The White Sox walked into the final stretch before the All-Star Break with a soft landing on paper. After splitting a tense four-game series with the Guardians in Cleveland, they got a pair of struggling clubs at home to close the first half.
Boston didn’t play the part of a struggling club for long.
The Red Sox, who were bottom feeders until the end of June, have flipped the script in a hurry. They swept the Yankees, kept rolling from there, and have now won 11 of their last 13 games. That surge continued with a three-game sweep of the White Sox, who never found a rhythm against Boston’s hot pitching staff.
The final out of the third game came with a little extra sting, too. On the Red Sox radio broadcast, Will Flemming and Will Middlebrooks could be heard high-fiving after Boston completed the sweep, an audible celebration that made the moment feel even more pointed for Chicago.
Unlike Boston’s recent run through the Yankees and Angels, the White Sox were supposed to be a tougher test. Instead, they became the latest team to get run over by the Red Sox.
For Chicago, the biggest problem was impossible to miss: the offense vanished. The White Sox scored just two runs in the series and went through a 15-inning scoreless stretch between the end of Game 1 and the middle of the finale. There just wasn’t enough contact, enough traffic, or enough punch to pressure Boston.
The numbers at the plate were thin across the board. Sam Antonacci accounted for four of the team’s eight hits over the first two games combined, and Colson Montgomery broke out of a mini-funk with a multi-hit effort in the last game. Outside of that, there wasn’t much to point to.
There is at least one boost coming. Munetaka Murakami is set to return after missing six weeks with a hamstring strain, and his power should give the lineup a jolt after Chicago managed zero extra-base hits against Boston.
Even with the sweep, the White Sox remain in a virtual tie with the Guardians for first place in the AL Central. Their path out of this rough patch looks manageable for one more weekend, since they get the Athletics before the break. Oakland has gone 1-9 over its last 10, while Cleveland draws the Marlins, who are surging in July.
A response against the A’s would help steady things for a young White Sox team. The second half, though, is lined up with a gauntlet of American League playoff hopefuls.
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For the White Sox, the discussion is less about whether they would like the pitcher and more about how much of the system theyd be willing to part with. The suggested package reaches into the lower half of Chicagos prospect list, and that is where the debate gets interesting, because deals like this usually hinge on whether a front office sees enough upside to justify giving up multiple young players for a name with plenty of value questions attached. [Read more 🡒]