Game 1: One team played like its playoff lives depended on it, and one team played like it had clinched its division a week earlier as the White Sox pummeled the Rays 12-0. Mack Anglin started and was OK after giving up 3 early runs, finishing 6 6 3 3 0 7. But Luke Little and Hayden Johns were terrible in relief, giving up 9 runs combined in the 7th and 8th. Collin Montez was 3-4 with 2 HR and 7 RBI for the White Sox, while the Rays offense could barely get on base, getting only 6 hits and one walk. 6 games left to go.
Game 2: If the White Sox make the Wild Card Game and beat Baltimore, and then beat the Rays, the Rays will only have themselves to thank as they lost to Chicago again, this time 5-4 in 10 innings on a walk-off HR by (who else?) Collin Montez off Evan Godwin. As you can tell by the score the Rays made a better showing of themselves even with key players like Wander Franco, Keibert Ruiz, Brandon Marsh and Keston Hiura rested. Tyler Glasnow made his final regular season start and began shaky just like Mack Anglin last night and like Anglin he gave up 3 early runs and then settled down. He was finally pulled with two out in the 6th with a couple of runners on and Aaron Ashby balked one in, leaving Glasnow with a 5.2 7 4 3 4 5 line and final regular season numbers of 20-5, 2.64 with 55/240 BB/K in 208.1 innings and 6.1 WAR. They were down 4-3 at that point but Anthony Rizzo had an RBI single in the 8th to tie the game, Steven Casey got 'em through the 8th, Liam Hendriks the 9th, but Godwin started the 10th to face the lefty Montez and that was that. Earlier the Rays put 3 runs on the board courtesy of Jhon Diaz. His 2-run double in the 2nd tied the game at 2, and he doubled and scored on a Nick Gonzales single in the 5th to tie it again at 3.
Game 3: New day, same story as the White Sox beat the Rays 6-1. Asa Lacy started and like Mack Anglin and Tyler Glasnow the two nights before, gave up 3 early runs. This time they came in the first as that guy Collin Montez singled in a run and then Tanner Craig hit a 2-run HR. Lacy did not allow another hit the rest of the way and ended 6 2 3 3 3 4. But of course the offense did little (tonight's nights off went to Vidal Brujan and Judson Fabian) with only Spencer Torkelson's 47th HR of the year in the 4th putting them on the board. And after Steven Casey pitched a scoreless 7th, Aaron Ashby came in and was terrible yet again, giving up a 3-run HR to - who else? - Montez to make the final 6-1 as the White Sox continue to hold down the 2nd wild card. Montez now has 4 HR and 12 RBI in the 3 games so far this series, gonna have to start intentionally walking him.
MLB Note: The Yankees' Joe Allen extended his hitting streak to 34 games today, which is the second longest in this save since Oscar Mercado's 38 in 2021 (or was it 2022?).
Game 4: Disgusted with their performance in the first 3 games of the series, today I went with the full regular lineup. And it might have been the worst game yet of this series as the White Sox crushed them again 10-2 to sweep the 4-game series. Like his starter mates before him, Matt Manning put the team in an early hole and raised the ante by giving up 6 runs in the first 3 innings and ending up 4.1 9 7 7 3 5 to finish the year a mediocre 12-8, 4.69. Manning's ERAs have risen from 2.68 in his 2024 Cy Young season to 3.62 to 4.69 the past three years, not a great trend. Meanwhile the offense made Alex Faedo and his 5.72 ERA on the season look like Bob Gibson as he retired the first 13 Rays before Spencer Torkelson (the only one still hitting) blasted #48. Later Vidal Brujan and Keibert Ruiz hit doubles for the other run. Hayden Johns went 1 2/3 scoreless, but Luke Little was ripped for 3 runs in his 2 innings of work. I didn't expect them at their best this series, but this was ridiculous.
Team record: 106-53. Next up: The regular season mercifully ends with 3 games in Texas.
MLB Note: As usual, once you mention a hitting streak it ends, and so it did with Joe Allen who went 0-4 today snapping his 34-game streak.
Here is where the wild card races stand going into the final weekend. It looked like chaos a week ago, but now it's going to take some dramatic turnarounds to keep it from being Baltimore-Chicago in the AL and Washington-San Diego in the NL:
