"Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 - Page 6

jksander · 04-25-2025, 07:27 PM

May 8, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 4.08 ERA, 28.2 IP, 35 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) pitched against Max Fried (2-3, 5.86 ERA, 35.1 IP, 28 K’s, 1.42 WHIP) in game one against the Yankees, and we had a real duel on our hands early on, until we broke it open in the top of the fifth with an RBI single by Yordys Valdes! Chase Meidroth hit an RBI single moments later, and Heston Kjerstad added a flyball double that batted home Meidroth, giving us a 3-0 lead midway through the inning! Rasmussen got us through the bottom of the inning, and Jonathan Cannon took the ball in the sixth to keep us in control. Eduard Bazardo took over in the seventh, and it did NOT go well ... three hits, the final of which was a three-run homer by Chisholm Jr, and we had to pull him for Alvarado after just eight pitches. But we’ve tasted winning and seem to enjoy it, as we came out hitting in the eighth, scoring off an RBI double by Tauchman, and getting two more from a single by Valdes to lead 6-3 heading into the bottom of the inning. Ryan Helsley came out to pitch, and we added two more runs in the top of the ninth to put us firmly in control so he stayed out in the ninth as we manhandled the Yankees 8-3. How’s that for some offense, White Sox fans? We outhit them 11-7, led by Kjerstad with two hits, a run and three RBIs, and Alvarado took the win, improving to 1-0 with a 5.84 ERA after a three hit, two walk, one strikeout start by Rasmussen.

May 9, 2026: Dylan Cease (1-3, 4.06 ERA, 37.2 IP, 34 K’s, 1.06 WHIP) got the start in game two against the Yankees, taking on Brandon Woodruff (2-1, 4.15 ERA, 34.2 IP, 31 K’s, 1.15 WHIP). We took the lead in the top of the second thanks to an RBI single by Valenzuela that was coupled with an E9 throwing error that allowed Vargas to score. Brooks Lee then added on with a single that pushed home Vargas, and we went into the bottom of the inning leading 2-0. Cease got us into the stretch with that lead unchanged, and Luis Sanchez took over for him in the top of the eighth, striking out the side! He was in total control, shutting them down in the ninth as well as we were able to stump the Yankees 2-0! Cease gave us seven innings with six hits and seven strikeouts, improving to 2-3 with a 3.43 ERA, while Sanchez saved his third game, a two-inning effort with five strikeouts and no baserunners. We outhit the Yankees 8-6, led by Brandon Valenzuela, who hit three times and scored one of our two runs.

With the win, we’ve moved into a tie for second in the AL Central with the Twins, just 4.5 games back of the 21-13 Guardians as we are now just one game off of .500! After opening the month with a pair of losses, we’ve now gone 6-1 in our last seven games, and our run differential is inching closer to even, just at -5 now through 33 games!

May 10, 2026: Noah Schultz (2-1, 2.31 ERA, 39.0 IP, 46 K’s, 0.67 WHIP) pitched our final game against the Yankees, going toe to toe with Garrett Crochet (5-2, 2.00 ERA, 45.0 IP, 51 K’s, 0.96 WHIP), who is emerging as New York’s ace just 17 months after leaving our team in a trade for Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez. Both pitchers came into the game red-hot, so nobody expected a lot of offense in a very duel-worthy matchup. New York broke through the stalemate in the bottom of the fourth with a one-out solo homer by Aaron Judge, but Yordys Valdes hit a two-run homer in the top of the fifth to put us on top 2-1, just the third time the 24-year-old shortstop has homered this year! Joey Gallo hit one in the sixth, which amazingly was his first homer of the season, but Judge hit his second of the game in the bottom of the inning with two outs, keeping the Yankees close. Eduard Bazardo took over with two outs and nobody on, getting us out of the inning with a pop-up to center by Nathaniel Lowe, and Ha-seong Kim got into the homer sweepstakes with a solo blast in the top of the seventh to give us a 4-2 lead going into the stretch, his second homer of the year! Jose Alvarado took over in the bottom of the seventh, and with two outs the Yankees brought their fans to their feet with a two-run double by Blake Crim that tied this one up 4-4. Alvarado then let Anthony Volpe hit an RBI single to take the lead before we finally got out out of the inning. But in the top of the eighth, Valenzuela hit a hard shot into center-right, coming out of it with an RBI triple in all the outfield confusion, driving in two to put us back up 6-5! Julian Merryweather took over in the eighth with a runner on first, no outs, and he successfully kept us in the lead through the remainder of the inning, stranding runners on the corners. Ben Joyce came out to pitch in the bottom of the ninth still leading by one run, and with icewater running through his veins he held firm as we beat the Yanks 6-5 to complete the sweep! Alvarado blew the save, his first, but improved to 2-0 with a 7.42 ERA in the win, surviving a rough two hit, four walk three earned run performance. We matched them on hits, seven against seven, led by our eighth and ninth hitters in the lineup, as Valenzuela and Valdes each had a hit, a run and two RBIs (with Valenzuela walking once as well for good measure.

The win pulls us to dead even, 17-17, and we’re now in sole control of second place in the AL Central, a full game up on the Twins who are now 16-18. We’ll stay in New York for three against the Mets, who at 17-17 are also in second place in their division, trailing the Braves by three games. We’ve now won four in a row to their two, but this should be an incredible series as we start our season fresh!

jksander · 04-25-2025, 09:07 PM

May 11, 2026: The White Sox haven’t had a winning record at any point in a season since sometime in the 2022 season, when we wound up finishing 81-81, failing to repeat as division champs. Now we’re still relatively early in our current season, but we’ve got a chance to make a real statement against the Mets, Brandon Pfaadt (2-1, 4.18 ERA, 28.0 IP, 28 K’s, 1.21 WHIP) going up against Freddy Peralta (2-2, 3.76 ERA, 40.2 IP, 40 K’s, 1.18 WHIP). And it went south quickly, when Pfaadt had to be pulled from the game with two outs and a man on in the bottom of the FIRST INNING ... diagnosis pending. Ryan Weber took over and got us out of the inning without anyone scoring, and Joey Gallo gave us the lead with a solo bomb in the top of the second. The Mets tied it with a solo homer of their own off the bat of Jeff McNeil in the bottom of the third, but Weber was able to keep it that way through the rest of the inning, and Bellinger hit one in the top of the fourth to put us back up 2-1. Noah Syndergaard took the ball in the bottom of the fourth, and Ryan Clifford hit a leadoff homer to tie it 2-2 ... this one’s going to be a long one. A few minutes later Jose Siri hit a two-run slam out of left to give the Mets a two-run lead, and we had our work cut out for us. But give credit to our hitters, they came out FIRED UP in the fifth, Kjerstad hitting an RBI single and Bellinger going yard for the second time, piling on three more with a homer to give us the lead 6-4! Syndergaard loaded the bags in the bottom of the inning but held firm and got the outs we needed to keep New York from scoring, and Gary Sanchez scored off a wild pitch in the sixth to extend our lead to three runs. Luis Sanchez came out in the bottom of the sixth and after getting two outs he gave everything back and more ... a two-run double by Ryan Clifford shot the Mets into the lead 8-7, as this game threatened to give me a managerial stroke. Ryan Helsley took over in the bottom of the seventh, and Bazardo took over in the eighth, giving up a solo homer to Francisco Alvarez to extend the Mets’ lead. We went down quietly from there, losing this one 9-7 to snap our winning streak.

Sanchez blew the save and got his first loss of the year, allowing five hits with four runs and just one strikeout in a game that blew his ERA up to 4.03 through 22.1 innings. But we were in this one way past the point of sanity, considering the Mets outhit us 17-7, a bludgeoning that should have seen us get completely slaughtered after losing our pitcher two outs into the game. Cody Bellinger led the way with two hits (both homers), two runs and four RBIs.

May 12, 2026: No word on Pfaadt’s injury as we go into game two, Sean Burke (2-2, 4.61 ERA, 27.1 IP, 30 K’s, 1.32 WHIP) pitching against David Peterson (0-2, 6.59 ERA, 27.1 IP, 20 K’s, 1.54 WHIP). Yesterday’s game blew our bullpen to pieces, and aside from Cannon and Joyce who are well rested, only Merryweather (74%) and Weber (63%) and Helsley (59%) are even remotely capable of pitching ... so Burke was likely to have a longer leash than usual tonight regardless of how the early innings go. Unfortunately the Mets took a quick lead off an RBI single by Juan Soto in the bottom of the first, and a sac-fly by Brandon Nimmo added on. We answered by getting on the board when Bellinger scored off a wild pitch in the top of the second, and Burke settled down in the bottom of the inning, keeping us within the one run. A two-run double by Kjerstad put us into the lead 3-2 in the top of the third, and we piled on four more runs in the top of the fifth as we took control out of nowhere with a Joey Gallo GRAND SLAM! Jonathan Cannon took over with a five-run lead in the top of the sixth, getting through the inning with just one run going back the Mets’ way, powering through the seventh with little trouble at all to keep our lead at 7-3 heading into the top of the eighth. Chase Meidroth got us the run back with an RBI single, but the Mets got a two-run homer from Soto in the bottom of the inning, and with no outs we had to bring out Ben Joyce as they pulled back within three. Joyce struck out three around a pair of baserunners, getting us into the ninth with the lead still safe, and Merryweather came out in the bottom of the ninth to try and close this out. He pitched around a walk by Francisco Lindor to help us clinch the 8-5 win, another hard-fought victory for our White Sox on the road! Burke improved to 3-2 with a 4.45 ERA, lasting five innings with four hits, a walk, five strikeouts and two earned runs. We outhit New York 10-6, led by Gallo, whose third homer of the season got us four RBIs to lead the team!

The news on Brandon Pfaadt is bad ... all around, bad ... the 27-year-old has severe elbow inflamation, and will miss AT LEAST two to three months, with no expectation for a return before August. We’ve put him on the 60-day IL, and for now Ryan Weber is going to step into our starting rotation full time. Andre Lipcius is coming back up to add depth off the bench in the infield, and we’re considering options on potentially trading for a pitcher to fill the role more permanently ... we’re in talks with Detroit about Tyler Holton and with Cincinnati about Nick Lodolo, but it’s going to take some hammering on a deal, so no sense rushing things.

May 13, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.48 ERA, 33.2 IP, 36 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) pitched in our rubber match against the Mets, battling Frankie Montas (2-2, 4.71 ERA, 28.2 IP, 24 K’s, 1.36 WHIP). Miguel Vargas hit a three-run homer in the top of the second to give us an early lead, and Tauchman hit a two-run single to add on in the top of the third! The Mets got on the board in the bottom of the third with an RBI double by Brett Baty, and Rasmussen started to fall apart, letting them have two more off a double by Soto with just one out ... but he calmed things with two quick outs to get us into the fourth still leading 5-3. Bellinger hit a solo homer to start the top of the fourth, but we had to bring out Syndergaard to pitch in the fifth as Rasmussen had thrown way too wildly in the first four innings, wearing himself down, and this one became another game of bullpen chess. Syndergaard got us through two solid innings, and an RBI single for Cedanne Rafaela increased our margin to four runs as we went into the stretch leading 7-3. Jonathan Cannon came out to pitch in the bottom of the inning, and after a two-out triple by Francisco Alvarez in the bottom of the eighth, Ryan Helsley took over, getting the out we needed thanks to a grounder to first by Ryan Clifford. Bellinger hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth, his second of the game and seventh of the season, and Helsley shut them down in the bottom of the inning as we won this one 8-3, taking the series two games to one and giving ourselves a winning record for the first time in recent memory! Syndergaard improved to 1-2 with an 8.18 ERA thanks to two innings with a hit and a strikeout, and we outhit New York 11-6, led by Bellinger who hit twice (both homers) for three runs and two RBIs! The bad news is Kjerstad was injured, the main reason we had to bring Bellinger into the lineup today in the first place ... it was an impact injury sliding into base, and he is still being evaluated.

May 14, 2026: The news isn’t great about Kjerstad, but it’s far from the worst case scenario. He’s dealing with knee tendinitis, an will need to be out of the lineup for at least three weeks. We’ve added him to our 10-day IL, calling up Joshua Mears to play in the outfield in his absence. In other news, we’ve made a trade with the Reds that, instead of getting us Nick Lodolo, ACTUALLY gets us top-line pitcher Zac Gallen, with the team retaining 75% of his contract (worth $11.8M in savings each year through 2029!) In return, we’re giving up Joey Gallo, who has not been happy on the bench, along with power-reliever Luis Sanchez, our rule five pick this past winter. I hate giving Sanchez up, but to get Gallen ... a player who has put up a 71-48 record and a 3.38 career ERA ... I just couldn’t say no, despite several heated arguments with our assistant GM over it. In the end, our owner sided with me and we all know Reinsdorf gets what he wants.

Gallen’s officially on our 26-man roster ahead of our upcoming homestand, though he’s not slated to start until at least game three against Miami, and potentially not until the first game of our Pittsburgh series. We’ve called up Lenyn Sosa to take Gallo’s spot on the bench.

jksander · 04-25-2025, 10:09 PM

May 15, 2026: Miami is terrible this year, coming into this series against us at Rate Field with a 10-27 record, worst in the majors by a long shot. We, meanwhile, have won eight of our last 10 games and actually have a winning record and a positive run differential (+2) along with firm control of second place in the AL Central, if we can keep our heads on straight. The fans are still abuzz about the move that sent us Zac Gallen, and the big topic on the sports talk shows has been whether the Reds were undervaluing Gallen, overvaluing Gallo, or both. We’ll see how it shakes out, but getting a top-level pitcher for four years with the other team paying 75 percent, it was impossible for me to say no.

Noah Schultz (2-1, 2.42 ERA, 44.2 IP, 54 K’s, 0.69 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Marlins, facing Chris Bassitt (0-3, 5.54 ERA, 37.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.66 WHIP). This one turned into the most unlikely pitching duels you’ll ever see, and we got dinged first when Miami went up 1-0 off an RBI single by Agustin Ramirez in the top of the sixth. Bassitt made it through six innings as well, holding that lead as he personally held us to just three hits, and we were going to have to count on our bats and our bullpen with Helsley taking over in the top of the seventh. Helsley got us through the eighth with the Marlins’ lead still just 1-0. He got the first two outs in the ninth as well, with Alvarado coming out to strike out Max Kepler, bringing us out to hit still down a run with time running out. But our bats were completely useless tonight, and Miami got an improbable 1-0 win out of us while our fans looked on stunned. Schultz went six innings with eight hits, four strikeouts and the one earned run, falling to 2-2 with a 2.31 ERA, while we only picked up four hits all game. Helsley struck out four without a single baserunner in his 2.1 innings, but you have to score to win. Closest we got was Kim, leading off with a hit and a walk.

May 16, 2026: Dylan Cease (2-3, 3.43 ERA, 44.2 IP, 41 K’s, 1.03 WHIP) pitched against Eury Perez (2-2, 4.85 ERA, 39.0 IP, 43 K’s, 1.69 WHIP) in game two against the Marlins, and this time we got on the board quickly, Ceddanne Rafaela hitting a three-run homer in the bottom of the first. Tauchman batted in a run with a single in the bottom of the third to add on, and we scored three more in the bottom of the fifth to turn this into a rout. Jonathan Cannon took over in the top of the seventh, leading by seven runs, and he pitched well in the seventh but gave up three hits in a row, including an RBI single to Eugenio Suarez, blowing the shutout in the eighth. He gave up two more runs before we were able to get Ryan Weber warmed in the pen, but he took over with runners on first and second and one out, the lead now at four. And this one turned into a farce quickly ... after striking out Marco Luciano, Weber let Harrison Bader hit an RBI single, and Max Kepler added on with an RBI single of his own to get the Marlins back within two! Eduard Bazardo came out with two outs and men on second and third, and was able to get Connor Norby to ground out to first -- but we’d gone from 7-0 to 7-5 all in the top of the eighth. Thank God for Cody Bellinger, who came out in the bottom of the inning on two outs and hit a two-run homer out of left, extending our lead back to four and giving us momentum again. Joshua Mears hit a solo shot out of left to add on, and Bazardo stayed out with a five-run lead as we shut them down to win 10-5. Cease improved to 3-3 with a 3.02 ERA, thanks to six innings with five hits, two walks and eight strikeouts, and after Weber picked up a hold following Cannon’s meltdown, Bazardo earned his first save with a 1.1 inning effort, walking one with no other baserunners ... he now has a 3.66 ERA through 19.2 innings. We outhit Miami 12-10, led by Rafaela with three hits, a run and three RBIs, while Bellinger added two hits, two runs and three RBIs, hitting his ninth homer of the year.

May 17, 2026: Zac Gallen (4-1, 2.88 ERA, 50.0 IP, 45 K’s, 1.16 WHIP) made his White Sox debut this afternoon in front of nearly 25,000 fans, facing Tyler Viza (0-4, 4.94 ERA, 33.1 IP, 19 K’s, 1.65 WHIP), and Miami gave him a huge “f--- you” when Harrison Bader led off with a solo homer. The Marlins then quickly amassed a 4-0 lead as they put Gallen through the wringer, drawing boos from our fans who were restless quickly. Joshua Mears quieted them somewhat with his two-run single in the bottom of the inning, and Mike Tauchman hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second to cut the lead to one. Agustin Ramirez hit a solo homer to extend their lead in the top of the fourth, but Gary Sanchez hit an RBI single to cut it again in the bottom of the inning, and Ceddanne Rafaela tied it up with a solo bomb out of right in the bottom of the fifth, Gallen getting us through the top of the sixth with a chance to take control of this one! A two-out RBI double by Ha-seong Kim did the trick, giving us a 6-5 lead heading into the top of the seventh with Julian Merryweather taking the ball. With one out and Eugenio Suarez on first in the top of the eighth we brought out Jose Alvarado, silencing them as we went into the bottom of the inning still leading by a run. Chase Meidroth bought us some insurance when his sac-fly got a run across to give us a two-run ninth inning advantage, and Ben Joyce handled business in the top of the ninth as we held tough to win 7-5! Zac Gallen didn’t make it easy, but he got the win, allowing seven hits and five earned runs with four strikeouts in his six innings ... and then our bullpen held it, with Joyce getting his fourth save and improving his ERA to 4.35 through 10.1 innings. We outhit Miami 10-9, led by Gary Sanchez, who hit twice with an RBI, as Mears added a hit and two RBIs.

We definitely miss having Kjerstad in the lineup, but we’ve been making it work ... we now hold a 21-19 record heading into the series against the 18-22 Pirates, and against all odds we’re now within three games of the 25-17 Guardians! We’ve won 11 of our last 14 games but these will be our last three home games before a 10-game road stretch that will include seven divisional games. So we can’t take our foot off the gas or we’ll lose all our momentum.

jksander · 04-26-2025, 02:53 PM

May 18, 2026: Sean Burke (3-2, 4.45 ERA, 32.1 IP, 35 K’s, 1.27 WHIP) pitched in game one, facing the Pirates’ young starter Jared Jones (3-1, 2.79 ERA, 42.0 IP, 49 K’s, 1.05 WHIP). The Pirates went up 2-0 in the top of the second with a two-run homer out of right by Jack Suwinski, and Burke eventually loaded the bases though we were able to get out of the inning with a pop-fly to left, leaving them all stranded. In the bottom of the inning we tied it up with a two-run blast by Mike Tauchman, and Brandon Valenzuela hit a solo bomb out of right to get us into the lead 3-2. Burke got two outs and then another homer flew over the right field wall, this one ALSO by Suwinski, so we went into the bottom of the inning tied up 3-3 and Burke’s night appeared to be over ... another rough one upcoming for the bullpen? Eduard Bazardo came out to pitch in the top of the fourth, and Noah Syndergaard took over in the top of the sixth, and in the bottom of that inning Joshua Mears powered us into the lead with a solo homer, putting us up 4-3 heading into the seventh in a game that had been pretty much all dingers all night. Ryan Helsley took the ball in the top of the eighth, still leading by a run, and Ryan Weber came out to pitch in the top of the ninth while Joyce warmed up, getting two outs before Spencer Horwitz hit a single to get on base. Ben Joyce came out to face Ke’Bryan Hayes, who singled into center, advancing Horwitz to third, and then former White Sox hitter Michael A. Taylor struck out swinging as we held tough to win 4-3! Noah Syndergaard got the win, improving to 2-2 with a 7.50 ERA, striking out a pair with no baserunners in his two innings. Helsley and Weber earned holds, and Joyce picked up a high leverage save on six pitches, getting the out we needed on strikes to give him five saves this season. Neither team hit more than five times, ours led by Mears who hit twice with two runs and an RBI off his second homer of the year.

May 19, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.82 ERA, 37.2 IP, 42 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) pitched against Dustin May (3-3, 2.40 ERA, 41.1 IP, 45 K’s, 1.33 WHIP) in game two against the Pirates, and his night didn’t start off well ... an error immediately gave them a baserunner, and with no outs Termarr Johnson hit an RBI double to drive in the game’s first run. Rasmussen has been hit or miss this year, either super-hot or super-cold, and tonight it was the latter ... by the time we came up to hit for the first time we were in a 3-0 hole and he’d thrown 33 pitches. Cody Bellinger got us on the board with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third, his 10th of the season, and Julian Merryweather took over in the top of the fifth with two outs and nobody on, getting us into the sixth with the game still competitive. He managed to get us through the sixth as well, and Miguel Vargas tied the score with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth! Jose Alvarado came out to pitch in the top of the seventh, and Jonathan Cannon took the ball with two outs and Joey Bart on first in the top of the eighth, getting us into the bottom of the inning still tied at 3-3. He got us through the ninth as well, and in the bottom of the inning Andre Lipcius came up as our leadoff hitter and slugged one out of left to walk this off as a 4-3 win! Jonathan Cannon improved to 2-0 with a 5.12 ERA, pitching 1.1 innings with a strikeout and no baserunners as we won our second bullpen game in a row. We outhit the Pirates 10-7, led by Bellinger who had two hits, a run and two RBIs.

Incredibly, we’ve now won four in a row for the second time this MONTH, and we now hold a 23-19 record, closing the gap with Cleveland who only lead us by two games in the division (though it should be noted the Guardians have a 4-2 lead on us so far in the season series so effectively it’s a three-game lead)! We’ve got one game left against the Pirates, and then will spend the rest of the month on the road (though three of them are against our Northside rivals). Kjerstad still has four days left of official time on the IL, though his injury will require him to stay on the list for at least another two weeks before we can consider whether a rehab assignment will be necesssary.

May 20, 2026: Noah Schultz (2-2, 2.31 ERA, 50.2 IP, 58 K’s, 0.77 WHIP) pitched against Mitch Keller (1-2, 3.02 ERA, 47.2 IP, 44 K’s, 0.92 WHIP) in our third game against the Pirates and our final home game of the month. Back to back homers by Vargas and Lipcius put us ahead in the bottom of the third, and we added on with a two-run double by Bellinger and an RBI single for Ceddanne Rafaela to lead 5-0 heading into the top of the fourth. Jonathan Cannon took over in the top of the seventh with two outs and Ke’Bryan Hayes on first, still leading by five runs, but the shutout didn’t last ... Jorge Mateo hit an RBI triple that drove home two runs, and he scored off a wild pitch as Cannon struggled to get the one out we needed him to get. Finally he struck out Oneil Cruz swinging to end the inning, sending us into the stretch still leading 5-3. Ryan Helsley took over in the top of the eighth, and he promptly resumed the meltdown, loading the bags and letting Pittsburgh score two off a no-outs double by Henry Davis. Alvarado took over from there, and he stunned them by squelching the rally with three quick outs to strand all three runners, sending us into the bottom of the inning tied 5-5, Schultz’s best start of the season officially wasted. Cody Bellinger got us the lead back with a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth, and Ben Joyce took over wanting to put this one to bed. But with two outs and men on first and second, Spencer Horwitz tied it up with an RBI single, and we came up to hit in the bottom of the ninth tied yet again. With two outs, and Gary Sanchez on second base, Yordys Valdes came through in the clutch, winning this one with a walkoff single as we took the game 7-6, completing the sweep!

Noah Schultz pitched 6.2 innings with four hits, 13 STRIKEOUTS and one run against him, but Helsley and Joyce each blew save attempts, and Joyce came out of it with the win as he improved to 3-1 with a 4.63 ERA. They outhit us 10-9, our bats led by Bellinger who hit three times with two runs and three RBIs, including his 11th homer of the year.

