The White Sox are moving into the final series of the regular season with their playoff spot already secured, but they’re not easing up - and Friday’s lineup makes that clear. Chicago opens against the Rockies at Rate Field with Chase Meidroth out, forcing a shuffle that puts Sam Antonacci at second base and keeps the rest of the order in motion.
Antonacci leads off as usual against a right-hander, and he’ll be followed by Kyle Teel, who slots in at No. 2 after going deep in Thursday’s playoff-clinching win. Miguel Vargas hits third, with Munetaka Murakami behind him. Vargas has shaken off a brief skid, posting a .320/.485/.600 line over his last seven games, while Murakami appears to have put a brutal slump behind him with a .240/.406/.600 line in that same stretch.
Andrew Benintendi is at designated hitter despite a rough last 15 outings, and Tristan Peters follows him in the six spot. Because Antonacci is covering second, Randal Grichuk gets the start in left field against a righty.
That’s not a bad place for Chicago to be, considering Grichuk has been hot lately with a .400/.408/.733 slash line over his last 15 games. Colson Montgomery bats eighth and will try to avoid unwanted history as he sits on the edge of the single-season MLB strikeout record.
Braden Montgomery closes the lineup after breaking out of a slump with a .360/.360/.480 line in his last seven games.
Chicago’s order against Tomoyuki Sugano lines up with a chance to strike early. Sugano has had a rough season, carrying a 5.36 ERA across 28 starts and 147.2 innings, with 91 strikeouts and 31 home runs allowed. His last seven starts have been even rougher, with an 8.47 ERA.
On the mound for the White Sox is Sean Burke, who had been rolling before settling back a bit. He owns a 5.17 ERA over his last seven games, but he’s also allowed just one run in his last 11 innings while striking out nine. Chicago will lean on that version of Burke as it faces a Rockies lineup that has been described as weak away from Coors Field.
Colorado’s starting nine brings Jake McCarthy, Adael Amador, Hunter Goodman, TJ Rumfield, Kyle Karros, Mickey Moniak, Troy Johnston, Zac Veen, and Ezequiel Tovar. The White Sox will try to take advantage early and keep the pressure on as the regular season winds down.
In Other News...
Rockies May Have Just Seen Suganos Exit Get More Complicated
Tomoyuki Suganos first season in Colorado has already given the Rockies plenty to think about, and his latest start only added to the conversation. At Rate Field, the veteran right-hander took the mound for a one-year Rockies contract against a familiar opponent in White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami, a matchup that carried some built-in intrigue for anyone who followed their time in Japans Central League before they ever reached Major League Baseball.
Murakami made the reunion hard to miss, connecting for two home runs in the White Soxs 6-1 win and putting a dent in Suganos outing at an important moment for both pitcher and team. Sugano still finished the season as Colorados wins leader, but with free agency ahead, each start has taken on extra weight for a Rockies club trying to decide what comes next on a staff that could look very different soon. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies Farm System Just Delivered A Reason For Real Optimism
The Rockies have spent plenty of time trying to find reasons to feel better about the future, and their farm system is giving them one now. Baseball America recently put out its league honors, and Colorado had names at the top in two different spots: outfielder Zac Veen was recognized as the best player at Triple-A, while Cristian Arguelles earned the same distinction in the Arizona Complex League. For an organization that has long needed more impact talent in the pipeline, that kind of double recognition stands out.
Veens surge with the Albuquerque Isotopes helped get him to the majors, where his bat has carried over enough to keep the conversation moving, while Arguelles has quickly built a case as one of the systems most intriguing young hitters. The 19-year-old set the Arizona Complex League batting average record and took home MVP honors before his promotion to Single-A Fresno, and the Rockies are giving him time to keep developing there. For now, the encouraging part is simple: Colorado has more than one prospect making real noise, and those are the kinds of names a rebuilding club wants to see rising together. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies Showed One Encouraging Trend Despite Another Brutal Season
The Rockies fourth straight 100-loss season is the kind of stretch that can flatten a franchises outlook, and the overall numbers have been as rough as anyone around the club would expect. Even so, there was one area that at least offered a sliver of encouragement: the offense looked more capable, with Hunter Goodman, TJ Rumfield and McCarthy giving the lineup some much-needed signs of life.
Pitching remains the glaring problem, and the teams ERA sits at the bottom of the majors, so there is no hiding how far Colorado still has to go. But the front office does have something to work with in a few promising prospects and draft picks, which gives the Rockies a path forward even as the present continues to feel stuck in place. [Read more 🡒]