What an incredibly unique year for Chicago baseball fans on both sides of town. At the start of this season the nationwide view was the White Sox would begin their quest for the playoffs, but were not considered division favorites. The Sox then started the season 11-10 and the media began proclaiming that they were behind schedule in their rebuild.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs started the season on fire. Fans of the Cubs were letting Sox fans know who was still king of Chicago’s baseball kingdom.

But the White Sox started winning. And winning. And, winning. During one stretch of this pandemic season they went 22-5.

Meanwhile, after the Cubs red hot start, they’ve played sub-.500 baseball going 19-21 at the time of this writing.

When the final week of the season began for theWhite Sox they were division/AL leaders. Their schedule consisted of four away games in Cleveland and three home games against the Cubs.

Unexpectedly, the White Sox got swept in Cleveland.

But let’s take a look into that crucial series as it could potentially be a preview of a postseason matchup.

In Game 1, both teams would get to the bullpens quickly as Dane Dunning and Adam Civale would give up four runs each. The deciding factor was the decision by White Sox Manager Rick Renteria bringing in Jace Fry (a back of the bullpen arm) during a tied game. Fry walked the first hitter he faced and then…

Fry earned the loss for the game.

In Game 2, White Sox starter Reynaldo López had a strong performance, working five innings, allowing three hits and striking out three. 

Cleveland’s pitching staff kept the game close, holding off the Sox’s stellar lineup to one run through nine innings.

The keynote to this game was the White Sox Closer Alex Colome retired the 9th inning hitters in order, but had back spasms and could not return to pitch the 10th. The Sox, who had scored two runs in the 10th inning, simply needed three outs.

Colome’s injury, though, forced manager Ricky Renteria to use a setup arm, Matt Foster to close the game.

The 25-year old rookie got the first two hitters out. But, walked the next and then allowed a double. Enter José Ruiz to face

In game 3, Shane Bieber and Lucas Giolito dueled it out frame after frame for nearly the whole game. But Renteria would make another bold move to bring in Gio Gonzalez to pitch the 9th inning in a 2-2 game.

Gio shockingly (not really) again would be the pitcher of record in the loss.

In Game 4, Dallas Keuchel and Zack Plesac would go hand to hand in the game and if you guessed another bold move from Renteria led to a loss… you would be correct.

After the Sox scored three runs in the top of the 7th inning, Renteria brought in a struggling Jimmy Cordero. He opened the inning with three straight pinch-hit singles.

Later Carlos Rodon was brought in and allowed a two-out double to center.

Ultimately, the White Sox Manager brought in struggling pitchers in tight games that blew the series open and led to the series sweep.

Now with three games left in the regular season, the Sox are now 2nd in the division by a game and 4th in the American League by three games.

The matches in the series is are as follows:
Game 1 Darvish/Cease,
Game 2 Lester/Dunning
Game 3 Undecided/Lopez.

Over the past month, many began to believe that this end of the season crosstown series would be important to both Chicago teams. That is indeed the case as the Cubs could win their division or the White Sox can comeback and win their division and nail the American League’s best record.

Both teams will be in the postseason next week, but which team will go into the playoffs hot at the right time? Tune in and find out as this will be a wild ride! Lets Go White Sox!