We have a much-needed rest day tomorrow, and will then begin a three-game series at Wrigley Field against the 19-24 Cubs, who are third in the NL Central at the moment. We’re riding a five-game winning streak and an 8-2 stretch in our last ten games, just a game behind the Guardians in the AL Central race. Our run differential is now +11, and we’re 9-7 in one-run games, with an 11-10 record on the road.

jksander · 04-26-2025, 04:18 PM

May 21, 2026: We come into this first game against the Cubs with a five-game win streak and having won our last three games by one run apiece, all of them brutally close until the very end. So we’ve been riding the edge of a sharp knife, which makes it hard to know if we can really trust how good we’ve been this month ... are we truly a contender, or just on a lucky streak? Any time you can go 14-5 in a month you’re doing something right, but we have to keep finding ways to win, and to get our starters to actually play deep into games. Still, though their ERAs don’t necessarily show it, our bullpen has come through when needed:

Ben Joyce (3-1, 4.63 ERA, 11.2 IP, 14 K’s, 1.89 WHIP, 0.6 WAR)
Jose Alvarado (2-0, 5.82 ERA, 17.0 IP, 25 K’s, 1.41 WHIP, 0.5 WAR)
Jonathan Cannon (2-0, 5.49 ERA, 19.2 IP, 17 K’s, 1.37 WHIP, 0.2 WAR)
Ryan Helsley (1-2, 4.35 ERA, 20.2 IP, 23 K’s, 1.02 WHIP, 0.1 WAR)
Julian Merryweather (0-3, 3.26 ERA, 19.1 IP, 25 K’s 1.50 WHIP, 0.1 WAR)
Eduard Bazardo (2-0, 3.32 ERA, 21.2 IP, 16 K’s, 1.11 WHIP, -0.2 WAR)
Ryan Weber (0-0, 3.52 ERA, 7.2 IP, 3 K’s, 1.70 WHIP, -0.2 WAR
Noah Syndergaard (2-2, 7.50 ERA, 24.0 IP, 15 K’s, 1.46 WHIP, -0.5 WAR)

Dylan Cease (3-3, 3.02 ERA, 50.2 IP, 49 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) got the ball in game one against the Cubs, his ninth start of the season, and through his first eight starts he’s pitched six quality starts, so he’s been our most consistent starter. Tonight at Wrigley he went up against Buck Farmer (0-2, 5.84 ERA, 12.1 IP, 10 K’s, 1.38 WHIP) in front of more than 38,000 screaming Cubs fans ... even when they’re merely average, our north side foes know how to draw a crowd, especially for rivalry games like this. Cease came out strong, striking out the side in the bottom of the first, but Dansby Swanson scored from third off a sac-fly by Carson Kelly to put the Cubs on the board in the bottom of the third, up 1-0. Ian Happ hit a solo homer in the fourth to add on, but we got on the board in the top of the sixth with an RBI single by Chase Meidroth. Cease got us into the stretch still trailing just 2-1, and Cody Bellinger hit an RBI single to tie it in the top of the eighth, ensuring Cease would get no decision tonight. With the score tied 2-2, Bazardo took over in the bottom of the eighth, but a pair of singles and a wild pitch put runners on the corners with one out. With Matt Shaw coming to the plate we brought out Ryan Helsley, who struck Shaw out swinging and then got Jeimer Candelario to ground into a fielder’s choice, keeping us tied up heading into the ninth. Still tied in the bottom of the inning, former Cub Julian Merryweather came out to pitch, and he did his job, forcing this one into extra innings. Ryan Weber came out in the bottom of the 10th, Kelly on second as the pinch-runner, and all it took was a hit by Michael Busch, bouncing off the ivy at center to bring Kelly home ... Cubs win 3-2, snapping our winning streak and giving us our fourth game in a row to finish within one run. Cease pitched seven innings with three hits, four walks and 10 strikeouts, allowing just two earned runs, while Weber got dinged with the loss with a hit and an unearned run, falling to 0-1 with a 3.52 ERA. We matched them with six hits, led by Meidroth and Bellinger who each had two hits and an RBI ... but only those two and Kim managed hits, while three others had a walk each.

May 23, 2026: Nobody’s got anywhere to hide during this ten game road stretch, and we won’t have another day off until the 4th of June so careful bullpen management is going to be critical, along with getting more offense so our starters have room to breathe. Zac Gallen (5-1, 3.38 ERA, 56.0 IP, 49 K’s, 1.16 WHIP) pitched in game two against the Cubs, facing Shota Imanaga (3-4, 2.90 ERA, 62.0 IP, 57 K’s, 1.05 WHIP), with this place packed to the limit with Cubs fans. Mears got a solo homer to lead off in the top of the second, but moments later Vargas got ejected in the second inning for arging a strike call, which forced us to shuffle Bellinger to first, Mears to right field and Tauchman to left, giving up the designated hitter for the remainder of the game ... so going forward our pitcher will be seventh in the lineup. Joshua Mears hit an RBI double in the top of the sixth to buy us a little insurance, but the Cubs got on the board with an RBI double by Owen Caissie, and a two-run homer moments later by Dansby Swanson put the Cubs into the lead 3-2 as we came up to hit in the top of the seventh. Juan Alvarado took over in the bottom of the inning, and in the top of the eighth with two outs, Bellinger hit a solo bomb out of right to tie the game up at 3-3. Ryan Helsley got the ball with one out and men on second and third in the bottom of the eighth, stranding both runners with quick outs as we came up to hit in the top of the ninth. Pinch-hitter Brooks Lee singled Ceddanne Rafaela into scoring position with a single with one out against us, but we couldn’t get him around to score, so Noah Syndergaard took over hoping to push us into extras again. He pitched around two runners on base, getting Josh Rojas to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to do just that as we held on for dear life.

With speedster Yordys Valdes on second, Ha-seong Kim took the count to 2-2 and on a run and hit play, Valdes stole third! Kim then hit one into center, taking first and driving in the go-ahead run for us, drawing boos from the crowd. Chase Meidroth hit one into the left field corner, legging out an RBI triple, and they intentionally walked Bellinger, unintentionally walking Moore who loaded the bases with no outs. They then hit Tauchman with a pitch on one out, walking in a third run, and we went into the bottom of the 10th leading by three! Syndergaard stayed out to get us through and protect the pen, but the plan failed as Happ walked and then Matt Shaw hit a three-run homer out of left to tie it up again ... Jesus! Ben Joyce took over with no outs but clear bases, and he did the job, getting us into the 11th inning now tied up at 6-6. Yordys Valdes hit a leadoff single into right to drive in a go-ahead run in the top of the 11th, and again they loaded the bases, Meidroth beating out an infield grounder and Bellinger walking. So with one out, Mears came to the plate ... he struck out swinging, but Ceddanne Rafaela had had enough ... he power-bombed one over the right field wall, a GRAND SLAM HOMER, giving us a five-run lead heading into the bottom of the inning! Joyce got two strikeouts and a pop-fly to left to finally end this one as an 11-6 extra-innings blowout for us ... all it took was eight runs across the 10th and 11th, easy peasy, right? Joyce improved to 4-1 with a 3.95 ERA, pitching two innings with four strikeouts and nobody allowed on base. Each team had 13 hits, ours led by Rafela, who was 4-6 with a run and four RBIs thanks to his 11th inning heroics.

May 24, 2026: Sean Burke (3-2, 4.84 ERA, 35.1 IP, 36 K’s, 1.39 WHIP) pitched against Justin Steele (2-5, 5.71 ERA, 52.0 IP, 47 K’s, 1.35 WHIP) in the rubber match against the Cubs, and Burke was perfect until, with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, he plunked PCA on the elbow to put his first runner on base. We got out of the inning with the runner stranded, and it was our White Sox who broke the stalemate, when Valenzuela hit an RBI double in the top of the fifth to put us up 1-0. Jonathan Cannon took over in the bottom of the seventh, still leading by the one run, and he got us through two outs in the eighth, when Weber took over to face PCA, with Suzuki on first. Pop-fly to center, a quick and easy out for Rafaela, and we went into the top of the ninth with a chance to put it away, but we weren’t able to buy an insurance run. So Weber, who had thrown one pitch for his out in the eighth, stayed out to finish it. With two outs and Owen Caissie on third base, Michael Bush grounded out to second, and a quick throw to first base ended this one as a 1-0 win ... we got out of Chicago with a series win amid thunderous boos from Cubs fans everywhere! Sean Burke got a rare starter win for us, improving to 4-3 thanks to a hit, a walk and eight strikeouts during his six shutout innings. Cannon and Weber got through the other three innings to preserve it, as we outhit the Cubs 7-2 to hold the razor-thin margin. Tauchman led the offense with two hits and a run scored, while Valenzuela batted it in with a hit and a walk

We’ll take our 26-20 record into Detroit where a three-game series against the free-falling Tigers awaits. They’re currently 17-29, and though they’ve lost 16 games this month against just six wins, the most recent win was in their last game on the road in Pittsburgh, which took them 10 innings to win 4-3. So they’re coming into this one hoping to build momentum, and we’re looking for a chance to take control of the division now that we’re tied up with the Guardians for first place. Pinch me, I must be dreaming!

jksander · 04-28-2025, 12:17 PM

May 25, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.61 ERA, 42.1 IP, 46 K’s, 1.25 WHIP) pitched against Detroit’s Nick Martinez (3-2, 4.27 ERA, 46.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.21 WHIP). We took the lead in the top of the fourth with a single by Tauchman, adding on moments later with a single by Vargas to go up 2-0, and Rasmussen was as sharp as we’ve seen him all year, striking out the side in the bottom of the inning to give himself seven K’s in his first four innings. But he got in trouble quickly in the fifth, loading the bases and walking in a run with the bullpen warming -- Eduardo Bazardo came out with the bases loaded and two outs, getting Kerry Carpenter to pop out to right to end the inning with us still ahead 2-1. In the top of the seventh Valenzuela hit an RBI triple to add on, and Ha-seong Kim hit an RBI single to give us a three-run cushion as we went into the stretch ahead 4-1. Jose Alvarado took the ball with two outs and men on first and second in the bottom of the seventh, getting out of the inning with a groundout to first by Carpenter. Ryan Helsley took over in the ninth with the three-run lead still intact, and with one out he blew the shutout when pinch-hitter Thayron Liranzo hit a two-run homer out of left to get Detroit on the board. But two quick outs from there sealed it as we beat the Tigers 4-2! Bazardo got the win, improving to 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA, lasting two innings with a hit, a walk and two strikeouts, while Alvarado earned his fourth hold and Helsley took save number three. We outhit Detroit 9-3, led by Vargas and Valenzuela who each had two hits, a run and an RBI (while Vargas also had a walk).

The improbable has happened, as Cleveland took a 6-0 shutout loss in LA against the Dodgers tonight, giving us solo control over the divisional lead ... this May turnaround has been unreal for us, and we’re just doing what we can on the field to keep it going! We don’t have a ton of “personalities” on this team, but we do have strong leadership, particularly among our pitchers, with Rasmussen and Burke taking charge and keeping everyone on track.

May 26, 2026: Noah Schultz (2-2, 2.20 ERA, 57.1 IP, 71 K’s, 0.75 WHIP) pitched against Kris Bubic (2-6, 5.04 ERA, 44.2 IP, 39 K’s, 1.68 WHIP), and we took control quickly, thanks to an RBI double by Mears and a flyball single by Vargas to lead 2-0 midway through the first. The Tigers got on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning by Spencer Torkelson, and Dillon Dingler hit a dinger to tie it up a blink of an eye later ... two quick outs and then suddenly we couldn’t buy one, until with runners on second and third, Schultz finally got Matt Vierling to ground out to first, so we could get up to hit in the second tied 2-2. But he’d thrown 31 pitches to do it, not a great sign for him to last long in this one if he stays that wild. We settled in well, though and in the top of the fourth we retook the lead on an RBI double by Kim, adding another when Kim scored a few minutes later off a wild pitch to go up 4-2. Schultz got us throgh the fifth inning just fine, and held his own through the sixth to get a quality start after the rough beginning. In the top of the seventh we added on via back-to-back sac-flies by Tauchman and Lipcius, and Alvarado took over in the bottom of the seventh, with Jonathan Cannon keeping us going in the eighth. We added on a pair in the ninth and Cannon stayed out to finish things as we shut them down 8-2. Schultz improved to 3-2 with a 2.27 ERA, allowing six hits and two runs with six strikeouts in his six innings, while we again outhit the Tigers 12-9. Vargas led our offense with three hits, a walk, a run and an RBI, while our DH Lipcius hit once for a pair of RBIs.

May 27, 2026: Dylan Cease (3-3, 2.97 ERA, 57.2 IP, 59 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched against Tarik Skubal (2-4, 3.16 ERA, 62.2 IP, 73 K’s, 0.97 WHIP) in our final game of the Detroit series, and this time the Tigers took the early lead, a solo homer by Thomas in the leadoff spot giving them a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. But we tied it up in the top of the second when Lipcius grounded out to first and drove home Tauchman, and that started a back and forth battle. Detroit went back up 2-1 with a two-out RBI single from Thayron Liranzo in the bottom of the third, and they added on with an RBI single by Kerry Carpenter in the bottom of the fifth to lead 3-1. Ceddanne Rafaela got us back within a run thanks to an RBI single in the top of the sixth, and we brought out Merryweather in the bottom of the seventh, and the Tigers pounced, scoring off an RBI double by Carpenter to add on. Helsley took over in the eighth but it didn’t matter, we didn’t have the offensive firepower to get back into this one, losing to Detroit 4-2 -- we got the series win, but couldn’t quite get the sweep. Cease fell to 3-4 with a 3.11 ERA, allowing eight hits, a walk and three runs while striking out five in his six innings, and we were out hit 11-6, our offense led by Tauchman with a hit and a run, and by Rafaela with a hit and an RBI.

jksander · 04-28-2025, 12:20 PM

May 28, 2026: The Royals come into this series with a 22-28 record, good for fourth place in the division. Zac Gallen (5-1, 3.48 ERA, 62.0 IP, 52 K’s, 1.19 WHIP) pitched against Cole Ragans (4-4, 4.20 ERA, 55.2 IP, 61 K’s, 1.51 WHIP) in our first of four games, and in the top of the second we unleashed on them, scoring four quick runs, starting with a sac-fly by Tauchman that scored Mears, and then a two-run homer for Vargas that really got things moving! Meidroth finished it with a single to add the fourth run, giving Gallen plenty of confidence as he came back out to pitch. The Royals got going in the bottom of the third with an RBI triple by Drew Waters, adding a run with a groundout by Jace Jung. Bellinger hit an RBI single in the fourth to get momentum back in our favor, but Kansas City answered with a solo homer by Kyle Isbel in the bottom of the inning, and they got Gallen to throw way too many pitches. We went into the bottom of the fifth leading still by a 5-3 margin, but Gallen was on a short leash at 70 pitches. He got three quick outs to get us through the inning, and Bazardo took over in the bottom of the sixth, just in time for Bobby Witt Jr to hit one out of center to cut our lead to one. Merryweather got the ball in the bottom of the seventh, still leading 5-4, and Cannon took over in the eighth. Both got us through their respective innings, but our offense couldn’t buy any insurance runs. Cannon stayed out in the ninth and handled business, though, and we won 5-4. Gallen is now 2-0 since coming to Chicago, pitching five innings today with five hits, four strikeouts and three earned runs, while Cannon earned his first save in a two-inning three strikeout effort. We outhit Kansas City 11-6, led by Vargas who had two hits, a run and two RBIs, including his eighth homer of the season.

May 29, 2026: Sean Burke (4-2, 4.14 ERA, 41.1 IP, 44 K’s, 1.23 WHIP) pitched against Sammy Gray (3-2, 2.42 ERA, 48.1 IP, 54 K’s, 0.87 WHIP) and the Royals broke through in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run blast by Mickey Gasper to take the lead. We got on the board in the top of the sixth when Ha-seong Kim stole third, and then, thanks to an E2 error, came in to score. A moment later we tied it up on a wild pitch, and Jonathan Cannon took over in the bottom of the inning, getting three quick outs to keep us right there in this one. Ryan Helsley came out to pitch in the bottom of the seventh, and Ben Joyce took over in the eighth still tied up at 2-2. But he did not handle the pressure well, loading the bases and giving up a two-run single to Mickey Gasper as the Royals took control. Alvarado took over, two on and one out, giving up one of Joyce’s baserunners as we got into the top of the ninth lagging by three runs. We took this one on the chin, losing 5-2 as the Royals evened things in the series with two games remaining. Joyce took the loss, falling to 4-2 with a 5.79 ERA with two hits, two walks and three runs in his one-third of an inning, Kansas City outhitting us 7-4. Yordys Valdes led our meager offense tonight with two hits and a run scored.

May 30, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.45 ERA, 47.0 IP, 53 K’s, 1.26 WHIP) pitched against KC’s Shane Bieber (1-5, 4.78 ERA, 52.2 IP, 47 K’s, 1.63 WHIP) in game three, and Ceddanne Rafaela got us quickly on the board in the top of the first with a two-run double! Rasmussen pitched seven shutout innings as we held to that early lead, and Noah Syndergaard took over in the top of the eighth, but with two outs in the bottom of the ninth he blew it when Michael Massey hit a two-run slam out of right to tie it up. Ben Joyce took over and got Blake Mitchell to strike out, but just like that this one we’d led through 26 batters was now going into extra innings. They wound up walking it off in the bottom of the 10th when Mickey Gasper hit into a fielder’s choice, as we failed to keep the ghost runner from scoring, giving Kansas City a 3-2 win we’d been inches away from earning ourselves in the ninth. Joyce took back to back losses, falling to 4-3 with a 5.52 ERA, with a walk and a strikeout to go with the unearned run ... we’d outhit Kansas City 6-5, led by Rafaela who had three hits and two RBIs.

May 31, 2026: It’s hard to believe, but this is our first two-game losing streak since the beginning of the month. Tonight’s our final game of the four-game set in Kansas City, with Noah Schultz (3-2, 2.27 ERA, 63.1 IP, 77 K’s, 0.77 WHIP) facing off against Seth Lugo (3-3, 4.38 ERA, 61.2 IP, 57 K’s, 1.41 WHIP). It was blustery and with a heavy threat of rain, so we wanted to start this one off quickly. But instead the Royals got the first punch to land when Blake Mitchell hit a solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the second to put the Royals on top. Nobody was really getting anything going offensively though, with the exception of that dinger ... in the top of the seventh Miguel Vargas led off with a double, just our second hit of the game, and he advanced to third off a groundout by Tauchman, as Lugo neared triple digit pitches. That’s when we hit ‘em, Vargas scoring off a groundball double into left by Valenzuela, tying the score and leading the Royals to go to the pen. Alas, we weren’t able to get the lead, heading into the stretch locked in a 1-1 battle with our division rivals. We trusted our young ace and Schultz delivered, getting through the bottom of the inning with a pair of key strikeouts, his first time going this deep into a game ... and at just 80 pitches, we let him stay out in the eighth as well, shutting them down to keep our bullpen fresh in a tightly contested defensive battle. In the top of the ninth, with one out, Mike Tauchman hit a double into left to get into scoring position, advancing to third on a groundout by Valenzuela. They walked Lipcius, at which point we brought out Brooks Lee to replace Yordys Valdes, and he walked the bases loaded with Ha-seong Kim coming up to the plate ... but he struck out swinging and we went into the bottom of the inning hoping to hold them off into extras. Merryweather took the ball from Schultz to pitch in the bottom of the ninth, and he did the job with three quick outs that sent us into the 10th. Chase Meidroth led off with a double into center-left, scoring the go-ahead run, and they intentionally walked Bellinger, but with one out Vargas hit another shot into center, driving Meidroth home to add on, pushing Bellinger into scoring position at second! Tauchman reached first on a fielder’s choice that sent Bellinger to third, and Valenzuela grounded out to send us into the bottom of the inning leading 3-1. Ryan Helsley took over in the bottom of the inning, getting a quick out before a double by Yunior Severino got the Royals back within a run. With two outs they tied it with a single by Bobby Witt Jr, but Bazardo came out to strike out Nick Loftin, getting us another chance as the game went into the 11th inning. Brooks Lee hit a one-out double into left to put us back into the lead in the top of the inning, but that was all we got ... Jose Alvarado took the ball in the bottom of the inning and with two outs they tied it AGAIN with a single by Drew Waters. They then finished us off as Severino walked it off with a sac-fly into center, giving Kansas City its third win in a row, this time by a 5-4 margin. We outhit them 7-5, but couldn’t string hits together enough to really put them away when we had a chance ... Alvarado blew his second save and fell to 2-1 with a 4.91 ERA, allowing a hit, two walks and two runs (one earned) while Vargas led our offense, hitting twice and walking once with a run and an RBI.

The loss dropped us to 29-24 heading into the month of June, and in a tight race in the Central we remain on top by one game over the 28-25 Twins, with Cleveland (28-26) a game and a half back. And the Royals, by beating us three times, got themselves back into contention as well ... at 25-29 they’re still 4.5 games back, but they exploited our weakness and ensured that this division is entirely up for grabs as the summer heats up.

jksander · 04-28-2025, 12:23 PM

We’ll play 13 home games against 12 road games in June, opening with home series against San Diego (20-33, 5th NL West) and Seattle (32-20, 1st AL West) this week in Chicago. We then play three at Tampa (26-26, 4th AL East) before returning to Rate Field for three against the Angels (24-29, 4th AL West) and three agianst the Cubs (25-28, 3rd NL Central). We then have road trips to face Tampa again, along with the Dodgers (37-16, 1st NL West) and Astros (25-29, 3rd Al West), and then play the first game of a three-game set against the Yankees (30-23, 2nd AL East) here at home that will get us into July.

jksander · 04-29-2025, 01:36 AM

June 1, 2026: Dylan Cease (3-4, 3.11 ERA, 63.2 IP, 64 K’s, 1.08 WHIP) pitched in our first of three home games against the Padres, facing Gabriel Hughes (1-5, 4.68 ERA, 42.1 IP, 36 K’s, 1.44 WHIP). And the Padres struck quickly, Giancarlo Stanton hitting a two-runner out of left to put them up 2-0 with one out in the top of the first. Andre Lipcius got us on the board with an RBI single in the bottom of the second, but with two outs in the top of the third Jackson Merrill hit a solo shot out of right to get the Padres to 3-1. Cody Bellinger then tied the game on a two-run slam out of center in the bottom of the inning, and this was setting up to be a good hitting night for everyone. Cease loaded the bases in the top of the fourth but escaped without damage ... but the fifth started poorly as well, and with no outs and men on first and second we brought out Ryan Weber to take over. That’s when we fell apart completely. Two runs had already scored for the Padres as we notched a pair of outs, but when Trevor Larnach hit a three-run homer out of center we were toast. By the time Weber got us out of the inning we were down 8-3 and he’d only thrown 24 pitches while allowing three hits and three runs himself.

Yordys Valdes got us two runs back in the bottom of the inning, with a two-run homer of his own, and Jonathan Cannon took the ball in the sixth, and the Padres added a run in the seventh off a homer by Thairo Estrada, though we got it back in the bottom of the inning off a sac-fly by Bellinger to stay within three. A solo homer by Lipcius got us within two in the bottom of the eighth, and in the bottom of the ninth we managed to load the bases with two outs, as they brought out Tyler Megill to face Miguel Vargas. Vargas took the count full, then hit one over the head of their second baseman, driving in a pair to tie this sucker up at 9-9! Unbelievable ... Lipcius walked the bases loaded, bringing up Gary Sanchez, who we replaced with pinch-hitter and catcher sub Brandon Valenzuela hoping to walk this thing off and avoid extras ... and he did just that, walking in the winning run as we stole this one from the Padres 10-9! Syndergaard took the win, improving to 3-2 with a 7.81 ERA, and Cease owes him a beer or two ... the starter had lasted just four innings and allowed three hits, six walks and five earned runs with seven strikeouts to dig us our initial hole. We were outhit 9-8, but the Padres walked us 11 times, and Bellinger had a good swing tonight, hitting twice and walking once for two runs and three RBIs. Lipcius added two hits, a walk, a run and two RBIs, while Vargas had two hits and two RBIs as well.

- - - - -

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/2/26 ... p.A1
Jerry Reinsdorf, Controversial White Sox Owner, Dead at 90

CHICAGO, Ill. -- White Sox sources and family of the legendary, yet controversial White Sox owner have confirmed that Jerry Reinsdorf died last night in his home at age 90. His tenure marked by controversies as well as by the World Series win in 2005 that snapped an 88-season drought, nobody will say the man was not true to himself. During his ownership of the team, Reinsdorf was known for his frugal approach to managing both the White Sox and the Bulls, often frustrating players, staff and fans due to his extreme cost-cutting measures and brash nature.

Reinsdorf’s legacy is complex, with critics remembering his history of breaking backroom deals, while his supporters remember the championships. His impact on Chicago is undeniable, but the fact that he’s left the team in the hands of private equity investor Justin Ishbia has left many in the community with serious doubts, particularly as Reinsdorf had frequently encouraged whoever took over for him after his death to sell his interests in the White Sox.

In particular, Ishbia’s background as a private equity investor and owner of multiple teams including the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury and the Nashville FC across the NBA, WNBA and Major League Soccer has raised concerns as to whether he’ll pursue selling the team or prefer to micromanage the organization like a member of Shark Tank. Futhermore, Ishbia’s relatively short tenure as a sports team owner has many questioning his long-term commitment to our city.

