitcher Dylan Cease is now the go-to starter for the White Sox.  Sitting on a 7-4 record in 17 starts, Cease posts a .60 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 45 innings pitched, Cease has become the solid performer that the Sox desperately need right now.  In the closer role, Liam Hendricks is as solid as they get.  Hendricks as a 1-2 record but has picked up 16 saves so far this season and his walk to strikeout ratio is 8:42. Holding on to a 2.60 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP, Hendricks remains solid and looks to be the foundation of the White Sox bullpen for the conceivable future.

Jose Abreu continues to be the cornerstone of the White Sox offense.  Abreu is currently batting a very respectable .290 with a .378 OBP thanks in batting to registering 40 walks so far this season.  Abreu has added 21 doubles and ten homers so far this as extra-base hits and brought in 38 RBI’s.  If Liam Hendricks is the cornerstone of the White Sox bullpen, Jose Abreu is the captain of the White Sox offense. Right along side Abreu in the batting order is Tim Anderson who’s also having an All-Star quality year and batting .313 and has fired off ten doubles, five homers and ten stolen bases to help the White Sox offensive cause during the season’s first half. 

What has hurt the White Sox so far this season?

Just as Dylan Cease has become the star of the starting rotation, Lucas Giolito hasn’t hit his full stride so far in the season’s first half.  In all fairness, Giolito has had two stints on the IL and injuries have hampered his overall effectiveness.  Giolito holds a 5-4 record in 75 innings pitched over 14 game starts but his ERA has ballooned to 4.90 and his WHIP has moved up to 1.47.  If the White Sox plan on making any upward moves in August and September, they will need to rely on Lucas Giolito to deliver the goods and help Cease out in the starting rotation.

Speaking of disappointments so far this season, Joe Kelly doesn’t look the old Joe Kelly I remember back with the Cardinals and Red Sox.  Kelly holds an 0-2 record and has a whopping 9.49 ERA which included a disastrous inning against the Twins on the 4^th of July where he looked like he was pitching batting practice to the Twins batting order.  Kelly has only seen limited action this season in 12 innings and if the Sox want to shore up their pitching, Joe Kelly will need to kick in and help out the Southside bullpen more as the dog days of summer set in.

Teams love talking about home field advantage but for the White Sox this year, Guaranteed Rate Field is a place for them to avoid. You know a team is having troubles when they have a 17-24 record at home and only have an 11-15 record against their AL Central rivals.  The Southside needs to be a happy place for the White Sox to comfortably win their majority of their remaining home games this season if they have chance at all at making the playoffs for a third consecutive season.  Otherwise, the 2022-23 offseason will be another winter of discontent for White Sox fans.