Ishbia has, for now, expressed his commitment to the team and the city of Chicago, stating that he intends to work closely with the current front office to build on the team’s recent success and bring another championship home. But actions will speak louder than words, and only time will show how the team’s new ownership will affect the product on the field, for better or worse.

jksander · 04-29-2025, 02:31 AM

June 2, 2026: The atmosphere was muted as Zac Gallen (6-1, 3.63 ERA, 67.0 IP, 56 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) got the ball to start the game this evening, facing San Diego’s Troy Melton (1-4, 5.36 ERA, 43.2 IP, 34 K’s, 1.44 WHIP), as everyone in the stadium seemed to be talking about the death of our owner and the affect it could have on our chances of staying on our current improved run. Joshua Mears got us the lead with a groundout in the bottom of the first, and Valenzuela hit one in the bottom of the fourth to add on. Moments later Brooks Lee hit a two-run blast out of center, giving us a commanding 4-0 lead, giving Gallen plenty of room to maneuver as we went into the top of the fifth. We added a run in the bottom of the fifth, and with a six-run lead going into the top of the ninth we finally pulled Gallen for Jonathan Cannon. With one out he blew the shutout, letting Fernando Tatis Jr hit a solo homer out of center, but we still won with ease, beating the Padres 6-1. Gallen won his third game in a row as a White Sox ace, allowing just two hits, a walk and six strikeouts in his eight shutout innings. We outslugged them 14-3, led by Ha-Seong Kim who had three hits, a run and an RBI while Gary Sanchez added two hits, a walk and two runs.

June 3, 2026: We’re sending Heston Kjerstad to the minors for a rehab assignment as he recovers from knee tendinitis. We’re hoping to have him back within a week if his knee holds up. This evening we dealt with our third and final game of the series against the Padres, with Sean Burke (4-2, 4.08 ERA, 46.1 IP, 50 K’s, 1.21 WHIP) pitching against Lance McCullers Jr (2-3, 4.05 ERA, 53.1 IP, 59 K’s, 1.31 WHIP). San Diego went up in the top of the first thanks to an RBI single by Tyler Nevin, and Luis Robert Jr walked in a run with the bases loaded to add on in the top of the third. They increased the margin to 3-0 by the middle of the fourth inning thanks to an RBI single by Jose Barrero, and we FINALLY got on the board with a sac-fly by Lenyn Sosa to put us on the board trailing 3-1 after five innings. Eduard Bazardo took over with one out and a man on first in the top of the sixth, getting out of that inning with a quick bang-bang 6-4-3 double play, and he got through the seventh as well, pitching around a two-out triple by Xander Boegarts to keep us in the game. Alvarado came out for the eighth still trailing by a pair, getting three quick outs including a pair of K’s as we kept hoping our bats would find some spark. Helsley did the same in the top of the ninth, and with one out in the bottom of the inning Tauchman got on base with a line-drive double into right. Brandon Valenzuela then reached first on an E4 errror, taking second as Tauchman came around to score, pulling us within a run! That’s when Lipcius hit one right up the middle into center field, driving home Valenzuela to tie the game at 3-3 and forcing this one into extra innings! Helsley got three quick outs to shut them down in the top of the 10th, and Miguel Vargas quickly hit a single that drove Yordys Valdes to third! That’s when Ceddanne Rafaela, with one out, walked it off with a single into left, giving us a come-from-behind 4-3 victory and the sweep! Helsley improved to 2-2 with a 3.90 ERA, pitching two innings tonight with a hit and two strikeouts, getting us the win in the 10th. We matched them on hits with nine, led by Rafaela who walked it off in the end ... he had three hits but that was his only run, exactly when we needed it.

The win improves our record to 32-24, putting us at eight games above .500 with our off day at long last to rest and regenerate some energy. Seattle is coming to town for a three-game weekend series, and the 35-20 Mariners are certainly no team to take lightly. Right now we hold a 3.5 game lead over the Guardians for first place in the Central, but the race has tightened as Kansas City, on a six-game winning streak, is now just one game under .500 ... so four of the five teams in our division are now within 4.5 games of each other AND all playing well, and even the last-place Tigers (24-32) are 7-3 in their last ten. So there’s no room for anyone to let up, or it can become a fast fall to the bottom.

jksander · 04-30-2025, 12:38 PM

June 5, 2026: For the first time in years a sellout crowd showed up today to watch Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.00 ERA, 54.0 IP, 59 K’s, 1.17 WHIP) pitch against Seattle’s Domingo German (2-4, 4.17 ERA, 54.0 IP, 47 K’s, 1.28 WHIP). Chase Meidroth hit a solo homer, hist first of the year, in the bottom of the first to put us on top, but he didn’t have a lot of room for error as we fought our way through the first five innings. Julian Merryweather took the ball in the top of the sixth, still leading 1-0, and in the bottom of the inning we added on a run with a double by Miguel Vargas, and Brandon Valenzuela put up an RBI single to give us a 3-0 cushion. Merryweather got us into the stretch, Bazardo taking over in the eighth inning, and with the score unchanged we brought out Ben Joyce in the ninth ... with one out, a solo bomb out of right by Kyle Schwarber blew the shutout, but we pitched around runners on first and second to get the 3-1 victory. Rasmussen lasted five innings with two hits, two walks and five strikeouts, improving to 2-2 with a 2.75 ERA, while Merryweather earned his fifth hold with a two-inning three strikeout effort, improving his ERA to 2.73. Bazardo had his sixth hold and Joyce his sixth save, our boys outhitting theirs 12-4 thanks to three hits, a run and an RBI for Meidroth.

June 6, 2026: Noah Schultz (3-2, 2.14 ERA, 71.1 IP, 86 K’s, 0.73 WHIP) pitched against George Kirby (4-2, 4.84 ERA, 57.2 IP, 66 K’s, 1.32 WHIP) in game two against the Mariners, and Schultz had an amazing game, but our bats didn’t give him ANY support and the Mariners pounced in the top of the sixth, a two-run homer by Schwarber putting them up 2-0. Jose Alvarado took over in the top of the seventh, trailing still by two runs, and Ryan Helsley took over in the eighth. All three pitchers did their jobs, but our offense let them down in a HUGE way, as we lost this one 2-0, holding them to five hits while only putting up five of our own. What a missed opportunity! Schultz allowed all five hits, but walked nobody and struck out 10 batters, taking a loss while throwing 94 pitches, and our two bullpen arms combined for a walk and four strikeouts as they did everything but take the plate appearances for our batters. The only offensive player to get on base twice was Tauchman, and he did both by walking.

June 7, 2026: Today begins the draft combine, and we’ve added a couple dozen players to our watchlist, most of them high potential collegiate athletes. I’m letting our scouts do their jobs from here, and will check back in closer to the draft as we put our official board together. But the goal is to have these collegiate players seeing us as a great destination, and we can pick up any high school guys on the fly when the draft actually happens.

Dylan Cease (3-4, 3.59 ERA, 67.2 IP, 71 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) pitched against Jackson Rose (4-3, 4.20 ERA, 60.0 IP, 53 K’s, 1.22 WHIP) in game three against the Mariners, and our inability to hit reached stress-inducing levels, as Dylan Cease pitched incredibly well and yet we couldn’t seem to get anyone across. He got us into the stretch still knotted at zero-all, and Jonathan Cannon had to take over in the eighth as suddenly we were pathologically unable to drive a run in -- nineteen consecutive innings since we last scored in the sixth inning of game one. Cannon got us through the ninth without letting them take the lead, but our bats had shown no more likelihood to that point that they could break through either, so everyone in the crowd and our dugout were on high alert. Chase Meidroth took a leadoff walk, and Cody Bellinger hit one HARD into right ... we thought it was over the wall, but Lazaro Montes made a leaping catch and kept it for himself. Two strikeouts later we were destined to go into the 10th inning with no score. Jesus H. Christ ... Alvarado came in to pitch for us as this brutal duel continued, with us having outhit them 4-3 in the first nine futile innings. He struck out the side, and we went into the bottom of the inning with Ceddanne Rafaela, one of our fastest runners, on second base. With one out, Miguel Vargas took full advantage of that by hitting a fastball up the middle and into the outfield, giving Rafaela just enough room to come around and score the winning run as we took this one 1-0 in 10 innings, snapping our scoreless innings streak at 20. Dylan Cease had seven innings with two hits, four walks and 10 strikeouts, and Cannon added two innings with a hit, a walk and two strikeouts. But it was Alvarado who completed the shutout and got the win, improving to 3-1 with a 4.32 ERA thanks to three strikeouts in his inning. We outhit them 5-3, led by Vargas who had a hit, a walk and the game-winning RBI.

We get another off day tomorrow and then hit the road for three games against Tampa (27-31, 5th AL East), before returning to Chicago for three versus the Angels (28-31, 3rd AL West) and three against the Cubs (28-32, 3rd NL Central). We’re currently 34-25 and lead the AL Central by 3.5 games over the 31-29 Guardians, and we’re ranked 6th in the most recent power rankings that came out this morning, as the hottest team outside Baltimore and Philly, who are on four and nine game winning streaks respectively.

jksander · 05-06-2025, 02:10 PM

June 9, 2026: Zac Gallen (7-1, 3.24 ERA, 75.0 IP, 62 K’s, 1.09 WHIP) pitched against Tampa’s Yu Darvish (3-5, 4.35 ERA, 72.1 IP, 57 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) in game one against the Rays, and our bullpen is close to fully rested with the two days off we’ve had in the last five days coupled with our starter going deep in the last two games. Joshua Mears got us on the board with a solo homer in the top of the first, and Cody Bellinger hit one in the top of the fourth to make it a 2-0 lead! But the Rays got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer on one out by Jonny DeLuca, so we knew it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk. Eduard Bazardo took over for Gallen in the bottom of the seventh as we clung to a 2-1 lead, but we took firm control in the top of the eighth thanks to four runs including a three-run homer by Mears, his second dinger of the night! Bazardo tried to stay out with his five-run lead, but he loaded the bases without an out in the bottom of the inning, so Helsley came out to put out the potential flames. He got a pop-out to short for out number one, but then a hard hit into right by Jonathan Aranda turned into a three-run double ... ouch! But we got out of the inning without further damage, and none of the runs were officially blamed on Hensley. Ben Joyce came out to close in the ninth with a two-run lead, ending this one as Seth Brown hit into a 4-6-3 double play as we beat the Rays 6-4. Gallen improved to 4-0 since the trade and lasted six innings with five hits, seven strikeouts and one earned run, while Joyce got his seventh save with a hit and a strikeout as his ERA improved to 5.40. We outhit them 10-9, led by Mears, who was 3-4 with two runs and four RBIs, his two homers giving him five on the season through his first 21 games as a major leaguer!

June 10, 2026: Sean Burke (4-2, 4.01 ERA, 51.2 IP, 53 K’s, 1.26 WHIP) took on Tobias Myers (1-5, 6.67 ERA, 56.2 IP, 44 K’s, 1.59 WHIP) in game two against the Rays, and this time Tampa got a quick two-run homer in the bottom of the second thanks to Junior Caminero, though we got on the board with a solo homer in the top of the fourth off Bellinger’s bat ... his 15th of the season! Too bad they got another longball, this time in the bottom of the fifth -- a two-run slam by Brandon Lowe that put them up 4-1. Julian Merryweather took over in the bottom of the sixth, still trailing by three, and Jonathan Cannon got us through the seventh and eighth, but our bats needed to do the rest. In the top of the ninth with one out, Ceddanne Rafaela hit a single through the gap, advancing when Tauchman was hit by a pitch. Miguel Vargas loaded the bases with a walk himself, but they got two quick outs to end our hopes of a comeback -- Tampa won this one 4-1 to even the series. Burke took the loss, falling to 4-3 with a 4.29 ERA, allowing six hits, two walks and four runs with eight strikeouts. We matched them on hits with six, Bellinger leading the way with two hits, a run and an RBI.

I got a phone call on the road from our new owner, Justin Ishbia this evening, and he’s told me in no uncertain terms our bullpen issues are going to need to be resolved ... he’s not happy at all that we’re paying Ryan Helsley $14.6 million and Jose Alvarado $11 million while our bullpen ERA ranks 13th in the league at 4.43 so far this year. He’s also unhappy with our shortstop situation, since Yordys Valdes is hitting just .205 through 190 at bats. I pointed out his +2.8 zone rating and 1.061 efficiency rating to go with just four errors all year, but he’s not having it. It’s been made clear to me that he’s going to expect me to be active to resolve these “situations” before the trade deadline or expect trouble in the offseason. But I have no intention of messing with a successful team just to appeal to the ego of a penny pincher who just wants to make a show of strength. He and I can fight it out in the offseason if necessary, but right now we’re packing the fans in and winning games ... and that’s what I’m being paid to make happen.

June 11, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (2-2, 2.75 ERA, 59.0 IP, 64 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) pitched in our final game in Tampa, facing Mason Englert (3-4, 2.16 ERA, 33.1 IP, 37 K’s, 1.08 WHIP). We finally broke through in the top of the fifth with an RBI single by Chase Meidroth, but a solo homer from Everson Pereira tied it up in the bottom of the inning, and the very next batter, Seth Brown, hit one as well to put them up 2-1, both homers coming with two outs. Aranda hit a solo blast for them in the sixth and just like that we were in a hole 3-1, killed by the longball yet again. Noah Syndergaard took over with two outs, getting us out of the inning with just the two-run deficit, and a Miguel Vargas homer got us back within a run heading into the stretch. Jose Alvarado took the ball in the bottom of the eighth, still down a run, getting us into the ninth with at least a chance, but our bats let us down again and we fell 3-2. Another day, another duel, this time with both teams hitting just five times. Rasmussen took the loss, falling to 2-3 with a 2.92 ERA despite 5.2 innings with four hits, a walk, five strikeouts and three earned runs. Yordys Valdez hit twice for a run, the best our offense could offer.

We’ll head back to Chicago to host the Angels, who are currently 28-34 and in last place in a relatively weak AL West. We remain two and a half games up on Minnesota and hold a 35-27 record despite the series loss on the road.

jksander · 05-06-2025, 02:12 PM

June 12, 2026: This afternoon Noah Schultz (3-3, 2.21 ERA, 77.1 IP, 96 K’s, 0.74 WHIP) pitched against the Angels’ Caden Dana (3-3, 1 SV, 3.73 ERA, 31.1 IP, 31 K’s, 1.47 WHIP). Brandon Valenzuela hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third to put us into the lead, and Schultz was leery of turning the ball over in the seventh as he still had just a one run lead, so he stayed out and struck out three in a row to get us into the stretch. He reluctantly handed the ball to Ryan Helsley in the eighth, however, and in the top of the ninth Ben Joyce took over still up just by the one run. He struck out their top three hitters, all swinging, as we held tough to win 1-0! We’ve been in a lot of tight contests lately, but this one was just brutal ... we outhit them 3-2, outwalking them 2-1, so only EIGHT players for either team made it on base all night! Schultz improved to 4-3 with a seven inning two hitter, striking out nine, and Valenzuela’s homer in the third wound up being the only offense either team put up. We’ve had enough of those kind of haunting battles that have ended in a loss, so it was refreshing to see the entire team come toghether to claw out a home victory.

June 13, 2026: Dylan Cease (3-4, 3.25 ERA, 74.2 IP, 81 K’s, 1.12 WHIP) pitched against Aaron Civale (2-1, 1 SV, 4.69 ERA, 40.1 IP, 40 K’s, 1.29 WHIP) in game two against the Angels, and we took the lead in the bottom of the second with a homer by Tauchman and an RBI single via Gary Sanchez. The Angels got a run back with a homer from Trout in the top of the fourth, and Mickey Moniak hit one immediately after to tie it up, eliminating a rare lead for Cease, who looked on in disgust. He got us through the fifth on 86 pitches, and in the bottom of the inning Yordys Valdes was hit by a pitch and had to leave the game ... Brooks Lee came in as a pinch runner and to take over at second base, with Ha-seong Kim moving over to short. We weren’t able to move Lee from first, and in the top of the sixth with the score still tied at 2-2 Ryan Weber took over on the mound. In the bottom of the inning Joshua Mears hit a solo homer to get us back into the lead, and Vargas hit an RBI double to add on. We kept the string of hits coming, with Sanchez batting in a third run with a single while Lee finished the rally with an RBI double that put us ahead 6-2 heading into the top of the seventh. Ceddanne Rafaela hit a flyball single into right that drove in another in the bottom of the seventh, and Weber got two outs in the top of the eighth before Taylor Ward got them a run back with a solo homer. Eduard Bazardo took over a couple minutes later with Trout on first and two outs, getting us into the bottom of the inning still leading by four runs, and after we added on two more runs ourselves in the bottom of the inning he stayed out to finish things in the ninth, a pair of strikeouts against Scott Kingery and Juan Flores finishing things as we won easily 9-3! Ryan Weber got the win, improving to 1-1 with a 4.97 ERA thanks to 2.2 innings with thre hits, two strikeouts and an earned run, and we outhit the Angels 14-6. Tauchman led the way offensively with three hits, two runs and an RBI, while Mears, Rafaela, Vargas and Sanchez each hit twice to make the middle of our lineup exceptionally brutal tonight.

Valdes’ injury is a bruised thigh, making him day to day for at least the next five days, with a moderate impact on his running. So we’ll take it on a game by game basis whether to use him in the lineup.

June 14, 2026: Zac Gallen (8-1, 3.11 ERA, 81.0 IP, 69 K’s, 1.07 WHIP) got the start today, and he’s gone 4-0 since the trade that got him here from Cincinnati. Today he faced the Angels’ Andre Pallante (2-4, 3.57 ERA, 68.0 IP, 65 K’s, 1.41 WHIP), and we broke through in the bottom of the third with a solo homer by Andre Lipcius to put us ahead 1-0 heading into the fourth inning. They tied it up in the top of the sixth with a two-out RBI double from Tyler Ward, but Gallen got us into the stretch still knotted up 1-1, and Lipcius hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to put us back up by a run! Ryan Helsley took the ball in the top of the eighth and he got us the rest of the way as we held on to win 2-1! Gallen stayed undefeated as a member of the White Sox, allowing a hit and two walks with eight strikeouts and an unearned run, improving his ERA to 2.84, while Helsley saved his fourth game with a two-inning three strikeout effort. We had five hits ourselves while pitching a complete-game shared one-hitter, with Lipcius leading the offense with two hits, a run and two RBIs.

Tomorrow the Cubs come to town, to put their 29-36 record, fourth place in the NL Central, against our first-place 38-27 record here in the AL Central, our status at 11 games over .500 is our best so far this season and we’re coming off a sweep of LA while theyre coming off BEING swept, in their case by the Giants at Wrigley Field.

jksander · 05-07-2025, 06:40 PM

June 15, 2026: Sean Burke (4-3, 4.29 ERA, 56.2 IP, 61 K’s, 1.29 WHIP) pitched against Shota Imanaga (3-5, 3.05 ERA, 88.2 IP, 84 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) in game one of our series against the Cubs, who drew first blood in the top of the third with an RBI single by Matt Shaw that scored Caisse from second. We tied it up in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single by Cody Bellinger, and Noah Syndergaard took over for Burke to start the fifth inning. He stayed out and pitched three solid innings to keep it tied up, but we went into the top of the eighth with the score still 1-1, with Eduard Bazardo taking the ball. He pitched around a single by Jeimer Candelario, getting us through the innning unscathed, and Jose Alvarado took over in the ninth with the score unchanged. He walked Pablo Alliendo and Pete Crow-Armstrong with one out, but got out of a dangerous spot by striking out Seiya Suzuki swinging and getting Ian Happ out via a hard-hit flyball to Joshua Mears in left field. In the bottom of the ninth Mike Tauchman hit a single over the head of Matt Shaw into right for a single, but we weren’t able to do anything with the runner and this one was headed -- again -- for extra innings, knotted up at 1-1. Ben Joyce took over on the mound in the 10th and he kept them from getting anywhere, stranding pinch-runner Ian Happ and Candelario, who got on base with a walk on one out. Brooks Lee didn’t make our fans wait ... he’d been hitless all night, but took the count full and hit one hard off a fastball from Jose LeClerc, the ball bouncing past Candelario at third to get into the left corner -- we scored the walkoff run to win 2-1! Joyce got the win, improving to 5-3 with a 4.82 ERA, picking up a strikeout against one walk, and we outhit them 9-8, led by Bellinger (two hits and a run) and Mears (two hits and an RBI).

Heston Kjerstad has hit .281 with a double, two homers and eight RBIs during his nine-game rehab assignment with AAA Charlotte, and we’ve decided he’s ready to return to our major league roster following his knee tendinitis. We’ve waived / DFA’d Lenyn Sosa to make room for him, as Mears has earned his chance to remain on the 26-man roster for now.

June 16, 2026: This morning’s sports page for the Tribune dubbed us the “white-knuckle Sox,” pointing out how we’re 17-11 in one-run games and 6-5 in extras already this season. Six of those one-run wins have come in June, and we’re already 10-3 for the month, with a five-game lead on the rest of the division. With Kjerstad back in the lineup and two games left against the Cubs before a HUGE nine-game road trip, it’s hard not to start thinking ahead ... but living and dying off one-run games puts you in a tough spot, and we’ve got to work extra hard to show it’s been effort and not luck that’s been winning us ballgames.

This evening a sell-out crowd showed up to watch Drew Rasmussen (2-3, 2.92 ERA, 64.2 IP, 69 K’s, 1.11 WHIP) pitch against Justin Steele (5-6, 4.40 ERA, 77.2 IP, 72 K’s, 1.27 WHIP). But tonight didn’t start as a duel, with the Cubs hitting us hard in the first, three hits in a row culminating in a three-run slam out of left by Ian Happ to put them up 3-0 without an out. Rasmussen got three quick outs from there but threw 30 pitches to do it -- not a recipe for a successful start. But we answered quickly -- they walked Meidroth on one out, walking Vargas on two outs ... and then Ceddanne Rafaela slugged his own three-runner, this time out of right, to put us into a 3-3 tie as we went into the top of the second. Vargas hit a two-run single in the bottom of the third to put us into the lead 5-3, and Rasmussen did his best to get through the fifth ... but with two outs and men on second and third, Ian Happ delivered a two-run single to tie the game, and Ryan Weber came out to finish the inning. He stayed out in the sixth and gave up a three-run bomb out of right off Michael Busch’s bat with one out, though he did finish the inning without letting them have anything else. Brooks Lee hit an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to get us back within two runs, and Weber got a pair of outs before we brought out Jonathan Cannon, going into the stretch trailing 8-6. The Cubs added on a run in the top of the ninth thanks to a sac-fly by Matt Shaw, but Kjerstad hit a sac-fly in the bottom of the inning to drive in a run ... with one out and Meidroth on second Vargas took a walk, and with two outs Tauchman walked the bases loaded. But Andre Lipcius couldn’t get anything to happen and we lost this one 9-7. Weber took the loss, falling to 1-2 with a 6.14 ERA thanks to two innings with two hits and three earned runs. Each team had 10 hits, ours led by Rafaela who had two hits, two runs and three RBIs, while Vargas added two hits, two walks, a run and two RBIs.

June 17, 2026: Noah Schultz (4-3, 2.03 ERA, 84.1 IP, 105 K’s, 0.70 WHIP) started against Ben Brown (3-5, 3.46 ERA, 75.1 IP, 66 K’s, 1.19 WHIP) in game three against the Cubs, and he’s been red hot lately ... he’s had two games this year with 10 K’s or more and he’s had 19 of them in his last two starts. He picked up where he left off, striking out two in the top of the first including a swinging strikeout by Candelario that stranded Happ on third. Ha-seong Kim hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning that put us into the lead, and in the bottom of the sixth Brandon Valenzuela added on with an RBI single. Schultz got us through the seventh, though the White Sox got on the board with a solo homer from Owen Caisse to get them within a run heading into the stretch. Ryan Helsley took over in the eighth inning, and he kept our lead safe when, with one out and runners on the corners, he got Seiya Suzuki to hit into a fielder’s choice, taking Happ out at home plate! Our attempt to buy some run insurance failed when, with Ceddanne Rafaela on second with two outs Mike Tauchman popped out to left to end the inning just a few feet short of a two-run homer. So with the one run lead, Ben Joyce came out to close things ... we got out of the game with runners on the corners when Kevin Alcantara hit into a fielder’s choice, out taken at second -- we get out of here with another 2-1 win to take the series two games to one! Schultz improved to 5-3 with a 1.97 ERA, allowing just five hits and the one run with nine strikeouts, giving him 28 K’s across his last three starts! Helsley earned his ninth hold and Joyce his seventh save -- with eight hits each, our team was led by Kim, who had two hits including his homer, for a run and an RBI.

That win gave us our 40th of the season (!!!) and we’ll take that 40-28 record (and 5.5-game lead over Cleveland) into our nine-game road trip out west, where we’ll face the Rangers (32-35, 3rd AL West), Dodgers (45-24, 1st NL West) and Astros (33-37, 4th AL West) before returning to Chicago for thre games each against the Yankees (37-32, 2nd AL East) and Brewers (31-38, 4th NL Central) that will take us through the fourth-of-July weekend.

jksander · 05-11-2025, 05:58 PM

June 19, 2026: We’re on the road in Texas, facing our first of three at Globe Life Field, and Dylan Cease (3-4, 3.28 ERA, 79.2 IP, 88 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) took the mound against Jon Gray (3-6, 5.04 ERA, 64.1 IP, 64 K’s, 1.23 WHIP), under clear skies with the roof open! Texas took the lead in the bottom of the second with a three-run homer by Ezequiel Duran, but we got on the board in the top of the third with a leadoff homer by Miguel Vargas, stalling their momentum a bit. In the top of the fourth, Vargas hit an RBI single on two outs to drive in our second run of the game, but we left the bases loaded and could have used that opportunity to take control of the game. In the top of the fourth we made up for it, however, when Cody Bellinger homered on one out, driving in three runs to put us ahead 5-3! Julian Merryweather came out to pitch in the bottom of the seventh still leading by two, and he immediately gave up a leadoff homer to Jose Trevino ... with one out and men on first and second, we brought out Jose Alvarado to put out the fire, but after catching a runner stealing third, he gave up a two-run homer to Corey Seager and just like that the Rangers were back up by a 6-5 margin. Eduard Bazardo took over in the eighth, pitching a clean inning, In the top of the ninth Vargas hit his second homer of the game, his second leadoff homer of the game, and that tied this thing up at 6-all! With one out, Yordys Valdes took a walk and brought up the top of our lineup, but we couldn’t get the lead, so Bazardo came back out in the bottom of the inning trying to hold on for extra innings -- he pitched around a single by Seager to do just that, and we were headed to extra innings yet again.

They intentionally walked Kjerstad, sending him to first behind Meidroth the pinch-runner at second. With two outs, Tauchman hit a shot into left, Meidroth scoring off a bad throw to home to put us up a run ... Vargas hit a shot into center, driving in another pair, and Ben Joyce came out in the bottom of the inning ready to end this one ... except he walked Ben Rice and then let Josh Jung hit a three-run blast out of center to tie the damned game, and we went into the 11th frustrated at the blown opportunity. Pinch-runner Brandon Valenzuela made it to third off a sac-fly by Valdes, and they walked Kim to give us runners on the corners. We took the lead off a sac-fly by Meidroth that scored our 10th run of the game, and Kjerstad kept the game going with a single into right that pushed Kim to third, but Bellinger grounded out to first ... we’d take a one-run lead into the bottom of the inning. Jonathan Cannon came out to pitch, with Texas’ fastest baserunner (Evan Carter) on second. Leody Taveras popped one straight to Cannon for our first out, and Wally Langford popped out to shallow left, too shallow for Carter to make a move on third ... that brought up Corey Seager for all the marbles, and an intentional walk kept his bat from doing damage. Adolis Garcia popped one out to deep left, and we escaped with an absolutely bonkers 10-9 win in 11 innings! Ben Joyce improved to 6-3 despite blowing his third save, allowing a hit, a walk and three runs (two earned) along with one strikeout in his inning, while Cannon saved his second game and brought his ERA down to 3.86 through 35 innings. They outhit us 12-11, but we made ours count, as Miguel Vargas had an exceptional night: four hits with two runs and five RBIs thanks to two homers, giving him 11 on the season.

June 20, 2026: Zac Gallen (9-1, 2.86 ERA, 88.0 IP, 77 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) is having one of the best pitching starts in the entire American League, and tonight he faced off against Cody Bradford (5-5, 4.12 ERA, 74.1 IP, 66 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) on the road in game two against the Rangers. Texas took the lead in the bottom of the second with an RBI double by Jose Trevino that scored Christian Walker from first, and Bradford was unhittable through five innings, with just two walks ... giving us absolutely nothing to work with. Gallen kept it a one run game through the bottom of the fifth, and we FINALLY got a hit in the top of the sixth with a single into right by Ha-seong Kim on one out, but he got nowhere. Ryan Helsley took the ball for us in the bottom of the sixth and he gave us two good innings, Ryan Weber taking over for him in the bottom of the eighth still trailing by the one run. With two outs, Jose Trevino singled in another run for the Rangers, and we came up to hit in the ninth trailing now by a pair in a game that seemed to have a much wider gulf. But Chase Meidroth hit a solo homer out of left off Kumar Rocker’s third pitch of the night! With two outs, Ceddanne Rafaela walked, bringing up Tauchman, but he’s been slumping ... we brought out Brooks Lee to sub for him, and with the count full he slammed one into right field, bouncing it off the wall as he doubled in the tying run! But it wasn’t to be our night ... Weber gave up a two-run homer to Corey Seager in the bottom of the ninth and we lost this one 4-2. Weber took the loss, falling to 1-3 with a 7.31 ERA, allowing three hits, a walk and three runs with one strikeout in his 1.1 innings. But we were outhit 11-3, so valliant effort in the ninth nonwithstanding we were outclassed in this one. Lee had a hit and an RBI and Meidroth added a hit, a run and an RBI, but for the most part our offense took the night off.

June 21, 2026: Sean Burke (4-3, 4.15 ERA, 60.2 IP, 66 K’s, 1.34 WHIP) pitched in game three, facing Framber Valdez (5-4, 3.86 ERA, 77.0 IP, 80 K’s, 1.17 WHIP). We loaded the bases on two outs with a walk by Ceddanne Rafaela in the top of the first, but Tauchman continued to slump, grounding out to first to end the frame scoreless. We took the lead in the top of the second with a groundout to first by Valdes that scored Miguel Vargas from third, but the Rangers tied it with an RBI double by Seager in the bottom of the fourth and he scored the go-ahead moments later off a single by Adolis Garcia. They added on with an RBI double by Leody Tavares in the bottom of the fifth, and in a fielder’s choice attempt at home we failed miserably as Evan Carter was easily safe for their fourth run. A sac-fly by Seager added on, and they held a convincing 5-1 lead as we came up to hit in the sixth. Noah Syndergaard took over in the bottom of the sixth, the Rangers adding on a run each in the sixth and seventh to take a commanding six-run lead into the top of the eighth. We loaded the bases with one out in the top of the eighth, and with two outs Miguel Vargas walked in a run to cut the lead to five. Ryan Weber took over in a mop-up role in the bottom of the inning, and he kept the game from getting more out of control than it already was ... but we went down quietly, losing this one 7-2. Burke took the loss, falling to 4-4 with a 4.52 ERA thanks to five innings with four hits, three walks, five runs and four strikeouts. We were outhit again 8-7, Vargas leading the way with two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI.

The loss dropped us to 41-30 as we head out to LA to face the 47-25 Dodgers in a three-game set.

jksander · 05-27-2025, 01:08 PM

June 23, 2026: Noah Schultz (5-3, 1.97 ERA, 91.1 IP, 114 K’s, 0.70 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Dodgers, and in his last four game he’s put up 37 strikeouts with 14 hits, ONE walk and just four earned runs! Tonight he faced off against Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-3, 3.59 ERA, 62.2 IP, 62 K’s, 1.31 WHIP), and we got on the board instantly when Ha-seong Kim hit a leadoff homer in the top of the first! Meidroth hit a solo shot out of right in the top of the third to extend our lead, and Schultz had seven strikeouts in the first three innings as we stayed firmly in control. Brandon Valenzuela hit a two-run blast out of left in the top of the sixth to widen the margin to 4-0, but the Dodgers got on the board in the bottom of the inning with an RBI double by Teoscar Hernandez, and moments later Will Smith hit a two run blast out of right to get them back within a run. Jose Alvarado took over in the bottom of the seventh still leading 4-3, and in the top of the eighth Ha-Seong Kim hit an RBI single that drove in an insurance run for us. Meidroth hit a shot into right to drive in another pair and this one was back to a four-run advantage. Ryan Helsley came out to pitch in the bottom of the eighth and immediately gave up a solo homer to Freddy Freeman, but he got the next three (Ohtani, Hernandez and Tucker) via pop-flies, and we went into the top of the ninth leading convincingly by three runs. Ben Joyce closed it out in the bottom of the ninth, and after a strikeout and a groundout Tommy Edman hit a solo shot out of right to cut the lead to two. But Miguel Rojas struck out swinging and we won this one 7-5! Schultz improved to 6-3 with a 2.13 ERA, striking out 10 batters with five hits, no walks and three earned runs. Alvarado got a hold, his fifth, and Joyce saved his 10th game of the season with a hit, two strikeouts and a run. We outslugged them 15-7, led by Kim with three hits, two runs and two RBIs while Meidroth added three hits, a run and three RBIs.

June 24, 2026: We’re back for game two against the Dodgers, with Dave Rasmussen (2-3, 3.38 ERA, 69.1 IP, 72 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) pitching against Gavin Stone (3-1, 3.58 ERA, 37.2 IP, 35 K’s, 1.22 WHIP). The Dodgers got going in the bottom of the first with a leadoff homer from Alex Freeland, his eighth of the season, and two batters later Shohei Ohtani hit his 16th of the season to put them up 2-0. It stayed that way for an hour or so, and then we woke up in a huge way -- in the top of the fifth, Tauchman scored off an RBI flyball single by Brandon Valenzuela, and then Ha-seong Kim hit an RBI double to bring in Miguel Vargas, tying it up with just one out against us. Chase Meidroth then got us the lead with a two-run double, and a Cody Bellinger sac-fly made it a 5-2 ballgame midway through the inning! In the top of the sixth we added on a pair with a two-run homer by Yordys Valdes, his fifth of the year, and Jonathan Cannon came out to pitch in the bottom of the sixth with a five-run cushion. We piled on from there via a two-run single by Vargas in the seventh, and Heston Kjersted grounded out to drive in another in the eighth, giving us a 10-2 lead. Julian Merryweather took over in the bottom of that inning, and the rout was on from there ... we scored four more in the top of the ninth including a two-run double for Valdes, and Merryweather stayed in to close out the 14-2 blowout win! Rasmussen improved to 3-3 with a 3.39 ERA, allowing just four hits, a walk and two runs with three strikeouts in his five innings, and we outhit LA 16-4 ... Valdes is finally out of his slump, hitting twice tonight with three runs and four batted in as he got his average back above .200 batting ninth, while Chase Meidroth added three hits, two runs and three RBIs as well.

June 25, 2026: Dylan Cease (3-4, 3.36 ERA, 85.2 IP, 97 K’s, 1.12 WHIP) pitched against Roki Sasaki (5-3, 4.37 ERA, 82.1 IP, 94 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) in game three against the Dodgers in LA, and Mike Tauchman got us on the board in the top of the first with a walk that scored Chase Meidroth to put us up 1-0. Cease was on fire early, striking out the side in the bottom of the first, and Ha-seong Kim hit an RBI double in the top of the second to add on. Bellinger hit a solo homer in the third, his 17th of the season, but LA got on the board in the bottom of the inning thanks to an E3 error, James Outman scoring without a hit. Cease made it through five hitless innings, and we picked up another pair of runs in the top of the sixth thanks to singles by Sanchez and Meidroth ... but he had to come out in the bottom of the inning after having thrown 110 pitches -- Eduard Bazardo took over from him to start the inning, keeping them hitless as we flexed our infield defensive muscles. Jose Alvarado came out to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, and Ryan Helsley did the same in the ninth ... at which point he blew the shared no-no by letting Teoscar Hernandez hit a solo homer out of right to cut the lead to three. We got the win though, which is what counts, beating them 5-2 as we completed the road sweep! Cease improved to 4-4 with a five inning four walk, five strikeout effort -- just the one unearned run against him as his ERA improved to 3.18. We outhit the Dodgers 13-2, led by Bellinger with three hits, a run and an RBI, while Meidroth added two hits, a run and an RBI as well.

We had to catch a plane this evening to get to Houston for our next three-game road series -- the Astros are 36-41 and in fourth place in the AL West, but they’re coming off a 3-1 series win over the Angels, so they’re hoping to continue their home success against us as they finish a seven-game homestand. We, meanwhile, are now 44-30, fourteen games above .500 and leading the Central division by 4.5 games over Cleveland ... we’ve won seven of our last ten games, including the sweep against the Dodgers, and we’re gelling well enough as a team that people are really starting to take notice. This is no fluke, our White Sox are ready to compete!

jksander · 05-27-2025, 01:12 PM

June 26, 2026: Zac Gallen (9-1, 2.81 ERA, 93.0 IP, 83 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) pitched against Alex Cobb (4-6, 2.02 ERA, 62.1 IP, 43 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) in game one against the Astros, and he’s a perfect 5-0 since being traded to our team back in early May from the Reds. Cody Bellinger hit an RBI double in the top of the first to put us up 1-0, but the Astros tied it up in the bottom of the third with an RBI single from Mauricio Dubon. In the bottom of the sixth Jose Altuve hit an RBI double that scored Yandy Diaz from second, giving the Astros a 2-1 lead. Jose Alvarado took over for Gallen on the mound in the bottom of the seventh, and in the top of the eighth we tied it up with a Ha-seong Kim triple that scored Yordys Valdes! Kjerstad hit an RBI single to push us into the lead, and we brought out Jonathan Cannon for the bottom of the inning as we worked to hold on. He easily handled their top hitters, notching two K’s and a groundout, and Ben Joyce took the ball in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately he let Isaac Paredes hit into a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners, and Jeremy Peña grounded out to score Altuve from third ... tie game. We should have had the out we needed to get into extra innings, but Pedro Leon reached on an E6 throwing error, letting Paredes score from second as they walked it off 4-3. Absolutely brutal! Gallen had lasted six innings with seven hits, a walk, a strikeout and two runs, and Cannon picked up his third hold of the year. But Ben Joyce blew his fourth save and took the loss, falling to 6-4 with a 5.64 ERA ... he has ten saves this year, but we need to be able to trust him in games like this. Each team had eight hits tonight, ours led by Kim who had two hits, a run and an RBI.

June 27, 2026: Sean Burke (4-4, 4.52 ERA, 65.2 IP, 70 K’s, 1.34 WHIP) pitched against Luis Castillo (8-4, 4.20 ERA, 81.1 IP, 81 K’s, 1.34 WHIP) in game two, and they got going in the bottom of the first with a lead-off triple by Jake McCarthy, scoring off a sac-fly by Yandy Diaz to take the early lead. But we tied it up in the top of the second with an RBI double by Ceddanne Rafaela and Tauchman hit himself an RBI double immediately after that put us into the lead! Miguel Vargas hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 3-1, but he had to be pulled from the game with a pulled hamstring -- that’s going to cost him at least two or three weeks to recover. The game continued with Bellinger on first and Joshua Mears in at right field, and we added on in the top of the third when Kjerstad hit an RBI single to make it a three-run lead, and we took full control in the fourth when Ha-seong Kim hit a three-run homer (his fifth of the year) to give us a 7-1 lead midway through the inning. A sac-fly by Brice Matthews got the Astros back within five runs, but Burke had himself a quality start Bellinger hit a solo homer in the top of the seventh to send us into the stretch leading by six! Noah Syndergaard took over from there, and he pitched the remainder of the way, no-hitting his way to a three-inning save as we won 8-2. Burke had himself six innings with two hits, a walk, five strikeouts and two earned runs, but Syndergaard earned his first save of the year on 42 pitches, walking just one batter as his ERA improved to 6.32. We outhit them 12-2, led by Bellinger with two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI, while Bobby Valenzuela had two hits, a walk and a run and Ha-sueng Kim added his three RBIs off his homer.

June 28, 2026: Noah Schultz (6-3, 2.13 ERA, 97.1 IP, 124 K’s, 0.71 WHIP) got the start against Houston’s Christian Javier (2-4, 1 SV, 5.65 ERA, 57.1 IP, 45 K’s, 1.53 WHIP) in the third game of the series, and this one turned into a surprising pitcher’s duel. Schultz didn’t have his best stuff but made up for it off soft contact, until the bottom of the fifth, when a double by Yandy Diaz drove in a pair to put the Astros up 2-0. Jose Altuve hit an RBI single to add on, and we went into the top of the sixth trailing by three. Julian Merryweather took over for Schultz in the bottom of the sixth, and they added on in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run homer for Diaz. Eduard Bazardo took over with two outs and Yainer Diaz on first, getting the final out but sending us into the top of the eighth in a five-run hole we weren’t getting out of. They’d beat us 5-0, and we lost the series two games to one as a result. Schultz took the loss, falling to 6-4 in a game he allowed seven hits and three runs while only striking out three, his worst strikeout performance since April 19th ... snapping a streak of three wins in a row, eight quality starts in a row and five consecutive games with nine or more K’s. They outhit us 10-5, and we wasted Kjerstad, who hit three times but couldn’t get anywhere.

We’re off tomorrow, and then play the Yankees (42-36, 2nd AL East) and Brewers (35-43, 4th NL Central) for three each here at home to get us through the Independence Day weekend. We’ll then have three on the road against the Cardinals (38-40, 2nd NL Central), a three-game home set against Kansas City (40-39, 3rd AL Central) and then three against the Angels (36-42, 5th AL West) in LA and four in Minnesota (36-42, 4th AL Central) before the All Star break finally gives us a breather. We’re currently 45-32 and have held our 4.5 game lead over Cleveland as we near the season’s midpoint.

June 30, 2026: We’re now fourth overall in the latest power rankings in the entire league, which is incredible considering where we were just two years ago. Drew Rasmussen (3-3, 3.39 ERA, 74.1 IP, 75 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Yankees, facing Clarke Schmidt (1-3, 7.17 ERA, 21.1 IP, 25 K’s, 1.50 WHIP) in front of 37,000 White Sox fans, which is also stunning considering where this fanbase has been. The Yankees took the lead first, scoring off a double by Aaron Judge to go up 1-0 with two outs in the top of the third, and they added on with a solo homer in the top of the fourth by Trent Grisham, his 11th four-bagger of the season. We got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single by Yordys Valdes to get back within a run, trailing 2-1, but Rasmussen stayed out too long ... in the top of the sixth with one out and a man on first, J.T. Realmuto hit a two-run homer (his third of the year) to give them a more commanding three-run advantage. Merryweather took over, but it didn’t matter ... we gave them another run before escaping the inning trailing 5-1, and we looked gassed. The Yanks added on a run in the top of the eighth off a sac-fly by Luke Raley, but we got back into the game in a big way in the bottom of the eighth when Ceddanne Rafaela hit a three-run homer, his seventh of the year, out of right to get us back within two! We’d get two more runners on base but were unable to score, so Ryan Helsley came out to pitch in the top of the ninth in hopes that we could stay in contention. He got three quick outs, including swinging strikeouts by Aaron Judge and Jasson Dominguez, and we came up in the bottom of the inning with an actual shot! With one out they hit Meidroth with a pitch, putting him on base, but we weren’t able to do anything once he got there ... Heston Kjerstad grounded into a U6-3 double play and it was over, a 6-4 loss. Rasmussen took the hit, falling to 3-4 with a 3.50 ERA, allowing six hits, a walk and four runs (three earned) with seven K’s in his 5.1 innings, while we were outhit 11-7 by the Yankees. Rafaela’s three-run homer was our main source of offense and it nearly got us there, but we’d done too much damage to claw all the way back.

We finished the month of June with a 16-9 record for the month, which proved our 19-10 record in May wasn’t a fluke. Now we’re heading into the month of July in the enviable position as the division leader, so we’ll have our work cut out for us as other teams in our division take chase and we have to maintain distance. It’s been a long time since we’ve had to do anything of the sort, so I’m hopeful that our lineup can meet the challenge. We’re the second best defensive team in the AL with a +20.4 zone rating (3rd), and our team ERA is second in the league, thanks to our starters’ excellent 3.21 ERA. The bullpen still remains a work in progress, but we’ve struck out 746 batters this year against just 216 walks, while our players have gotten on base at a .326 clip (3rd), striking out 622 times against 301 walks. As for our new owner, Justin Ishbia, he’s currently delighted over our on-field success, which so far has kept him from nitpicking too much, though he keeps reminding me about the bullpen ERA being in the bottom third of the league. I keep pointing out that we’re 12th in the league now instead of 14th, and he’s agreed that there’s no reason for us to shake anything up as long as we’re winning. But if we stumble I’m sure he and his bean-counting private equity co-conspirators will be on us in a flash.

One thing he’s definitely come around about is the performance of Yordys Valdes. Though he’s been fighting his way out of that hitting slump, he’s still batted in 25 runs playing in the nine-spot, with two doubles and five homers ... but his performance on defense has been beyond reproach, a +7.4 zone rating, a 1.098 EFF rating, and only FIVE errors all season, enough to give him nearly a full game in WAR. He’s the kind of personality that doesn’t rock the boat, and he’s content with his role ... and at age 24, he still has another year after this one at league minimum, and should be arb-controlled through 2031 when he’ll be just shy of age 30. If he can keep improving on the defensive side, he’s got a lock on the role as far as I’m concerned, whether he can consistently hit or not.

jksander · 05-27-2025, 01:14 PM

July 1, 2026: Dylan Cease (4-4, 3.18 ERA, 90.2 IP, 102 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) pitched against the Yankees’ Brandon Woodruff (7-3, 3.77 ERA, 88.1 IP, 89 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) in game two of our series, and again New York got on the board first -- this time it was a solo homer for Nathaniel Lowe in the top of the second that did it. But we answered quickly, with Yordys Valdes hitting a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning, just his sixth long-ball of the season! The Yankees left the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, and Cease kept them guessing into the seventh, but we replaced him with Jonathan Cannon with one out and Oswald Peraza on first, still leading by a pair. Peraza scored on two outs with an RBI single by Jazz Chisholm Jr, but we got Anthony Volpe out on strikes to get into the stretch still leading 3-2. Jose Alvarado took over in the eighth, and he got two outs but let them load the bases ... and a single by Peraza drove in two to put New York ahead 4-3 heading into the bottom of the inning. We squared it up with a solo homer for Kjerstad to start the frame, and with two outs Gary Sanchez got us back into the lead with an RBI single into center! Helsley took over with no outs and Chisholm Jr on second in the top of the ninth, and with two outs Jasson Dominguez batted him home with a double, tying the score again, now at 5-5. Ha-seong Kim took a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth, but we couldn’t advance him, so this one headed for extra innings. Eduard Bazardo took the mound in the top of the 10th, and he pitched brilliantly to keep the pinch-runner from scoring. We came out in the bottom of the inning with Bellinger on second, and he took third on a hit-and-run, and an E2 throwing error allowed him to round that base and slide safely into home ... walkoff steal on a swinging strike, we win 6-5! That’s one folk’ll be talking about for a while! Bazardo took the win, improving to 4-0 with a 2.82 ERA, but Cease had laid a good groundwork ... 6.1 innings with six hits, a walk, six strikeouts and just two earned runs. Alvarado and Helsley each had blown saves, but we got the win and that’s what matters. We matched them on hits with nine each, led by Yordys Valdes who had two hits, a run and three RBIs, while Kjerstad added two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI and Bellinger scored twice off a pair of hits.

July 2, 2026: Zac Gallen (9-1, 2.82 ERA, 99.0 IP, 84 K’s, 1.07 WHIP) pitched against Shane McClanahan (8-4, 2.74 ERA, 101.2 IP, 111 K’s, 0.94 WHIP) in the last game of our Yankees series, and for the third day in a row we let the Yankees score first, this time off an RBI double by Jasson Dominguez in the top of the first. He came around to score off a single by Nathaniel Lowe, and a triple by Trent Grisham batted in their third run ... all coming on two outs. So we came up to hit for the first time trailing already 3-0, putting Gallen’s perfect streak since joining our team quickly on the line. The Yankees added on a run in the fifth when Anthony Volpe hit an RBI double, and though we got on the board with a solo homer from Gary Sanchez in the bottom of the inning Gallen’s night was over. Noah Syndergaard took over in the top of the sixth trailing 4-1, and we got back in the game in the bottom of the eighth, a single by Heston Kjerstad batting in two runs to get us within one! Syndergaard got us through the top of the ninth with a chance, but we couldn’t get anyone on base in the bottom of the inning, losing this one 4-3. Gallen took the loss, allowing eight hits with four earned runs and three strikeouts, but it was Syndergaard who really shined tonight ... FOUR innings, with just a walk and two strikeouts, throwing 47 pitches in a dominating bullpen performance. He now has a 5.71 ERA through 41 innings over 24 appearances. We outhit them 9-8, led by Gary Sanchez who had two hits, two runs and an RBI.

Kansas City is now on a five-game winning streak after sweeping Houston, and they have a 43-39 record, overtaking Cleveland by half a game in the divisional race. They now are just four games behind us, as the division tightens up. The 37-45 Brewers are coming in to play us for three games here at Rate Field, and we could really use a good winning streak right about now after losing two series in a row.

jksander · 05-27-2025, 03:20 PM

July 3, 2026: Sean Burke (5-4, 4.40 ERA, 71.2 IP, 75 K’s, 1.27 WHIP) got the start in game one against Milwaukee, facing off against Aaron Ashby (6-1, 3.41 ERA, 68.2 IP, 65 K’s, 1.35 WHIP). Christian Yelich got the Brewers a lead in the top of the first with an RBI single that scored Jackson Chourio, but we caught Mike Boeve trying to make it around to score as well and his out ended the frame before they could do too much damage. We had two hits in the bottom of the first that nearly left the park, but the wind wasn’t our friend early. But the Brewers did get some good breaks, and in the top of the third a solo homer for Chourio extended their lead to 2-0. Gary Sanchez finally got us going in the bottom of the inning with a solo blast out of left, and we tied it up with an RBI single by Heston Kjerstad! But in the top of the fourth the wind betrayed us once again when Jake Bauers hit a three-run slam out of right to put them back up 5-2, as Burke began to show signs of wearing down. Eduard Bazardo took over to start the top of the fifth trailing by the three runs. We left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth without making any headway, but in the bottom of the sixth we loaded them again and with one out, Chase Meidroth walked in a run to cut our deficit to two. With Kjerstad at the bat, a wild pitch drove in another, pushing Kim and Meidroth into scoring position, and a sac-fly by Kjerstad tied us up at 5-5! Another wild pitch with Bellinger at the plate advanced Meidroth to third ... they walked Bellinger, and then ANOTHER wild pitch scored Meidroth ... incredibly we’d fought our way back to take the lead 6-5! With the bases again loaded, Brandon Valenzuela (at the plate for the second time) walked in a run ... his second walk of the inning! ... before we finally ended the inning with a pop-fly to center by Gary Sanchez. Merryweather replaced Bazardo on the mound in the top of the seventh, and Jonathan Cannon took over with two outs and nobody on in the top of the eighth, still leading by two. He stayed out the rest of the way, shutting them down without a baserunner as we won this one 7-5! Eduard Bazardo improved to 5-0 with a 2.68 ERA, allowing a hit with two strikeouts in his two innings as we turned the tide. Merryweather earned his fifth hold and Cannon his third save, and while Milwaukee outhit us 7-5, we outwalked them 11-2. Kjerstad led the way with two hits, a walk and two RBIs, while Bobby Valenzuela had a run and an RBI off two walks.

July 4, 2026: Happy 250th birthday, America! There’s lots of baseball action here in the Windy City today, as we play the Brewers and the Cubs play the Rockies ... our stadium was a virtual sellout, as our young phenom Noah Schultz (6-4, 2.29 ERA, 102.1 IP, 127 K’s, 0.74 WHIP) battled Milwaukee’s Michael King (2-8, 4.52 ERA, 81.2 IP, 96 K’s, 1.26 WHIP) in a 1:05 p.m. start. We were solid on defense early, with two double plays in the first three innings, and in the bottom of the third we took the lead off a wild pitch, Tauchman scoring to put us up 1-0. We got our third double play of the game in the top of the fourth, when Christian Yelich lined into a U4 play, and we took control in the bottom of the inning, scoring off a single by Brooks Lee, a sac-fly by Kjerstad and a flyball double by Bellinger to go up 4-0 heading into the fifth! Schultz showed his age in the top of the fifth, loading the bases while hitting two batters, so we had to start warming arms in the pen ... a sac-fly by Willson Contreras got the Brewers on the board, Sal Frelick struck out swinging, and Jefferson Quero grounded out to first, however, so he was able to get through the inning with the lead intact. Julian Merryweather took over in the top of the sixth still leading by three ... with one out, Jackson Chourio hit into a fielder’s choice, driving in a run as we took him out at first. Bazardo took over in the top of the seventh with one out and Luisangel Acuna on first, getting us safely into the stretch still leading 4-2. Brooks Lee hit a sac-fly in the bottom of the inning to extend our lead back to three, and Ryan Weber came out of the pen with one out in the top of the eighth, getting two quick outs to keep it that way. Ben Joyce came out to close in the ninth, getting two strikeouts and a flyout to left to end this one as a 5-2 victory. Schultz improved to 7-4 with a 2.26 ERA, striking out four with a walk and five hits, allowing just the one earned run. Merryweather (8), Bazardo (8) and Weber (4) each had holds, and Joyce picked up his 11th save, as we outhit Milwaukee 8-7. Cody Bellinger led the way with three hits and two RBIs, while Chase Meidroth added a hit and two runs scored.

July 5, 2026: We’re less than a week away from the draft, where we hold the #5 pick, and based on how we’ve been playing lately, this may be the last year we have picks this high in a draft for a while ... so we’re working hard behind the scenes to make the picks count! Drew Rasmussen (3-4, 3.50 ERA, 79.2 IP, 82 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) pitched game three of the Brewers series, facing Carlos Rodriguez (1-2, 5.00 ERA, 18.0 IP, 16 K’s, 1.33 WHIP), It was a duel for three and a half innings, and then we went wild in the bottom of the fourth -- Brandon Valenzuela hit a two-run single, Andre Lipcius followed him with an RBI single, Gary Sanchez hit an RBI double and then Ha-seong Kim grounded out to first but allowed Lipcius to score, putting us up 5-0! We added on three more runs in the bottom of the sixth, and Ryan Weber took over in the top of the seventh leading by eight runs. He stayed out in the eighth and a run scored off a groundout by Christian Yelich to first, blowing the shutout. Weber stayed out and finished the job, however, and we won easily 8-1. Rasmussen improved to 4-4 with a 3.26 ERA thanks to six innings with five hits, a walk and five strikeouts, and Weber earned a three-inning save with five hits, four strikeouts and the one earned run, improving his ERA to 5.96 through 15 appearances. We outhit the Brewers 14-10, led by Bellinger with three hits and an RBI and by Gary Sanchez with two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI. It was a team effort -- everybody in the lineup got at least one hit, with four guys having multi-hit games.

We’re off tomorrow for a travel day, and will spend the 7th through 9th of July in St. Louis against the 42-43 Cardinals, before returning to Chicago for three home games against the 43-42 Royals, with the draft taking place on the day of the second game of that series. We’ll then have seven games on the road in LA and Minnesota before the All Star break lets us completely reset. Incredibly, we’re just a game away from our 50th win, something that two years ago would have sounded like an impossibility. All these series on paper look like winnable series, even on the road ... so we’re hopeful we can keep this win streak going.

We’re calling up Colson Montgomery for the first game in St. Louis, bringing him up from AAA to get a few games under his belt while Vargas is injured ... the 24-year-old is ranked 63rd overall in the most recent BNN rankings. He’s hit .261 with 19 doubles and 10 homers in Charlotte this season. We may not keep him up past the All Star break, since it could be worth protecting his rookie status ahead of an opening day call-up next season for Prospect Promotion Incentive consideration. We’ll need to keep him under 45 days of major service, and under 130 at-bats if we want him to be PPI eligible next season.

jksander · 05-28-2025, 08:27 PM

July 7, 2026: Dylan Cease (4-4, 3.15 ERA, 97.0 IP, 108 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) pitched against Sem Robberse (1-2, 4.12 ERA, 24.0 IP, 21 K’s, 1.50 WHIP) in game one in St. Louis, and the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead immediately with a solo homer by Masyn Wynn in the botom of the first. But we hit them back in the top of the fourth with a leadoff homer by Heston Kjerstad, and we loaded the bases from there, taking the lead off a sac-fly by rookie Colson Montgomery in just his second major league at-bat! Yordys Valdes hit an RBI single to make it 3-1 heading into the bottom of the inning, and we were suddenly rolling. But Nolan Gorman hit a solo homer leading off in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to one, so we knew we wouldn’t get off that easy. We got the run back in the top of the fifth with a sac-fly by Kjerstad, but Gorman hit another homer in the sixth to keep this one close ... too close, as moments later Austin Meadows hit a two-run blast out of right to rocket them back into the lead 5-4. Sean Burke took over with one out and Willson Contreras on first, and J.J. Weatherholt lined into a U3 double-play to get us into the seventh just trailing by one. We loaded the bags in the top of the eighth, and with two outs Ha-seong Kim hit one into deep center, allowing him to leg out a three-run triple that put us right back into the lead by a pair! Ryan Helsley took over in the bottom of the ninth with the lead unchanged, and he did the job as we shut them down 7-5 to win and keep our streak going. Sean Burke, who Ozzie Guillen has moved into the bullpen, improved to 6-4 with a 4.60 ERA, lasting 2.2 innings with three hits and two strikeouts after Cease went 5.1 innings with eight hits, a walk, five runs and eight strikeouts. Helsley earned his fifth save of the year, allowing two hits but bringing his ERA down to 3.02. They outhit us 13-10, but we walked five times to their one, and Ha-seong Kim led the way with three hits, a run and three RBIs.

July 8, 2026: Zac Gallen (9-2, 3.03 ERA, 104.0 IP, 87 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) pitched against Chris Paddack (2-6, 4.74 ERA, 79.2 IP, 64 K’s, 1.29 WHIP) in game two in St. Louis, and the longball continued to be a plague ... in the bottom of the first they got on the board with a solo homer out of right by Eguy Rosario, but we stuck to our gameplan and an RBI triple for Bellinger in the top of the third tied us up! That’s when Ceddanne Rafela hit a two-run homer out of center-left, shooting us into the lead once again! We left two runners on the corners when the inning came to an end, but we’d built a 3-1 lead, and thus far this season Gallen’s been tough to beat once he gets a good lead. Lars Nootbaar hit a solo homer out of left in the bottom of the fifth to cut into the lead, but we got out of the inning without giving up our advantage. We brought out Eduard Bazardo in the bottom of the sixth still leading 3-2, and in the top of the seventh we loaded the bases on one out, setting up Tauchman perfectly -- he walked in a run with his patient approach, and we went into the stretch leading by a pair. With one out and Jordan Walker on first in the bottom of the inning we brought out Jose Alvarado, shutting them down with two quick outs to keep the lead safe. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth Masyn Wynn hit a solo homer out of right to cut our lead back to one run, but Alvarado got us out of the inning still ahead of the Cardinals. Unable to add any insurance, we brought Ben Joyce out to pitch in the bottom of the ninth, and with three quick outs he sealed it as we won 4-3! Gallen had five innings with two hits, a walk, four strikeouts and two earned runs, and we finished with nine hits against four for the Cardinals ... Bazardo (9) and Alvarado (6) had holds, and Joyce saved his 12th game of the year, improving his ERA to 5.18 after a one strikeout, no baserunner inning. Ceddanne Rafaela led the way with his two-run homer that set the tone for the rest of the game. He’s now hitting .244 and has hit 14 doubles and eight homers this season for 38 RBIs.

In a little deep-minors news, we promoted 16-year-old starting pitcher Abnar Marroquin from the International Complex to our Dominican rookie team, just three months after he was discovered by our scout Mike Shirley. And damned if the kid didn’t make a stellar impression right out of the gate ... he pitched a complete game two-hit shutout against the Cincinnati (DSL) Rojos this afternoon, striking out TWENTY batters, most of whom are already significantly older than him ... if he actually IS just 16, there’s been some debate about his birth certificate. We have to keep him in the DSL league until next summer when he’ll be 17, but if he dominates the competition at rookie level, he could very easily make it up to single-A next season ... definitely a young prospect we’re paying heightened attention to!

July 9, 2026: Jonathan Cannon (2-0, 3 SV, 3.38 ERA, 40.0 IP, 37 K’s, 1.12 WHIP) got the start in game three, facing the Cards’ Ranger Suarez (5-7, 4.92 ERA, 91.2 IP, 87 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) in a game where we have a mostly rested bullpen. Bellinger hit a leadoff triple in the top of the second to give us our first spark of the evening, and he scored off a sac-fly by Tauchman to put us on the board. Cannon had great control through the first four innings, and in the top of the fifth we added on with a run off a wild pitch, and another off a sac-fly, going into the botom of the fifth leading 3-0. That gave Cannon room to stay out in the fifth and avoid the long bullpen innings. We loaded the bases in the sixth, but failed to add on when Yordys Valdes grounded into a 3-2-3 double play to squelch the potential reaming in its tracks. Noah Syndergaard took over in the bottom of the inning, and it was not a great appearance for him ... with one out, Nolan Gorman hit a two-run double to put St. Louis right back in contention, and even with him having to leave the game after a collision sliding in, suddenly all the momentum was with the home team. Jake Merryweather took the ball from there, and it went from bad to worse when Jordan Walker hit a two-run blast out of left to steal the lead back 4-3 for the Cards. Merryweather got us into the eighth inning still trailing just by a single run, and Sean Burke took over in the bottom of the eighth, striking out the side to keep us in it. But we’d need to score in the ninth if we wanted to finish the job ... and this time it wasn’t in the “cards” for us as St. Louis held on to win 4-3, snapping our winning streak at five games. Merryweather gave us 1.2 innings with a hit, a walk, a strikeout and the earned run that lost the game, so he is now 0-4 (all off blown saves) despite a 3.68 ERA through 32 appearances. We outhit them 8-6, led by Bellinger and Valdes, each of them with two hits and a run scored.

We’ll take a stellar 51-35 record into our three-game weekend series against the Royals, who are 44-43 and in third place in the division, seven games behind us and two back of the Guardians. Miguel Vargas is going to need at least another week on the IL before he’ll be ready to return, and we could have Matt Canterino and Brandon Pfaadt back in the rotation soon after the All Star game, though all three players will likely go through at least a short rehab assignment before I consider bringing them back up.

Two days till the draft, and it’s getting a bit harried around here ... bring it on, though, we’re ready for the challenge!

July 10, 2026: Noah Schultz (7-4, 2.26 ERA, 107.1 IP, 131 K’s, 0.76 WHIP) started in game one against the Royals, facing Seth Lugo (5-4, 4.02 ERA, 105.1 IP, 92 K’s, 1.25 WHIP). It took a bit, but we took the lead first in the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer out of center by Bellinger, his 19th homer of the season, and we followed that with a pair of doubles, Ceddanne Rafaela coming in to score our second run while Tauchman took immediate scoring position. Gary Sanchez batted in a third run with a single, and a pair of walks loaded the bases for Ha-seong Kim who promptly walked in a run, our fourth of the inning! Meidroth grounded into a fielder’s choice to get the Royals out of the hellish inning, but we’d done our damage. Bazardo came out to pitch with two outs and nobody on in the top of the sixth, quietly striking out Jace Jung to keep the shutout intact into the bottom of the inning. Bellinger hit an RBI single on two outs to add on in the bottom of the seventh, and we brought Merryweather out in the eighth. He got two outs in the ninth only to then allow a three-run double ... Ben Joyce came in leading by two with Yunior Severino coming to the plate as a potential tying run, but we got the groundout we needed and got out of here with a 5-3 win. None of Merryweather’s runs were earned, and he had two hits and a walk in his 1.2 innings ... we kept him out too long, and we were lucky Joyce was able to come out quickly and get that 13th save. Schultz, meanwhile, continues to impress -- he’s now 8-4 with a 2.15 ERA, going 5.2 innings tonight with five hits, two walks and five strikeouts in his 19th start of the season. We outhit the 13-7, led by Ceddanne Rafaela who had three hits and a run, while Bellinger had two hits a run and two RBIs.

Tomorrow we draft, and then play game two againt the Royals with a 7:35 p.m. first pitch!

04-25-2025, 07:27 PM	#101
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	May 8, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 4.08 ERA, 28.2 IP, 35 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) pitched against Max Fried (2-3, 5.86 ERA, 35.1 IP, 28 K’s, 1.42 WHIP) in game one against the Yankees, and we had a real duel on our hands early on, until we broke it open in the top of the fifth with an RBI single by Yordys Valdes! Chase Meidroth hit an RBI single moments later, and Heston Kjerstad added a flyball double that batted home Meidroth, giving us a 3-0 lead midway through the inning! Rasmussen got us through the bottom of the inning, and Jonathan Cannon took the ball in the sixth to keep us in control. Eduard Bazardo took over in the seventh, and it did NOT go well ... three hits, the final of which was a three-run homer by Chisholm Jr, and we had to pull him for Alvarado after just eight pitches. But we’ve tasted winning and seem to enjoy it, as we came out hitting in the eighth, scoring off an RBI double by Tauchman, and getting two more from a single by Valdes to lead 6-3 heading into the bottom of the inning. Ryan Helsley came out to pitch, and we added two more runs in the top of the ninth to put us firmly in control so he stayed out in the ninth as we manhandled the Yankees 8-3. How’s that for some offense, White Sox fans? We outhit them 11-7, led by Kjerstad with two hits, a run and three RBIs, and Alvarado took the win, improving to 1-0 with a 5.84 ERA after a three hit, two walk, one strikeout start by Rasmussen. May 9, 2026: Dylan Cease (1-3, 4.06 ERA, 37.2 IP, 34 K’s, 1.06 WHIP) got the start in game two against the Yankees, taking on Brandon Woodruff (2-1, 4.15 ERA, 34.2 IP, 31 K’s, 1.15 WHIP). We took the lead in the top of the second thanks to an RBI single by Valenzuela that was coupled with an E9 throwing error that allowed Vargas to score. Brooks Lee then added on with a single that pushed home Vargas, and we went into the bottom of the inning leading 2-0. Cease got us into the stretch with that lead unchanged, and Luis Sanchez took over for him in the top of the eighth, striking out the side! He was in total control, shutting them down in the ninth as well as we were able to stump the Yankees 2-0! Cease gave us seven innings with six hits and seven strikeouts, improving to 2-3 with a 3.43 ERA, while Sanchez saved his third game, a two-inning effort with five strikeouts and no baserunners. We outhit the Yankees 8-6, led by Brandon Valenzuela, who hit three times and scored one of our two runs. With the win, we’ve moved into a tie for second in the AL Central with the Twins, just 4.5 games back of the 21-13 Guardians as we are now just one game off of .500! After opening the month with a pair of losses, we’ve now gone 6-1 in our last seven games, and our run differential is inching closer to even, just at -5 now through 33 games! May 10, 2026: Noah Schultz (2-1, 2.31 ERA, 39.0 IP, 46 K’s, 0.67 WHIP) pitched our final game against the Yankees, going toe to toe with Garrett Crochet (5-2, 2.00 ERA, 45.0 IP, 51 K’s, 0.96 WHIP), who is emerging as New York’s ace just 17 months after leaving our team in a trade for Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez. Both pitchers came into the game red-hot, so nobody expected a lot of offense in a very duel-worthy matchup. New York broke through the stalemate in the bottom of the fourth with a one-out solo homer by Aaron Judge, but Yordys Valdes hit a two-run homer in the top of the fifth to put us on top 2-1, just the third time the 24-year-old shortstop has homered this year! Joey Gallo hit one in the sixth, which amazingly was his first homer of the season, but Judge hit his second of the game in the bottom of the inning with two outs, keeping the Yankees close. Eduard Bazardo took over with two outs and nobody on, getting us out of the inning with a pop-up to center by Nathaniel Lowe, and Ha-seong Kim got into the homer sweepstakes with a solo blast in the top of the seventh to give us a 4-2 lead going into the stretch, his second homer of the year! Jose Alvarado took over in the bottom of the seventh, and with two outs the Yankees brought their fans to their feet with a two-run double by Blake Crim that tied this one up 4-4. Alvarado then let Anthony Volpe hit an RBI single to take the lead before we finally got out out of the inning. But in the top of the eighth, Valenzuela hit a hard shot into center-right, coming out of it with an RBI triple in all the outfield confusion, driving in two to put us back up 6-5! Julian Merryweather took over in the eighth with a runner on first, no outs, and he successfully kept us in the lead through the remainder of the inning, stranding runners on the corners. Ben Joyce came out to pitch in the bottom of the ninth still leading by one run, and with icewater running through his veins he held firm as we beat the Yanks 6-5 to complete the sweep! Alvarado blew the save, his first, but improved to 2-0 with a 7.42 ERA in the win, surviving a rough two hit, four walk three earned run performance. We matched them on hits, seven against seven, led by our eighth and ninth hitters in the lineup, as Valenzuela and Valdes each had a hit, a run and two RBIs (with Valenzuela walking once as well for good measure. The win pulls us to dead even, 17-17, and we’re now in sole control of second place in the AL Central, a full game up on the Twins who are now 16-18. We’ll stay in New York for three against the Mets, who at 17-17 are also in second place in their division, trailing the Braves by three games. We’ve now won four in a row to their two, but this should be an incredible series as we start our season fresh! __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

04-25-2025, 09:07 PM	#102
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	May 11, 2026: The White Sox haven’t had a winning record at any point in a season since sometime in the 2022 season, when we wound up finishing 81-81, failing to repeat as division champs. Now we’re still relatively early in our current season, but we’ve got a chance to make a real statement against the Mets, Brandon Pfaadt (2-1, 4.18 ERA, 28.0 IP, 28 K’s, 1.21 WHIP) going up against Freddy Peralta (2-2, 3.76 ERA, 40.2 IP, 40 K’s, 1.18 WHIP). And it went south quickly, when Pfaadt had to be pulled from the game with two outs and a man on in the bottom of the FIRST INNING ... diagnosis pending. Ryan Weber took over and got us out of the inning without anyone scoring, and Joey Gallo gave us the lead with a solo bomb in the top of the second. The Mets tied it with a solo homer of their own off the bat of Jeff McNeil in the bottom of the third, but Weber was able to keep it that way through the rest of the inning, and Bellinger hit one in the top of the fourth to put us back up 2-1. Noah Syndergaard took the ball in the bottom of the fourth, and Ryan Clifford hit a leadoff homer to tie it 2-2 ... this one’s going to be a long one. A few minutes later Jose Siri hit a two-run slam out of left to give the Mets a two-run lead, and we had our work cut out for us. But give credit to our hitters, they came out FIRED UP in the fifth, Kjerstad hitting an RBI single and Bellinger going yard for the second time, piling on three more with a homer to give us the lead 6-4! Syndergaard loaded the bags in the bottom of the inning but held firm and got the outs we needed to keep New York from scoring, and Gary Sanchez scored off a wild pitch in the sixth to extend our lead to three runs. Luis Sanchez came out in the bottom of the sixth and after getting two outs he gave everything back and more ... a two-run double by Ryan Clifford shot the Mets into the lead 8-7, as this game threatened to give me a managerial stroke. Ryan Helsley took over in the bottom of the seventh, and Bazardo took over in the eighth, giving up a solo homer to Francisco Alvarez to extend the Mets’ lead. We went down quietly from there, losing this one 9-7 to snap our winning streak. Sanchez blew the save and got his first loss of the year, allowing five hits with four runs and just one strikeout in a game that blew his ERA up to 4.03 through 22.1 innings. But we were in this one way past the point of sanity, considering the Mets outhit us 17-7, a bludgeoning that should have seen us get completely slaughtered after losing our pitcher two outs into the game. Cody Bellinger led the way with two hits (both homers), two runs and four RBIs. May 12, 2026: No word on Pfaadt’s injury as we go into game two, Sean Burke (2-2, 4.61 ERA, 27.1 IP, 30 K’s, 1.32 WHIP) pitching against David Peterson (0-2, 6.59 ERA, 27.1 IP, 20 K’s, 1.54 WHIP). Yesterday’s game blew our bullpen to pieces, and aside from Cannon and Joyce who are well rested, only Merryweather (74%) and Weber (63%) and Helsley (59%) are even remotely capable of pitching ... so Burke was likely to have a longer leash than usual tonight regardless of how the early innings go. Unfortunately the Mets took a quick lead off an RBI single by Juan Soto in the bottom of the first, and a sac-fly by Brandon Nimmo added on. We answered by getting on the board when Bellinger scored off a wild pitch in the top of the second, and Burke settled down in the bottom of the inning, keeping us within the one run. A two-run double by Kjerstad put us into the lead 3-2 in the top of the third, and we piled on four more runs in the top of the fifth as we took control out of nowhere with a Joey Gallo GRAND SLAM! Jonathan Cannon took over with a five-run lead in the top of the sixth, getting through the inning with just one run going back the Mets’ way, powering through the seventh with little trouble at all to keep our lead at 7-3 heading into the top of the eighth. Chase Meidroth got us the run back with an RBI single, but the Mets got a two-run homer from Soto in the bottom of the inning, and with no outs we had to bring out Ben Joyce as they pulled back within three. Joyce struck out three around a pair of baserunners, getting us into the ninth with the lead still safe, and Merryweather came out in the bottom of the ninth to try and close this out. He pitched around a walk by Francisco Lindor to help us clinch the 8-5 win, another hard-fought victory for our White Sox on the road! Burke improved to 3-2 with a 4.45 ERA, lasting five innings with four hits, a walk, five strikeouts and two earned runs. We outhit New York 10-6, led by Gallo, whose third homer of the season got us four RBIs to lead the team! *The news on Brandon Pfaadt is bad ... all around, bad ... the 27-year-old has severe elbow inflamation, and will miss AT LEAST two to three months, with no expectation for a return before August.* We’ve put him on the 60-day IL, and for now Ryan Weber is going to step into our starting rotation full time. Andre Lipcius is coming back up to add depth off the bench in the infield, and we’re considering options on potentially trading for a pitcher to fill the role more permanently ... we’re in talks with Detroit about Tyler Holton and with Cincinnati about Nick Lodolo, but it’s going to take some hammering on a deal, so no sense rushing things. May 13, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.48 ERA, 33.2 IP, 36 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) pitched in our rubber match against the Mets, battling Frankie Montas (2-2, 4.71 ERA, 28.2 IP, 24 K’s, 1.36 WHIP). Miguel Vargas hit a three-run homer in the top of the second to give us an early lead, and Tauchman hit a two-run single to add on in the top of the third! The Mets got on the board in the bottom of the third with an RBI double by Brett Baty, and Rasmussen started to fall apart, letting them have two more off a double by Soto with just one out ... but he calmed things with two quick outs to get us into the fourth still leading 5-3. Bellinger hit a solo homer to start the top of the fourth, but we had to bring out Syndergaard to pitch in the fifth as Rasmussen had thrown way too wildly in the first four innings, wearing himself down, and this one became another game of bullpen chess. Syndergaard got us through two solid innings, and an RBI single for Cedanne Rafaela increased our margin to four runs as we went into the stretch leading 7-3. Jonathan Cannon came out to pitch in the bottom of the inning, and after a two-out triple by Francisco Alvarez in the bottom of the eighth, Ryan Helsley took over, getting the out we needed thanks to a grounder to first by Ryan Clifford. Bellinger hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth, his second of the game and seventh of the season, and Helsley shut them down in the bottom of the inning as we won this one 8-3, taking the series two games to one and giving ourselves a winning record for the first time in recent memory! Syndergaard improved to 1-2 with an 8.18 ERA thanks to two innings with a hit and a strikeout, and we outhit New York 11-6, led by Bellinger who hit twice (both homers) for three runs and two RBIs! The bad news is Kjerstad was injured, the main reason we had to bring Bellinger into the lineup today in the first place ... it was an impact injury sliding into base, and he is still being evaluated. May 14, 2026: *The news isn’t great about Kjerstad, but it’s far from the worst case scenario. He’s dealing with knee tendinitis, an will need to be out of the lineup for at least three weeks.* We’ve added him to our 10-day IL, calling up Joshua Mears to play in the outfield in his absence. In other news, we’ve made a trade with the Reds that, instead of getting us Nick Lodolo, ACTUALLY gets us top-line pitcher Zac Gallen, with the team retaining 75% of his contract (worth $11.8M in savings each year through 2029!) In return, we’re giving up Joey Gallo, who has not been happy on the bench, along with power-reliever Luis Sanchez, our rule five pick this past winter. I hate giving Sanchez up, but to get Gallen ... a player who has put up a 71-48 record and a 3.38 career ERA ... I just couldn’t say no, despite several heated arguments with our assistant GM over it. In the end, our owner sided with me and we all know Reinsdorf gets what he wants. Gallen’s officially on our 26-man roster ahead of our upcoming homestand, though he’s not slated to start until at least game three against Miami, and potentially not until the first game of our Pittsburgh series. We’ve called up Lenyn Sosa to take Gallo’s spot on the bench. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

04-25-2025, 10:09 PM	#103
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	May 15, 2026: Miami is terrible this year, coming into this series against us at Rate Field with a 10-27 record, worst in the majors by a long shot. We, meanwhile, have won eight of our last 10 games and actually have a winning record and a positive run differential (+2) along with firm control of second place in the AL Central, if we can keep our heads on straight. The fans are still abuzz about the move that sent us Zac Gallen, and the big topic on the sports talk shows has been whether the Reds were undervaluing Gallen, overvaluing Gallo, or both. We’ll see how it shakes out, but getting a top-level pitcher for four years with the other team paying 75 percent, it was impossible for me to say no. Noah Schultz (2-1, 2.42 ERA, 44.2 IP, 54 K’s, 0.69 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Marlins, facing Chris Bassitt (0-3, 5.54 ERA, 37.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.66 WHIP). This one turned into the most unlikely pitching duels you’ll ever see, and we got dinged first when Miami went up 1-0 off an RBI single by Agustin Ramirez in the top of the sixth. Bassitt made it through six innings as well, holding that lead as he personally held us to just three hits, and we were going to have to count on our bats and our bullpen with Helsley taking over in the top of the seventh. Helsley got us through the eighth with the Marlins’ lead still just 1-0. He got the first two outs in the ninth as well, with Alvarado coming out to strike out Max Kepler, bringing us out to hit still down a run with time running out. But our bats were completely useless tonight, and Miami got an improbable 1-0 win out of us while our fans looked on stunned. Schultz went six innings with eight hits, four strikeouts and the one earned run, falling to 2-2 with a 2.31 ERA, while we only picked up four hits all game. Helsley struck out four without a single baserunner in his 2.1 innings, but you have to score to win. Closest we got was Kim, leading off with a hit and a walk. May 16, 2026: Dylan Cease (2-3, 3.43 ERA, 44.2 IP, 41 K’s, 1.03 WHIP) pitched against Eury Perez (2-2, 4.85 ERA, 39.0 IP, 43 K’s, 1.69 WHIP) in game two against the Marlins, and this time we got on the board quickly, Ceddanne Rafaela hitting a three-run homer in the bottom of the first. Tauchman batted in a run with a single in the bottom of the third to add on, and we scored three more in the bottom of the fifth to turn this into a rout. Jonathan Cannon took over in the top of the seventh, leading by seven runs, and he pitched well in the seventh but gave up three hits in a row, including an RBI single to Eugenio Suarez, blowing the shutout in the eighth. He gave up two more runs before we were able to get Ryan Weber warmed in the pen, but he took over with runners on first and second and one out, the lead now at four. And this one turned into a farce quickly ... after striking out Marco Luciano, Weber let Harrison Bader hit an RBI single, and Max Kepler added on with an RBI single of his own to get the Marlins back within two! Eduard Bazardo came out with two outs and men on second and third, and was able to get Connor Norby to ground out to first -- but we’d gone from 7-0 to 7-5 all in the top of the eighth. Thank God for Cody Bellinger, who came out in the bottom of the inning on two outs and hit a two-run homer out of left, extending our lead back to four and giving us momentum again. Joshua Mears hit a solo shot out of left to add on, and Bazardo stayed out with a five-run lead as we shut them down to win 10-5. Cease improved to 3-3 with a 3.02 ERA, thanks to six innings with five hits, two walks and eight strikeouts, and after Weber picked up a hold following Cannon’s meltdown, Bazardo earned his first save with a 1.1 inning effort, walking one with no other baserunners ... he now has a 3.66 ERA through 19.2 innings. We outhit Miami 12-10, led by Rafaela with three hits, a run and three RBIs, while Bellinger added two hits, two runs and three RBIs, hitting his ninth homer of the year. May 17, 2026: Zac Gallen (4-1, 2.88 ERA, 50.0 IP, 45 K’s, 1.16 WHIP) made his White Sox debut this afternoon in front of nearly 25,000 fans, facing Tyler Viza (0-4, 4.94 ERA, 33.1 IP, 19 K’s, 1.65 WHIP), and Miami gave him a huge “f--- you” when Harrison Bader led off with a solo homer. The Marlins then quickly amassed a 4-0 lead as they put Gallen through the wringer, drawing boos from our fans who were restless quickly. Joshua Mears quieted them somewhat with his two-run single in the bottom of the inning, and Mike Tauchman hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second to cut the lead to one. Agustin Ramirez hit a solo homer to extend their lead in the top of the fourth, but Gary Sanchez hit an RBI single to cut it again in the bottom of the inning, and Ceddanne Rafaela tied it up with a solo bomb out of right in the bottom of the fifth, Gallen getting us through the top of the sixth with a chance to take control of this one! A two-out RBI double by Ha-seong Kim did the trick, giving us a 6-5 lead heading into the top of the seventh with Julian Merryweather taking the ball. With one out and Eugenio Suarez on first in the top of the eighth we brought out Jose Alvarado, silencing them as we went into the bottom of the inning still leading by a run. Chase Meidroth bought us some insurance when his sac-fly got a run across to give us a two-run ninth inning advantage, and Ben Joyce handled business in the top of the ninth as we held tough to win 7-5! Zac Gallen didn’t make it easy, but he got the win, allowing seven hits and five earned runs with four strikeouts in his six innings ... and then our bullpen held it, with Joyce getting his fourth save and improving his ERA to 4.35 through 10.1 innings. We outhit Miami 10-9, led by Gary Sanchez, who hit twice with an RBI, as Mears added a hit and two RBIs. We definitely miss having Kjerstad in the lineup, but we’ve been making it work ... we now hold a 21-19 record heading into the series against the 18-22 Pirates, and against all odds we’re now within three games of the 25-17 Guardians! We’ve won 11 of our last 14 games but these will be our last three home games before a 10-game road stretch that will include seven divisional games. So we can’t take our foot off the gas or we’ll lose all our momentum. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

04-26-2025, 02:53 PM	#104
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	May 18, 2026: Sean Burke (3-2, 4.45 ERA, 32.1 IP, 35 K’s, 1.27 WHIP) pitched in game one, facing the Pirates’ young starter Jared Jones (3-1, 2.79 ERA, 42.0 IP, 49 K’s, 1.05 WHIP). The Pirates went up 2-0 in the top of the second with a two-run homer out of right by Jack Suwinski, and Burke eventually loaded the bases though we were able to get out of the inning with a pop-fly to left, leaving them all stranded. In the bottom of the inning we tied it up with a two-run blast by Mike Tauchman, and Brandon Valenzuela hit a solo bomb out of right to get us into the lead 3-2. Burke got two outs and then another homer flew over the right field wall, this one ALSO by Suwinski, so we went into the bottom of the inning tied up 3-3 and Burke’s night appeared to be over ... another rough one upcoming for the bullpen? Eduard Bazardo came out to pitch in the top of the fourth, and Noah Syndergaard took over in the top of the sixth, and in the bottom of that inning Joshua Mears powered us into the lead with a solo homer, putting us up 4-3 heading into the seventh in a game that had been pretty much all dingers all night. Ryan Helsley took the ball in the top of the eighth, still leading by a run, and Ryan Weber came out to pitch in the top of the ninth while Joyce warmed up, getting two outs before Spencer Horwitz hit a single to get on base. Ben Joyce came out to face Ke’Bryan Hayes, who singled into center, advancing Horwitz to third, and then former White Sox hitter Michael A. Taylor struck out swinging as we held tough to win 4-3! Noah Syndergaard got the win, improving to 2-2 with a 7.50 ERA, striking out a pair with no baserunners in his two innings. Helsley and Weber earned holds, and Joyce picked up a high leverage save on six pitches, getting the out we needed on strikes to give him five saves this season. Neither team hit more than five times, ours led by Mears who hit twice with two runs and an RBI off his second homer of the year. May 19, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.82 ERA, 37.2 IP, 42 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) pitched against Dustin May (3-3, 2.40 ERA, 41.1 IP, 45 K’s, 1.33 WHIP) in game two against the Pirates, and his night didn’t start off well ... an error immediately gave them a baserunner, and with no outs Termarr Johnson hit an RBI double to drive in the game’s first run. Rasmussen has been hit or miss this year, either super-hot or super-cold, and tonight it was the latter ... by the time we came up to hit for the first time we were in a 3-0 hole and he’d thrown 33 pitches. Cody Bellinger got us on the board with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third, his 10th of the season, and Julian Merryweather took over in the top of the fifth with two outs and nobody on, getting us into the sixth with the game still competitive. He managed to get us through the sixth as well, and Miguel Vargas tied the score with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth! Jose Alvarado came out to pitch in the top of the seventh, and Jonathan Cannon took the ball with two outs and Joey Bart on first in the top of the eighth, getting us into the bottom of the inning still tied at 3-3. He got us through the ninth as well, and in the bottom of the inning Andre Lipcius came up as our leadoff hitter and slugged one out of left to walk this off as a 4-3 win! Jonathan Cannon improved to 2-0 with a 5.12 ERA, pitching 1.1 innings with a strikeout and no baserunners as we won our second bullpen game in a row. We outhit the Pirates 10-7, led by Bellinger who had two hits, a run and two RBIs. Incredibly, we’ve now won four in a row for the second time this MONTH, and we now hold a 23-19 record, closing the gap with Cleveland who only lead us by two games in the division (though it should be noted the Guardians have a 4-2 lead on us so far in the season series so effectively it’s a three-game lead)! We’ve got one game left against the Pirates, and then will spend the rest of the month on the road (though three of them are against our Northside rivals). Kjerstad still has four days left of official time on the IL, though his injury will require him to stay on the list for at least another two weeks before we can consider whether a rehab assignment will be necesssary. May 20, 2026: Noah Schultz (2-2, 2.31 ERA, 50.2 IP, 58 K’s, 0.77 WHIP) pitched against Mitch Keller (1-2, 3.02 ERA, 47.2 IP, 44 K’s, 0.92 WHIP) in our third game against the Pirates and our final home game of the month. Back to back homers by Vargas and Lipcius put us ahead in the bottom of the third, and we added on with a two-run double by Bellinger and an RBI single for Ceddanne Rafaela to lead 5-0 heading into the top of the fourth. Jonathan Cannon took over in the top of the seventh with two outs and Ke’Bryan Hayes on first, still leading by five runs, but the shutout didn’t last ... Jorge Mateo hit an RBI triple that drove home two runs, and he scored off a wild pitch as Cannon struggled to get the one out we needed him to get. Finally he struck out Oneil Cruz swinging to end the inning, sending us into the stretch still leading 5-3. Ryan Helsley took over in the top of the eighth, and he promptly resumed the meltdown, loading the bags and letting Pittsburgh score two off a no-outs double by Henry Davis. Alvarado took over from there, and he stunned them by squelching the rally with three quick outs to strand all three runners, sending us into the bottom of the inning tied 5-5, Schultz’s best start of the season officially wasted. Cody Bellinger got us the lead back with a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth, and Ben Joyce took over wanting to put this one to bed. But with two outs and men on first and second, Spencer Horwitz tied it up with an RBI single, and we came up to hit in the bottom of the ninth tied yet again. With two outs, and Gary Sanchez on second base, Yordys Valdes came through in the clutch, winning this one with a walkoff single as we took the game 7-6, completing the sweep! Noah Schultz pitched 6.2 innings with four hits, 13 STRIKEOUTS and one run against him, but Helsley and Joyce each blew save attempts, and Joyce came out of it with the win as he improved to 3-1 with a 4.63 ERA. They outhit us 10-9, our bats led by Bellinger who hit three times with two runs and three RBIs, including his 11th homer of the year. We have a much-needed rest day tomorrow, and will then begin a three-game series at Wrigley Field against the 19-24 Cubs, who are third in the NL Central at the moment. We’re riding a five-game winning streak and an 8-2 stretch in our last ten games, just a game behind the Guardians in the AL Central race. Our run differential is now +11, and we’re 9-7 in one-run games, with an 11-10 record on the road. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

04-26-2025, 04:18 PM	#105
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	May 21, 2026: We come into this first game against the Cubs with a five-game win streak and having won our last three games by one run apiece, all of them brutally close until the very end. So we’ve been riding the edge of a sharp knife, which makes it hard to know if we can really trust how good we’ve been this month ... are we truly a contender, or just on a lucky streak? Any time you can go 14-5 in a month you’re doing something right, but we have to keep finding ways to win, and to get our starters to actually play deep into games. Still, though their ERAs don’t necessarily show it, our bullpen has come through when needed: Ben Joyce (3-1, 4.63 ERA, 11.2 IP, 14 K’s, 1.89 WHIP, 0.6 WAR) Jose Alvarado (2-0, 5.82 ERA, 17.0 IP, 25 K’s, 1.41 WHIP, 0.5 WAR) Jonathan Cannon (2-0, 5.49 ERA, 19.2 IP, 17 K’s, 1.37 WHIP, 0.2 WAR) Ryan Helsley (1-2, 4.35 ERA, 20.2 IP, 23 K’s, 1.02 WHIP, 0.1 WAR) Julian Merryweather (0-3, 3.26 ERA, 19.1 IP, 25 K’s 1.50 WHIP, 0.1 WAR) Eduard Bazardo (2-0, 3.32 ERA, 21.2 IP, 16 K’s, 1.11 WHIP, -0.2 WAR) Ryan Weber (0-0, 3.52 ERA, 7.2 IP, 3 K’s, 1.70 WHIP, -0.2 WAR Noah Syndergaard (2-2, 7.50 ERA, 24.0 IP, 15 K’s, 1.46 WHIP, -0.5 WAR) Dylan Cease (3-3, 3.02 ERA, 50.2 IP, 49 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) got the ball in game one against the Cubs, his ninth start of the season, and through his first eight starts he’s pitched six quality starts, so he’s been our most consistent starter. Tonight at Wrigley he went up against Buck Farmer (0-2, 5.84 ERA, 12.1 IP, 10 K’s, 1.38 WHIP) in front of more than 38,000 screaming Cubs fans ... even when they’re merely average, our north side foes know how to draw a crowd, especially for rivalry games like this. Cease came out strong, striking out the side in the bottom of the first, but Dansby Swanson scored from third off a sac-fly by Carson Kelly to put the Cubs on the board in the bottom of the third, up 1-0. Ian Happ hit a solo homer in the fourth to add on, but we got on the board in the top of the sixth with an RBI single by Chase Meidroth. Cease got us into the stretch still trailing just 2-1, and Cody Bellinger hit an RBI single to tie it in the top of the eighth, ensuring Cease would get no decision tonight. With the score tied 2-2, Bazardo took over in the bottom of the eighth, but a pair of singles and a wild pitch put runners on the corners with one out. With Matt Shaw coming to the plate we brought out Ryan Helsley, who struck Shaw out swinging and then got Jeimer Candelario to ground into a fielder’s choice, keeping us tied up heading into the ninth. Still tied in the bottom of the inning, former Cub Julian Merryweather came out to pitch, and he did his job, forcing this one into extra innings. Ryan Weber came out in the bottom of the 10th, Kelly on second as the pinch-runner, and all it took was a hit by Michael Busch, bouncing off the ivy at center to bring Kelly home ... Cubs win 3-2, snapping our winning streak and giving us our fourth game in a row to finish within one run. Cease pitched seven innings with three hits, four walks and 10 strikeouts, allowing just two earned runs, while Weber got dinged with the loss with a hit and an unearned run, falling to 0-1 with a 3.52 ERA. We matched them with six hits, led by Meidroth and Bellinger who each had two hits and an RBI ... but only those two and Kim managed hits, while three others had a walk each. May 23, 2026: Nobody’s got anywhere to hide during this ten game road stretch, and we won’t have another day off until the 4th of June so careful bullpen management is going to be critical, along with getting more offense so our starters have room to breathe. Zac Gallen (5-1, 3.38 ERA, 56.0 IP, 49 K’s, 1.16 WHIP) pitched in game two against the Cubs, facing Shota Imanaga (3-4, 2.90 ERA, 62.0 IP, 57 K’s, 1.05 WHIP), with this place packed to the limit with Cubs fans. Mears got a solo homer to lead off in the top of the second, but moments later Vargas got ejected in the second inning for arging a strike call, which forced us to shuffle Bellinger to first, Mears to right field and Tauchman to left, giving up the designated hitter for the remainder of the game ... so going forward our pitcher will be seventh in the lineup. Joshua Mears hit an RBI double in the top of the sixth to buy us a little insurance, but the Cubs got on the board with an RBI double by Owen Caissie, and a two-run homer moments later by Dansby Swanson put the Cubs into the lead 3-2 as we came up to hit in the top of the seventh. Juan Alvarado took over in the bottom of the inning, and in the top of the eighth with two outs, Bellinger hit a solo bomb out of right to tie the game up at 3-3. Ryan Helsley got the ball with one out and men on second and third in the bottom of the eighth, stranding both runners with quick outs as we came up to hit in the top of the ninth. Pinch-hitter Brooks Lee singled Ceddanne Rafaela into scoring position with a single with one out against us, but we couldn’t get him around to score, so Noah Syndergaard took over hoping to push us into extras again. He pitched around two runners on base, getting Josh Rojas to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to do just that as we held on for dear life. With speedster Yordys Valdes on second, Ha-seong Kim took the count to 2-2 and on a run and hit play, Valdes stole third! Kim then hit one into center, taking first and driving in the go-ahead run for us, drawing boos from the crowd. Chase Meidroth hit one into the left field corner, legging out an RBI triple, and they intentionally walked Bellinger, unintentionally walking Moore who loaded the bases with no outs. They then hit Tauchman with a pitch on one out, walking in a third run, and we went into the bottom of the 10th leading by three! Syndergaard stayed out to get us through and protect the pen, but the plan failed as Happ walked and then Matt Shaw hit a three-run homer out of left to tie it up again ... Jesus! Ben Joyce took over with no outs but clear bases, and he did the job, getting us into the 11th inning now tied up at 6-6. Yordys Valdes hit a leadoff single into right to drive in a go-ahead run in the top of the 11th, and again they loaded the bases, Meidroth beating out an infield grounder and Bellinger walking. So with one out, Mears came to the plate ... he struck out swinging, but Ceddanne Rafaela had had enough ... he power-bombed one over the right field wall, a GRAND SLAM HOMER, giving us a five-run lead heading into the bottom of the inning! Joyce got two strikeouts and a pop-fly to left to finally end this one as an 11-6 extra-innings blowout for us ... all it took was eight runs across the 10th and 11th, easy peasy, right? Joyce improved to 4-1 with a 3.95 ERA, pitching two innings with four strikeouts and nobody allowed on base. Each team had 13 hits, ours led by Rafela, who was 4-6 with a run and four RBIs thanks to his 11th inning heroics. May 24, 2026: Sean Burke (3-2, 4.84 ERA, 35.1 IP, 36 K’s, 1.39 WHIP) pitched against Justin Steele (2-5, 5.71 ERA, 52.0 IP, 47 K’s, 1.35 WHIP) in the rubber match against the Cubs, and Burke was perfect until, with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, he plunked PCA on the elbow to put his first runner on base. We got out of the inning with the runner stranded, and it was our White Sox who broke the stalemate, when Valenzuela hit an RBI double in the top of the fifth to put us up 1-0. Jonathan Cannon took over in the bottom of the seventh, still leading by the one run, and he got us through two outs in the eighth, when Weber took over to face PCA, with Suzuki on first. Pop-fly to center, a quick and easy out for Rafaela, and we went into the top of the ninth with a chance to put it away, but we weren’t able to buy an insurance run. So Weber, who had thrown one pitch for his out in the eighth, stayed out to finish it. With two outs and Owen Caissie on third base, Michael Bush grounded out to second, and a quick throw to first base ended this one as a 1-0 win ... we got out of Chicago with a series win amid thunderous boos from Cubs fans everywhere! Sean Burke got a rare starter win for us, improving to 4-3 thanks to a hit, a walk and eight strikeouts during his six shutout innings. Cannon and Weber got through the other three innings to preserve it, as we outhit the Cubs 7-2 to hold the razor-thin margin. Tauchman led the offense with two hits and a run scored, while Valenzuela batted it in with a hit and a walk We’ll take our 26-20 record into Detroit where a three-game series against the free-falling Tigers awaits. They’re currently 17-29, and though they’ve lost 16 games this month against just six wins, the most recent win was in their last game on the road in Pittsburgh, which took them 10 innings to win 4-3. So they’re coming into this one hoping to build momentum, and we’re looking for a chance to take control of the division now that we’re tied up with the Guardians for first place. Pinch me, I must be dreaming! __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

04-28-2025, 12:17 PM	#106
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	May 25, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.61 ERA, 42.1 IP, 46 K’s, 1.25 WHIP) pitched against Detroit’s Nick Martinez (3-2, 4.27 ERA, 46.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.21 WHIP). We took the lead in the top of the fourth with a single by Tauchman, adding on moments later with a single by Vargas to go up 2-0, and Rasmussen was as sharp as we’ve seen him all year, striking out the side in the bottom of the inning to give himself seven K’s in his first four innings. But he got in trouble quickly in the fifth, loading the bases and walking in a run with the bullpen warming -- Eduardo Bazardo came out with the bases loaded and two outs, getting Kerry Carpenter to pop out to right to end the inning with us still ahead 2-1. In the top of the seventh Valenzuela hit an RBI triple to add on, and Ha-seong Kim hit an RBI single to give us a three-run cushion as we went into the stretch ahead 4-1. Jose Alvarado took the ball with two outs and men on first and second in the bottom of the seventh, getting out of the inning with a groundout to first by Carpenter. Ryan Helsley took over in the ninth with the three-run lead still intact, and with one out he blew the shutout when pinch-hitter Thayron Liranzo hit a two-run homer out of left to get Detroit on the board. But two quick outs from there sealed it as we beat the Tigers 4-2! Bazardo got the win, improving to 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA, lasting two innings with a hit, a walk and two strikeouts, while Alvarado earned his fourth hold and Helsley took save number three. We outhit Detroit 9-3, led by Vargas and Valenzuela who each had two hits, a run and an RBI (while Vargas also had a walk). The improbable has happened, as Cleveland took a 6-0 shutout loss in LA against the Dodgers tonight, giving us solo control over the divisional lead ... this May turnaround has been unreal for us, and we’re just doing what we can on the field to keep it going! We don’t have a ton of “personalities” on this team, but we do have strong leadership, particularly among our pitchers, with Rasmussen and Burke taking charge and keeping everyone on track. May 26, 2026: Noah Schultz (2-2, 2.20 ERA, 57.1 IP, 71 K’s, 0.75 WHIP) pitched against Kris Bubic (2-6, 5.04 ERA, 44.2 IP, 39 K’s, 1.68 WHIP), and we took control quickly, thanks to an RBI double by Mears and a flyball single by Vargas to lead 2-0 midway through the first. The Tigers got on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning by Spencer Torkelson, and Dillon Dingler hit a dinger to tie it up a blink of an eye later ... two quick outs and then suddenly we couldn’t buy one, until with runners on second and third, Schultz finally got Matt Vierling to ground out to first, so we could get up to hit in the second tied 2-2. But he’d thrown 31 pitches to do it, not a great sign for him to last long in this one if he stays that wild. We settled in well, though and in the top of the fourth we retook the lead on an RBI double by Kim, adding another when Kim scored a few minutes later off a wild pitch to go up 4-2. Schultz got us throgh the fifth inning just fine, and held his own through the sixth to get a quality start after the rough beginning. In the top of the seventh we added on via back-to-back sac-flies by Tauchman and Lipcius, and Alvarado took over in the bottom of the seventh, with Jonathan Cannon keeping us going in the eighth. We added on a pair in the ninth and Cannon stayed out to finish things as we shut them down 8-2. Schultz improved to 3-2 with a 2.27 ERA, allowing six hits and two runs with six strikeouts in his six innings, while we again outhit the Tigers 12-9. Vargas led our offense with three hits, a walk, a run and an RBI, while our DH Lipcius hit once for a pair of RBIs. May 27, 2026: Dylan Cease (3-3, 2.97 ERA, 57.2 IP, 59 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched against Tarik Skubal (2-4, 3.16 ERA, 62.2 IP, 73 K’s, 0.97 WHIP) in our final game of the Detroit series, and this time the Tigers took the early lead, a solo homer by Thomas in the leadoff spot giving them a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. But we tied it up in the top of the second when Lipcius grounded out to first and drove home Tauchman, and that started a back and forth battle. Detroit went back up 2-1 with a two-out RBI single from Thayron Liranzo in the bottom of the third, and they added on with an RBI single by Kerry Carpenter in the bottom of the fifth to lead 3-1. Ceddanne Rafaela got us back within a run thanks to an RBI single in the top of the sixth, and we brought out Merryweather in the bottom of the seventh, and the Tigers pounced, scoring off an RBI double by Carpenter to add on. Helsley took over in the eighth but it didn’t matter, we didn’t have the offensive firepower to get back into this one, losing to Detroit 4-2 -- we got the series win, but couldn’t quite get the sweep. Cease fell to 3-4 with a 3.11 ERA, allowing eight hits, a walk and three runs while striking out five in his six innings, and we were out hit 11-6, our offense led by Tauchman with a hit and a run, and by Rafaela with a hit and an RBI. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

04-28-2025, 12:20 PM	#107
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	May 28, 2026: The Royals come into this series with a 22-28 record, good for fourth place in the division. Zac Gallen (5-1, 3.48 ERA, 62.0 IP, 52 K’s, 1.19 WHIP) pitched against Cole Ragans (4-4, 4.20 ERA, 55.2 IP, 61 K’s, 1.51 WHIP) in our first of four games, and in the top of the second we unleashed on them, scoring four quick runs, starting with a sac-fly by Tauchman that scored Mears, and then a two-run homer for Vargas that really got things moving! Meidroth finished it with a single to add the fourth run, giving Gallen plenty of confidence as he came back out to pitch. The Royals got going in the bottom of the third with an RBI triple by Drew Waters, adding a run with a groundout by Jace Jung. Bellinger hit an RBI single in the fourth to get momentum back in our favor, but Kansas City answered with a solo homer by Kyle Isbel in the bottom of the inning, and they got Gallen to throw way too many pitches. We went into the bottom of the fifth leading still by a 5-3 margin, but Gallen was on a short leash at 70 pitches. He got three quick outs to get us through the inning, and Bazardo took over in the bottom of the sixth, just in time for Bobby Witt Jr to hit one out of center to cut our lead to one. Merryweather got the ball in the bottom of the seventh, still leading 5-4, and Cannon took over in the eighth. Both got us through their respective innings, but our offense couldn’t buy any insurance runs. Cannon stayed out in the ninth and handled business, though, and we won 5-4. Gallen is now 2-0 since coming to Chicago, pitching five innings today with five hits, four strikeouts and three earned runs, while Cannon earned his first save in a two-inning three strikeout effort. We outhit Kansas City 11-6, led by Vargas who had two hits, a run and two RBIs, including his eighth homer of the season. May 29, 2026: Sean Burke (4-2, 4.14 ERA, 41.1 IP, 44 K’s, 1.23 WHIP) pitched against Sammy Gray (3-2, 2.42 ERA, 48.1 IP, 54 K’s, 0.87 WHIP) and the Royals broke through in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run blast by Mickey Gasper to take the lead. We got on the board in the top of the sixth when Ha-seong Kim stole third, and then, thanks to an E2 error, came in to score. A moment later we tied it up on a wild pitch, and Jonathan Cannon took over in the bottom of the inning, getting three quick outs to keep us right there in this one. Ryan Helsley came out to pitch in the bottom of the seventh, and Ben Joyce took over in the eighth still tied up at 2-2. But he did not handle the pressure well, loading the bases and giving up a two-run single to Mickey Gasper as the Royals took control. Alvarado took over, two on and one out, giving up one of Joyce’s baserunners as we got into the top of the ninth lagging by three runs. We took this one on the chin, losing 5-2 as the Royals evened things in the series with two games remaining. Joyce took the loss, falling to 4-2 with a 5.79 ERA with two hits, two walks and three runs in his one-third of an inning, Kansas City outhitting us 7-4. Yordys Valdes led our meager offense tonight with two hits and a run scored. May 30, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.45 ERA, 47.0 IP, 53 K’s, 1.26 WHIP) pitched against KC’s Shane Bieber (1-5, 4.78 ERA, 52.2 IP, 47 K’s, 1.63 WHIP) in game three, and Ceddanne Rafaela got us quickly on the board in the top of the first with a two-run double! Rasmussen pitched seven shutout innings as we held to that early lead, and Noah Syndergaard took over in the top of the eighth, but with two outs in the bottom of the ninth he blew it when Michael Massey hit a two-run slam out of right to tie it up. Ben Joyce took over and got Blake Mitchell to strike out, but just like that this one we’d led through 26 batters was now going into extra innings. They wound up walking it off in the bottom of the 10th when Mickey Gasper hit into a fielder’s choice, as we failed to keep the ghost runner from scoring, giving Kansas City a 3-2 win we’d been inches away from earning ourselves in the ninth. Joyce took back to back losses, falling to 4-3 with a 5.52 ERA, with a walk and a strikeout to go with the unearned run ... we’d outhit Kansas City 6-5, led by Rafaela who had three hits and two RBIs. May 31, 2026: It’s hard to believe, but this is our first two-game losing streak since the beginning of the month. Tonight’s our final game of the four-game set in Kansas City, with Noah Schultz (3-2, 2.27 ERA, 63.1 IP, 77 K’s, 0.77 WHIP) facing off against Seth Lugo (3-3, 4.38 ERA, 61.2 IP, 57 K’s, 1.41 WHIP). It was blustery and with a heavy threat of rain, so we wanted to start this one off quickly. But instead the Royals got the first punch to land when Blake Mitchell hit a solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the second to put the Royals on top. Nobody was really getting anything going offensively though, with the exception of that dinger ... in the top of the seventh Miguel Vargas led off with a double, just our second hit of the game, and he advanced to third off a groundout by Tauchman, as Lugo neared triple digit pitches. That’s when we hit ‘em, Vargas scoring off a groundball double into left by Valenzuela, tying the score and leading the Royals to go to the pen. Alas, we weren’t able to get the lead, heading into the stretch locked in a 1-1 battle with our division rivals. We trusted our young ace and Schultz delivered, getting through the bottom of the inning with a pair of key strikeouts, his first time going this deep into a game ... and at just 80 pitches, we let him stay out in the eighth as well, shutting them down to keep our bullpen fresh in a tightly contested defensive battle. In the top of the ninth, with one out, Mike Tauchman hit a double into left to get into scoring position, advancing to third on a groundout by Valenzuela. They walked Lipcius, at which point we brought out Brooks Lee to replace Yordys Valdes, and he walked the bases loaded with Ha-seong Kim coming up to the plate ... but he struck out swinging and we went into the bottom of the inning hoping to hold them off into extras. Merryweather took the ball from Schultz to pitch in the bottom of the ninth, and he did the job with three quick outs that sent us into the 10th. Chase Meidroth led off with a double into center-left, scoring the go-ahead run, and they intentionally walked Bellinger, but with one out Vargas hit another shot into center, driving Meidroth home to add on, pushing Bellinger into scoring position at second! Tauchman reached first on a fielder’s choice that sent Bellinger to third, and Valenzuela grounded out to send us into the bottom of the inning leading 3-1. Ryan Helsley took over in the bottom of the inning, getting a quick out before a double by Yunior Severino got the Royals back within a run. With two outs they tied it with a single by Bobby Witt Jr, but Bazardo came out to strike out Nick Loftin, getting us another chance as the game went into the 11th inning. Brooks Lee hit a one-out double into left to put us back into the lead in the top of the inning, but that was all we got ... Jose Alvarado took the ball in the bottom of the inning and with two outs they tied it AGAIN with a single by Drew Waters. They then finished us off as Severino walked it off with a sac-fly into center, giving Kansas City its third win in a row, this time by a 5-4 margin. We outhit them 7-5, but couldn’t string hits together enough to really put them away when we had a chance ... Alvarado blew his second save and fell to 2-1 with a 4.91 ERA, allowing a hit, two walks and two runs (one earned) while Vargas led our offense, hitting twice and walking once with a run and an RBI. The loss dropped us to 29-24 heading into the month of June, and in a tight race in the Central we remain on top by one game over the 28-25 Twins, with Cleveland (28-26) a game and a half back. And the Royals, by beating us three times, got themselves back into contention as well ... at 25-29 they’re still 4.5 games back, but they exploited our weakness and ensured that this division is entirely up for grabs as the summer heats up. Attached Images __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Last edited by jksander; 04-28-2025 at 12:22 PM.

04-28-2025, 12:23 PM	#108
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	We’ll play 13 home games against 12 road games in June, opening with home series against San Diego (20-33, 5th NL West) and Seattle (32-20, 1st AL West) this week in Chicago. We then play three at Tampa (26-26, 4th AL East) before returning to Rate Field for three against the Angels (24-29, 4th AL West) and three agianst the Cubs (25-28, 3rd NL Central). We then have road trips to face Tampa again, along with the Dodgers (37-16, 1st NL West) and Astros (25-29, 3rd Al West), and then play the first game of a three-game set against the Yankees (30-23, 2nd AL East) here at home that will get us into July. Attached Images __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

04-29-2025, 01:36 AM	#109
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	June 1, 2026: Dylan Cease (3-4, 3.11 ERA, 63.2 IP, 64 K’s, 1.08 WHIP) pitched in our first of three home games against the Padres, facing Gabriel Hughes (1-5, 4.68 ERA, 42.1 IP, 36 K’s, 1.44 WHIP). And the Padres struck quickly, Giancarlo Stanton hitting a two-runner out of left to put them up 2-0 with one out in the top of the first. Andre Lipcius got us on the board with an RBI single in the bottom of the second, but with two outs in the top of the third Jackson Merrill hit a solo shot out of right to get the Padres to 3-1. Cody Bellinger then tied the game on a two-run slam out of center in the bottom of the inning, and this was setting up to be a good hitting night for everyone. Cease loaded the bases in the top of the fourth but escaped without damage ... but the fifth started poorly as well, and with no outs and men on first and second we brought out Ryan Weber to take over. That’s when we fell apart completely. Two runs had already scored for the Padres as we notched a pair of outs, but when Trevor Larnach hit a three-run homer out of center we were toast. By the time Weber got us out of the inning we were down 8-3 and he’d only thrown 24 pitches while allowing three hits and three runs himself. Yordys Valdes got us two runs back in the bottom of the inning, with a two-run homer of his own, and Jonathan Cannon took the ball in the sixth, and the Padres added a run in the seventh off a homer by Thairo Estrada, though we got it back in the bottom of the inning off a sac-fly by Bellinger to stay within three. A solo homer by Lipcius got us within two in the bottom of the eighth, and in the bottom of the ninth we managed to load the bases with two outs, as they brought out Tyler Megill to face Miguel Vargas. Vargas took the count full, then hit one over the head of their second baseman, driving in a pair to tie this sucker up at 9-9! Unbelievable ... Lipcius walked the bases loaded, bringing up Gary Sanchez, who we replaced with pinch-hitter and catcher sub Brandon Valenzuela hoping to walk this thing off and avoid extras ... and he did just that, walking in the winning run as we stole this one from the Padres 10-9! Syndergaard took the win, improving to 3-2 with a 7.81 ERA, and Cease owes him a beer or two ... the starter had lasted just four innings and allowed three hits, six walks and five earned runs with seven strikeouts to dig us our initial hole. We were outhit 9-8, but the Padres walked us 11 times, and Bellinger had a good swing tonight, hitting twice and walking once for two runs and three RBIs. Lipcius added two hits, a walk, a run and two RBIs, while Vargas had two hits and two RBIs as well. - - - - - CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/2/26 ... p.A1 Jerry Reinsdorf, Controversial White Sox Owner, Dead at 90 CHICAGO, Ill. -- White Sox sources and family of the legendary, yet controversial White Sox owner have confirmed that Jerry Reinsdorf died last night in his home at age 90. His tenure marked by controversies as well as by the World Series win in 2005 that snapped an 88-season drought, nobody will say the man was not true to himself. During his ownership of the team, Reinsdorf was known for his frugal approach to managing both the White Sox and the Bulls, often frustrating players, staff and fans due to his extreme cost-cutting measures and brash nature. Reinsdorf’s legacy is complex, with critics remembering his history of breaking backroom deals, while his supporters remember the championships. His impact on Chicago is undeniable, but the fact that he’s left the team in the hands of private equity investor Justin Ishbia has left many in the community with serious doubts, particularly as Reinsdorf had frequently encouraged whoever took over for him after his death to sell his interests in the White Sox. In particular, Ishbia’s background as a private equity investor and owner of multiple teams including the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury and the Nashville FC across the NBA, WNBA and Major League Soccer has raised concerns as to whether he’ll pursue selling the team or prefer to micromanage the organization like a member of Shark Tank. Futhermore, Ishbia’s relatively short tenure as a sports team owner has many questioning his long-term commitment to our city. Ishbia has, for now, expressed his commitment to the team and the city of Chicago, stating that he intends to work closely with the current front office to build on the team’s recent success and bring another championship home. But actions will speak louder than words, and only time will show how the team’s new ownership will affect the product on the field, for better or worse. Attached Images __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Last edited by jksander; 04-29-2025 at 01:39 AM.

04-29-2025, 02:31 AM	#110
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	June 2, 2026: The atmosphere was muted as Zac Gallen (6-1, 3.63 ERA, 67.0 IP, 56 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) got the ball to start the game this evening, facing San Diego’s Troy Melton (1-4, 5.36 ERA, 43.2 IP, 34 K’s, 1.44 WHIP), as everyone in the stadium seemed to be talking about the death of our owner and the affect it could have on our chances of staying on our current improved run. Joshua Mears got us the lead with a groundout in the bottom of the first, and Valenzuela hit one in the bottom of the fourth to add on. Moments later Brooks Lee hit a two-run blast out of center, giving us a commanding 4-0 lead, giving Gallen plenty of room to maneuver as we went into the top of the fifth. We added a run in the bottom of the fifth, and with a six-run lead going into the top of the ninth we finally pulled Gallen for Jonathan Cannon. With one out he blew the shutout, letting Fernando Tatis Jr hit a solo homer out of center, but we still won with ease, beating the Padres 6-1. Gallen won his third game in a row as a White Sox ace, allowing just two hits, a walk and six strikeouts in his eight shutout innings. We outslugged them 14-3, led by Ha-Seong Kim who had three hits, a run and an RBI while Gary Sanchez added two hits, a walk and two runs. June 3, 2026: We’re sending Heston Kjerstad to the minors for a rehab assignment as he recovers from knee tendinitis. We’re hoping to have him back within a week if his knee holds up. This evening we dealt with our third and final game of the series against the Padres, with Sean Burke (4-2, 4.08 ERA, 46.1 IP, 50 K’s, 1.21 WHIP) pitching against Lance McCullers Jr (2-3, 4.05 ERA, 53.1 IP, 59 K’s, 1.31 WHIP). San Diego went up in the top of the first thanks to an RBI single by Tyler Nevin, and Luis Robert Jr walked in a run with the bases loaded to add on in the top of the third. They increased the margin to 3-0 by the middle of the fourth inning thanks to an RBI single by Jose Barrero, and we FINALLY got on the board with a sac-fly by Lenyn Sosa to put us on the board trailing 3-1 after five innings. Eduard Bazardo took over with one out and a man on first in the top of the sixth, getting out of that inning with a quick bang-bang 6-4-3 double play, and he got through the seventh as well, pitching around a two-out triple by Xander Boegarts to keep us in the game. Alvarado came out for the eighth still trailing by a pair, getting three quick outs including a pair of K’s as we kept hoping our bats would find some spark. Helsley did the same in the top of the ninth, and with one out in the bottom of the inning Tauchman got on base with a line-drive double into right. Brandon Valenzuela then reached first on an E4 errror, taking second as Tauchman came around to score, pulling us within a run! That’s when Lipcius hit one right up the middle into center field, driving home Valenzuela to tie the game at 3-3 and forcing this one into extra innings! Helsley got three quick outs to shut them down in the top of the 10th, and Miguel Vargas quickly hit a single that drove Yordys Valdes to third! That’s when Ceddanne Rafaela, with one out, walked it off with a single into left, giving us a come-from-behind 4-3 victory and the sweep! Helsley improved to 2-2 with a 3.90 ERA, pitching two innings tonight with a hit and two strikeouts, getting us the win in the 10th. We matched them on hits with nine, led by Rafaela who walked it off in the end ... he had three hits but that was his only run, exactly when we needed it. The win improves our record to 32-24, putting us at eight games above .500 with our off day at long last to rest and regenerate some energy. Seattle is coming to town for a three-game weekend series, and the 35-20 Mariners are certainly no team to take lightly. Right now we hold a 3.5 game lead over the Guardians for first place in the Central, but the race has tightened as Kansas City, on a six-game winning streak, is now just one game under .500 ... so four of the five teams in our division are now within 4.5 games of each other AND all playing well, and even the last-place Tigers (24-32) are 7-3 in their last ten. So there’s no room for anyone to let up, or it can become a fast fall to the bottom. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

04-30-2025, 12:38 PM	#111
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	June 5, 2026: For the first time in years a sellout crowd showed up today to watch Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.00 ERA, 54.0 IP, 59 K’s, 1.17 WHIP) pitch against Seattle’s Domingo German (2-4, 4.17 ERA, 54.0 IP, 47 K’s, 1.28 WHIP). Chase Meidroth hit a solo homer, hist first of the year, in the bottom of the first to put us on top, but he didn’t have a lot of room for error as we fought our way through the first five innings. Julian Merryweather took the ball in the top of the sixth, still leading 1-0, and in the bottom of the inning we added on a run with a double by Miguel Vargas, and Brandon Valenzuela put up an RBI single to give us a 3-0 cushion. Merryweather got us into the stretch, Bazardo taking over in the eighth inning, and with the score unchanged we brought out Ben Joyce in the ninth ... with one out, a solo bomb out of right by Kyle Schwarber blew the shutout, but we pitched around runners on first and second to get the 3-1 victory. Rasmussen lasted five innings with two hits, two walks and five strikeouts, improving to 2-2 with a 2.75 ERA, while Merryweather earned his fifth hold with a two-inning three strikeout effort, improving his ERA to 2.73. Bazardo had his sixth hold and Joyce his sixth save, our boys outhitting theirs 12-4 thanks to three hits, a run and an RBI for Meidroth. June 6, 2026: Noah Schultz (3-2, 2.14 ERA, 71.1 IP, 86 K’s, 0.73 WHIP) pitched against George Kirby (4-2, 4.84 ERA, 57.2 IP, 66 K’s, 1.32 WHIP) in game two against the Mariners, and Schultz had an amazing game, but our bats didn’t give him ANY support and the Mariners pounced in the top of the sixth, a two-run homer by Schwarber putting them up 2-0. Jose Alvarado took over in the top of the seventh, trailing still by two runs, and Ryan Helsley took over in the eighth. All three pitchers did their jobs, but our offense let them down in a HUGE way, as we lost this one 2-0, holding them to five hits while only putting up five of our own. What a missed opportunity! Schultz allowed all five hits, but walked nobody and struck out 10 batters, taking a loss while throwing 94 pitches, and our two bullpen arms combined for a walk and four strikeouts as they did everything but take the plate appearances for our batters. The only offensive player to get on base twice was Tauchman, and he did both by walking. June 7, 2026: Today begins the draft combine, and we’ve added a couple dozen players to our watchlist, most of them high potential collegiate athletes. I’m letting our scouts do their jobs from here, and will check back in closer to the draft as we put our official board together. But the goal is to have these collegiate players seeing us as a great destination, and we can pick up any high school guys on the fly when the draft actually happens. Dylan Cease (3-4, 3.59 ERA, 67.2 IP, 71 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) pitched against Jackson Rose (4-3, 4.20 ERA, 60.0 IP, 53 K’s, 1.22 WHIP) in game three against the Mariners, and our inability to hit reached stress-inducing levels, as Dylan Cease pitched incredibly well and yet we couldn’t seem to get anyone across. He got us into the stretch still knotted at zero-all, and Jonathan Cannon had to take over in the eighth as suddenly we were pathologically unable to drive a run in -- nineteen consecutive innings since we last scored in the sixth inning of game one. Cannon got us through the ninth without letting them take the lead, but our bats had shown no more likelihood to that point that they could break through either, so everyone in the crowd and our dugout were on high alert. Chase Meidroth took a leadoff walk, and Cody Bellinger hit one HARD into right ... we thought it was over the wall, but Lazaro Montes made a leaping catch and kept it for himself. Two strikeouts later we were destined to go into the 10th inning with no score. Jesus H. Christ ... Alvarado came in to pitch for us as this brutal duel continued, with us having outhit them 4-3 in the first nine futile innings. He struck out the side, and we went into the bottom of the inning with Ceddanne Rafaela, one of our fastest runners, on second base. With one out, Miguel Vargas took full advantage of that by hitting a fastball up the middle and into the outfield, giving Rafaela just enough room to come around and score the winning run as we took this one 1-0 in 10 innings, snapping our scoreless innings streak at 20. Dylan Cease had seven innings with two hits, four walks and 10 strikeouts, and Cannon added two innings with a hit, a walk and two strikeouts. But it was Alvarado who completed the shutout and got the win, improving to 3-1 with a 4.32 ERA thanks to three strikeouts in his inning. We outhit them 5-3, led by Vargas who had a hit, a walk and the game-winning RBI. We get another off day tomorrow and then hit the road for three games against Tampa (27-31, 5th AL East), before returning to Chicago for three versus the Angels (28-31, 3rd AL West) and three against the Cubs (28-32, 3rd NL Central). We’re currently 34-25 and lead the AL Central by 3.5 games over the 31-29 Guardians, and we’re ranked 6th in the most recent power rankings that came out this morning, as the hottest team outside Baltimore and Philly, who are on four and nine game winning streaks respectively. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

05-06-2025, 02:10 PM	#112
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	June 9, 2026: Zac Gallen (7-1, 3.24 ERA, 75.0 IP, 62 K’s, 1.09 WHIP) pitched against Tampa’s Yu Darvish (3-5, 4.35 ERA, 72.1 IP, 57 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) in game one against the Rays, and our bullpen is close to fully rested with the two days off we’ve had in the last five days coupled with our starter going deep in the last two games. Joshua Mears got us on the board with a solo homer in the top of the first, and Cody Bellinger hit one in the top of the fourth to make it a 2-0 lead! But the Rays got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer on one out by Jonny DeLuca, so we knew it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk. Eduard Bazardo took over for Gallen in the bottom of the seventh as we clung to a 2-1 lead, but we took firm control in the top of the eighth thanks to four runs including a three-run homer by Mears, his second dinger of the night! Bazardo tried to stay out with his five-run lead, but he loaded the bases without an out in the bottom of the inning, so Helsley came out to put out the potential flames. He got a pop-out to short for out number one, but then a hard hit into right by Jonathan Aranda turned into a three-run double ... ouch! But we got out of the inning without further damage, and none of the runs were officially blamed on Hensley. Ben Joyce came out to close in the ninth with a two-run lead, ending this one as Seth Brown hit into a 4-6-3 double play as we beat the Rays 6-4. Gallen improved to 4-0 since the trade and lasted six innings with five hits, seven strikeouts and one earned run, while Joyce got his seventh save with a hit and a strikeout as his ERA improved to 5.40. We outhit them 10-9, led by Mears, who was 3-4 with two runs and four RBIs, his two homers giving him five on the season through his first 21 games as a major leaguer! June 10, 2026: Sean Burke (4-2, 4.01 ERA, 51.2 IP, 53 K’s, 1.26 WHIP) took on Tobias Myers (1-5, 6.67 ERA, 56.2 IP, 44 K’s, 1.59 WHIP) in game two against the Rays, and this time Tampa got a quick two-run homer in the bottom of the second thanks to Junior Caminero, though we got on the board with a solo homer in the top of the fourth off Bellinger’s bat ... his 15th of the season! Too bad they got another longball, this time in the bottom of the fifth -- a two-run slam by Brandon Lowe that put them up 4-1. Julian Merryweather took over in the bottom of the sixth, still trailing by three, and Jonathan Cannon got us through the seventh and eighth, but our bats needed to do the rest. In the top of the ninth with one out, Ceddanne Rafaela hit a single through the gap, advancing when Tauchman was hit by a pitch. Miguel Vargas loaded the bases with a walk himself, but they got two quick outs to end our hopes of a comeback -- Tampa won this one 4-1 to even the series. Burke took the loss, falling to 4-3 with a 4.29 ERA, allowing six hits, two walks and four runs with eight strikeouts. We matched them on hits with six, Bellinger leading the way with two hits, a run and an RBI. I got a phone call on the road from our new owner, Justin Ishbia this evening, and he’s told me in no uncertain terms our bullpen issues are going to need to be resolved ... he’s not happy at all that we’re paying Ryan Helsley $14.6 million and Jose Alvarado $11 million while our bullpen ERA ranks 13th in the league at 4.43 so far this year. He’s also unhappy with our shortstop situation, since Yordys Valdes is hitting just .205 through 190 at bats. I pointed out his +2.8 zone rating and 1.061 efficiency rating to go with just four errors all year, but he’s not having it. It’s been made clear to me that he’s going to expect me to be active to resolve these “situations” before the trade deadline or expect trouble in the offseason. But I have no intention of messing with a successful team just to appeal to the ego of a penny pincher who just wants to make a show of strength. He and I can fight it out in the offseason if necessary, but right now we’re packing the fans in and winning games ... and that’s what I’m being paid to make happen. June 11, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (2-2, 2.75 ERA, 59.0 IP, 64 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) pitched in our final game in Tampa, facing Mason Englert (3-4, 2.16 ERA, 33.1 IP, 37 K’s, 1.08 WHIP). We finally broke through in the top of the fifth with an RBI single by Chase Meidroth, but a solo homer from Everson Pereira tied it up in the bottom of the inning, and the very next batter, Seth Brown, hit one as well to put them up 2-1, both homers coming with two outs. Aranda hit a solo blast for them in the sixth and just like that we were in a hole 3-1, killed by the longball yet again. Noah Syndergaard took over with two outs, getting us out of the inning with just the two-run deficit, and a Miguel Vargas homer got us back within a run heading into the stretch. Jose Alvarado took the ball in the bottom of the eighth, still down a run, getting us into the ninth with at least a chance, but our bats let us down again and we fell 3-2. Another day, another duel, this time with both teams hitting just five times. Rasmussen took the loss, falling to 2-3 with a 2.92 ERA despite 5.2 innings with four hits, a walk, five strikeouts and three earned runs. Yordys Valdez hit twice for a run, the best our offense could offer. We’ll head back to Chicago to host the Angels, who are currently 28-34 and in last place in a relatively weak AL West. We remain two and a half games up on Minnesota and hold a 35-27 record despite the series loss on the road. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

05-06-2025, 02:12 PM	#113
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	June 12, 2026: This afternoon Noah Schultz (3-3, 2.21 ERA, 77.1 IP, 96 K’s, 0.74 WHIP) pitched against the Angels’ Caden Dana (3-3, 1 SV, 3.73 ERA, 31.1 IP, 31 K’s, 1.47 WHIP). Brandon Valenzuela hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third to put us into the lead, and Schultz was leery of turning the ball over in the seventh as he still had just a one run lead, so he stayed out and struck out three in a row to get us into the stretch. He reluctantly handed the ball to Ryan Helsley in the eighth, however, and in the top of the ninth Ben Joyce took over still up just by the one run. He struck out their top three hitters, all swinging, as we held tough to win 1-0! We’ve been in a lot of tight contests lately, but this one was just brutal ... we outhit them 3-2, outwalking them 2-1, so only EIGHT players for either team made it on base all night! Schultz improved to 4-3 with a seven inning two hitter, striking out nine, and Valenzuela’s homer in the third wound up being the only offense either team put up. We’ve had enough of those kind of haunting battles that have ended in a loss, so it was refreshing to see the entire team come toghether to claw out a home victory. June 13, 2026: Dylan Cease (3-4, 3.25 ERA, 74.2 IP, 81 K’s, 1.12 WHIP) pitched against Aaron Civale (2-1, 1 SV, 4.69 ERA, 40.1 IP, 40 K’s, 1.29 WHIP) in game two against the Angels, and we took the lead in the bottom of the second with a homer by Tauchman and an RBI single via Gary Sanchez. The Angels got a run back with a homer from Trout in the top of the fourth, and Mickey Moniak hit one immediately after to tie it up, eliminating a rare lead for Cease, who looked on in disgust. He got us through the fifth on 86 pitches, and in the bottom of the inning Yordys Valdes was hit by a pitch and had to leave the game ... Brooks Lee came in as a pinch runner and to take over at second base, with Ha-seong Kim moving over to short. We weren’t able to move Lee from first, and in the top of the sixth with the score still tied at 2-2 Ryan Weber took over on the mound. In the bottom of the inning Joshua Mears hit a solo homer to get us back into the lead, and Vargas hit an RBI double to add on. We kept the string of hits coming, with Sanchez batting in a third run with a single while Lee finished the rally with an RBI double that put us ahead 6-2 heading into the top of the seventh. Ceddanne Rafaela hit a flyball single into right that drove in another in the bottom of the seventh, and Weber got two outs in the top of the eighth before Taylor Ward got them a run back with a solo homer. Eduard Bazardo took over a couple minutes later with Trout on first and two outs, getting us into the bottom of the inning still leading by four runs, and after we added on two more runs ourselves in the bottom of the inning he stayed out to finish things in the ninth, a pair of strikeouts against Scott Kingery and Juan Flores finishing things as we won easily 9-3! Ryan Weber got the win, improving to 1-1 with a 4.97 ERA thanks to 2.2 innings with thre hits, two strikeouts and an earned run, and we outhit the Angels 14-6. Tauchman led the way offensively with three hits, two runs and an RBI, while Mears, Rafaela, Vargas and Sanchez each hit twice to make the middle of our lineup exceptionally brutal tonight. Valdes’ injury is a bruised thigh, making him day to day for at least the next five days, with a moderate impact on his running. So we’ll take it on a game by game basis whether to use him in the lineup. June 14, 2026: Zac Gallen (8-1, 3.11 ERA, 81.0 IP, 69 K’s, 1.07 WHIP) got the start today, and he’s gone 4-0 since the trade that got him here from Cincinnati. Today he faced the Angels’ Andre Pallante (2-4, 3.57 ERA, 68.0 IP, 65 K’s, 1.41 WHIP), and we broke through in the bottom of the third with a solo homer by Andre Lipcius to put us ahead 1-0 heading into the fourth inning. They tied it up in the top of the sixth with a two-out RBI double from Tyler Ward, but Gallen got us into the stretch still knotted up 1-1, and Lipcius hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to put us back up by a run! Ryan Helsley took the ball in the top of the eighth and he got us the rest of the way as we held on to win 2-1! Gallen stayed undefeated as a member of the White Sox, allowing a hit and two walks with eight strikeouts and an unearned run, improving his ERA to 2.84, while Helsley saved his fourth game with a two-inning three strikeout effort. We had five hits ourselves while pitching a complete-game shared one-hitter, with Lipcius leading the offense with two hits, a run and two RBIs. Tomorrow the Cubs come to town, to put their 29-36 record, fourth place in the NL Central, against our first-place 38-27 record here in the AL Central, our status at 11 games over .500 is our best so far this season and we’re coming off a sweep of LA while theyre coming off BEING swept, in their case by the Giants at Wrigley Field. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

05-07-2025, 06:40 PM	#114
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	June 15, 2026: Sean Burke (4-3, 4.29 ERA, 56.2 IP, 61 K’s, 1.29 WHIP) pitched against Shota Imanaga (3-5, 3.05 ERA, 88.2 IP, 84 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) in game one of our series against the Cubs, who drew first blood in the top of the third with an RBI single by Matt Shaw that scored Caisse from second. We tied it up in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single by Cody Bellinger, and Noah Syndergaard took over for Burke to start the fifth inning. He stayed out and pitched three solid innings to keep it tied up, but we went into the top of the eighth with the score still 1-1, with Eduard Bazardo taking the ball. He pitched around a single by Jeimer Candelario, getting us through the innning unscathed, and Jose Alvarado took over in the ninth with the score unchanged. He walked Pablo Alliendo and Pete Crow-Armstrong with one out, but got out of a dangerous spot by striking out Seiya Suzuki swinging and getting Ian Happ out via a hard-hit flyball to Joshua Mears in left field. In the bottom of the ninth Mike Tauchman hit a single over the head of Matt Shaw into right for a single, but we weren’t able to do anything with the runner and this one was headed -- again -- for extra innings, knotted up at 1-1. Ben Joyce took over on the mound in the 10th and he kept them from getting anywhere, stranding pinch-runner Ian Happ and Candelario, who got on base with a walk on one out. Brooks Lee didn’t make our fans wait ... he’d been hitless all night, but took the count full and hit one hard off a fastball from Jose LeClerc, the ball bouncing past Candelario at third to get into the left corner -- we scored the walkoff run to win 2-1! Joyce got the win, improving to 5-3 with a 4.82 ERA, picking up a strikeout against one walk, and we outhit them 9-8, led by Bellinger (two hits and a run) and Mears (two hits and an RBI). Heston Kjerstad has hit .281 with a double, two homers and eight RBIs during his nine-game rehab assignment with AAA Charlotte, and we’ve decided he’s ready to return to our major league roster following his knee tendinitis. We’ve waived / DFA’d Lenyn Sosa to make room for him, as Mears has earned his chance to remain on the 26-man roster for now. June 16, 2026: This morning’s sports page for the Tribune dubbed us the “white-knuckle Sox,” pointing out how we’re 17-11 in one-run games and 6-5 in extras already this season. Six of those one-run wins have come in June, and we’re already 10-3 for the month, with a five-game lead on the rest of the division. With Kjerstad back in the lineup and two games left against the Cubs before a HUGE nine-game road trip, it’s hard not to start thinking ahead ... but living and dying off one-run games puts you in a tough spot, and we’ve got to work extra hard to show it’s been effort and not luck that’s been winning us ballgames. This evening a sell-out crowd showed up to watch Drew Rasmussen (2-3, 2.92 ERA, 64.2 IP, 69 K’s, 1.11 WHIP) pitch against Justin Steele (5-6, 4.40 ERA, 77.2 IP, 72 K’s, 1.27 WHIP). But tonight didn’t start as a duel, with the Cubs hitting us hard in the first, three hits in a row culminating in a three-run slam out of left by Ian Happ to put them up 3-0 without an out. Rasmussen got three quick outs from there but threw 30 pitches to do it -- not a recipe for a successful start. But we answered quickly -- they walked Meidroth on one out, walking Vargas on two outs ... and then Ceddanne Rafaela slugged his own three-runner, this time out of right, to put us into a 3-3 tie as we went into the top of the second. Vargas hit a two-run single in the bottom of the third to put us into the lead 5-3, and Rasmussen did his best to get through the fifth ... but with two outs and men on second and third, Ian Happ delivered a two-run single to tie the game, and Ryan Weber came out to finish the inning. He stayed out in the sixth and gave up a three-run bomb out of right off Michael Busch’s bat with one out, though he did finish the inning without letting them have anything else. Brooks Lee hit an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to get us back within two runs, and Weber got a pair of outs before we brought out Jonathan Cannon, going into the stretch trailing 8-6. The Cubs added on a run in the top of the ninth thanks to a sac-fly by Matt Shaw, but Kjerstad hit a sac-fly in the bottom of the inning to drive in a run ... with one out and Meidroth on second Vargas took a walk, and with two outs Tauchman walked the bases loaded. But Andre Lipcius couldn’t get anything to happen and we lost this one 9-7. Weber took the loss, falling to 1-2 with a 6.14 ERA thanks to two innings with two hits and three earned runs. Each team had 10 hits, ours led by Rafaela who had two hits, two runs and three RBIs, while Vargas added two hits, two walks, a run and two RBIs. June 17, 2026: Noah Schultz (4-3, 2.03 ERA, 84.1 IP, 105 K’s, 0.70 WHIP) started against Ben Brown (3-5, 3.46 ERA, 75.1 IP, 66 K’s, 1.19 WHIP) in game three against the Cubs, and he’s been red hot lately ... he’s had two games this year with 10 K’s or more and he’s had 19 of them in his last two starts. He picked up where he left off, striking out two in the top of the first including a swinging strikeout by Candelario that stranded Happ on third. Ha-seong Kim hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning that put us into the lead, and in the bottom of the sixth Brandon Valenzuela added on with an RBI single. Schultz got us through the seventh, though the White Sox got on the board with a solo homer from Owen Caisse to get them within a run heading into the stretch. Ryan Helsley took over in the eighth inning, and he kept our lead safe when, with one out and runners on the corners, he got Seiya Suzuki to hit into a fielder’s choice, taking Happ out at home plate! Our attempt to buy some run insurance failed when, with Ceddanne Rafaela on second with two outs Mike Tauchman popped out to left to end the inning just a few feet short of a two-run homer. So with the one run lead, Ben Joyce came out to close things ... we got out of the game with runners on the corners when Kevin Alcantara hit into a fielder’s choice, out taken at second -- we get out of here with another 2-1 win to take the series two games to one! Schultz improved to 5-3 with a 1.97 ERA, allowing just five hits and the one run with nine strikeouts, giving him 28 K’s across his last three starts! Helsley earned his ninth hold and Joyce his seventh save -- with eight hits each, our team was led by Kim, who had two hits including his homer, for a run and an RBI. That win gave us our 40th of the season (!!!) and we’ll take that 40-28 record (and 5.5-game lead over Cleveland) into our nine-game road trip out west, where we’ll face the Rangers (32-35, 3rd AL West), Dodgers (45-24, 1st NL West) and Astros (33-37, 4th AL West) before returning to Chicago for thre games each against the Yankees (37-32, 2nd AL East) and Brewers (31-38, 4th NL Central) that will take us through the fourth-of-July weekend. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

05-11-2025, 05:58 PM	#115
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	June 19, 2026: We’re on the road in Texas, facing our first of three at Globe Life Field, and Dylan Cease (3-4, 3.28 ERA, 79.2 IP, 88 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) took the mound against Jon Gray (3-6, 5.04 ERA, 64.1 IP, 64 K’s, 1.23 WHIP), under clear skies with the roof open! Texas took the lead in the bottom of the second with a three-run homer by Ezequiel Duran, but we got on the board in the top of the third with a leadoff homer by Miguel Vargas, stalling their momentum a bit. In the top of the fourth, Vargas hit an RBI single on two outs to drive in our second run of the game, but we left the bases loaded and could have used that opportunity to take control of the game. In the top of the fourth we made up for it, however, when Cody Bellinger homered on one out, driving in three runs to put us ahead 5-3! Julian Merryweather came out to pitch in the bottom of the seventh still leading by two, and he immediately gave up a leadoff homer to Jose Trevino ... with one out and men on first and second, we brought out Jose Alvarado to put out the fire, but after catching a runner stealing third, he gave up a two-run homer to Corey Seager and just like that the Rangers were back up by a 6-5 margin. Eduard Bazardo took over in the eighth, pitching a clean inning, In the top of the ninth Vargas hit his second homer of the game, his second leadoff homer of the game, and that tied this thing up at 6-all! With one out, Yordys Valdes took a walk and brought up the top of our lineup, but we couldn’t get the lead, so Bazardo came back out in the bottom of the inning trying to hold on for extra innings -- he pitched around a single by Seager to do just that, and we were headed to extra innings yet again. They intentionally walked Kjerstad, sending him to first behind Meidroth the pinch-runner at second. With two outs, Tauchman hit a shot into left, Meidroth scoring off a bad throw to home to put us up a run ... Vargas hit a shot into center, driving in another pair, and Ben Joyce came out in the bottom of the inning ready to end this one ... except he walked Ben Rice and then let Josh Jung hit a three-run blast out of center to tie the damned game, and we went into the 11th frustrated at the blown opportunity. Pinch-runner Brandon Valenzuela made it to third off a sac-fly by Valdes, and they walked Kim to give us runners on the corners. We took the lead off a sac-fly by Meidroth that scored our 10th run of the game, and Kjerstad kept the game going with a single into right that pushed Kim to third, but Bellinger grounded out to first ... we’d take a one-run lead into the bottom of the inning. Jonathan Cannon came out to pitch, with Texas’ fastest baserunner (Evan Carter) on second. Leody Taveras popped one straight to Cannon for our first out, and Wally Langford popped out to shallow left, too shallow for Carter to make a move on third ... that brought up Corey Seager for all the marbles, and an intentional walk kept his bat from doing damage. Adolis Garcia popped one out to deep left, and we escaped with an absolutely bonkers 10-9 win in 11 innings! Ben Joyce improved to 6-3 despite blowing his third save, allowing a hit, a walk and three runs (two earned) along with one strikeout in his inning, while Cannon saved his second game and brought his ERA down to 3.86 through 35 innings. They outhit us 12-11, but we made ours count, as Miguel Vargas had an exceptional night: four hits with two runs and five RBIs thanks to two homers, giving him 11 on the season. June 20, 2026: Zac Gallen (9-1, 2.86 ERA, 88.0 IP, 77 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) is having one of the best pitching starts in the entire American League, and tonight he faced off against Cody Bradford (5-5, 4.12 ERA, 74.1 IP, 66 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) on the road in game two against the Rangers. Texas took the lead in the bottom of the second with an RBI double by Jose Trevino that scored Christian Walker from first, and Bradford was unhittable through five innings, with just two walks ... giving us absolutely nothing to work with. Gallen kept it a one run game through the bottom of the fifth, and we FINALLY got a hit in the top of the sixth with a single into right by Ha-seong Kim on one out, but he got nowhere. Ryan Helsley took the ball for us in the bottom of the sixth and he gave us two good innings, Ryan Weber taking over for him in the bottom of the eighth still trailing by the one run. With two outs, Jose Trevino singled in another run for the Rangers, and we came up to hit in the ninth trailing now by a pair in a game that seemed to have a much wider gulf. But Chase Meidroth hit a solo homer out of left off Kumar Rocker’s third pitch of the night! With two outs, Ceddanne Rafaela walked, bringing up Tauchman, but he’s been slumping ... we brought out Brooks Lee to sub for him, and with the count full he slammed one into right field, bouncing it off the wall as he doubled in the tying run! But it wasn’t to be our night ... Weber gave up a two-run homer to Corey Seager in the bottom of the ninth and we lost this one 4-2. Weber took the loss, falling to 1-3 with a 7.31 ERA, allowing three hits, a walk and three runs with one strikeout in his 1.1 innings. But we were outhit 11-3, so valliant effort in the ninth nonwithstanding we were outclassed in this one. Lee had a hit and an RBI and Meidroth added a hit, a run and an RBI, but for the most part our offense took the night off. June 21, 2026: Sean Burke (4-3, 4.15 ERA, 60.2 IP, 66 K’s, 1.34 WHIP) pitched in game three, facing Framber Valdez (5-4, 3.86 ERA, 77.0 IP, 80 K’s, 1.17 WHIP). We loaded the bases on two outs with a walk by Ceddanne Rafaela in the top of the first, but Tauchman continued to slump, grounding out to first to end the frame scoreless. We took the lead in the top of the second with a groundout to first by Valdes that scored Miguel Vargas from third, but the Rangers tied it with an RBI double by Seager in the bottom of the fourth and he scored the go-ahead moments later off a single by Adolis Garcia. They added on with an RBI double by Leody Tavares in the bottom of the fifth, and in a fielder’s choice attempt at home we failed miserably as Evan Carter was easily safe for their fourth run. A sac-fly by Seager added on, and they held a convincing 5-1 lead as we came up to hit in the sixth. Noah Syndergaard took over in the bottom of the sixth, the Rangers adding on a run each in the sixth and seventh to take a commanding six-run lead into the top of the eighth. We loaded the bases with one out in the top of the eighth, and with two outs Miguel Vargas walked in a run to cut the lead to five. Ryan Weber took over in a mop-up role in the bottom of the inning, and he kept the game from getting more out of control than it already was ... but we went down quietly, losing this one 7-2. Burke took the loss, falling to 4-4 with a 4.52 ERA thanks to five innings with four hits, three walks, five runs and four strikeouts. We were outhit again 8-7, Vargas leading the way with two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI. The loss dropped us to 41-30 as we head out to LA to face the 47-25 Dodgers in a three-game set. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Last edited by jksander; 05-12-2025 at 02:44 PM.

05-27-2025, 01:08 PM	#116
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	June 23, 2026: Noah Schultz (5-3, 1.97 ERA, 91.1 IP, 114 K’s, 0.70 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Dodgers, and in his last four game he’s put up 37 strikeouts with 14 hits, ONE walk and just four earned runs! Tonight he faced off against Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-3, 3.59 ERA, 62.2 IP, 62 K’s, 1.31 WHIP), and we got on the board instantly when Ha-seong Kim hit a leadoff homer in the top of the first! Meidroth hit a solo shot out of right in the top of the third to extend our lead, and Schultz had seven strikeouts in the first three innings as we stayed firmly in control. Brandon Valenzuela hit a two-run blast out of left in the top of the sixth to widen the margin to 4-0, but the Dodgers got on the board in the bottom of the inning with an RBI double by Teoscar Hernandez, and moments later Will Smith hit a two run blast out of right to get them back within a run. Jose Alvarado took over in the bottom of the seventh still leading 4-3, and in the top of the eighth Ha-Seong Kim hit an RBI single that drove in an insurance run for us. Meidroth hit a shot into right to drive in another pair and this one was back to a four-run advantage. Ryan Helsley came out to pitch in the bottom of the eighth and immediately gave up a solo homer to Freddy Freeman, but he got the next three (Ohtani, Hernandez and Tucker) via pop-flies, and we went into the top of the ninth leading convincingly by three runs. Ben Joyce closed it out in the bottom of the ninth, and after a strikeout and a groundout Tommy Edman hit a solo shot out of right to cut the lead to two. But Miguel Rojas struck out swinging and we won this one 7-5! Schultz improved to 6-3 with a 2.13 ERA, striking out 10 batters with five hits, no walks and three earned runs. Alvarado got a hold, his fifth, and Joyce saved his 10th game of the season with a hit, two strikeouts and a run. We outslugged them 15-7, led by Kim with three hits, two runs and two RBIs while Meidroth added three hits, a run and three RBIs. June 24, 2026: We’re back for game two against the Dodgers, with Dave Rasmussen (2-3, 3.38 ERA, 69.1 IP, 72 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) pitching against Gavin Stone (3-1, 3.58 ERA, 37.2 IP, 35 K’s, 1.22 WHIP). The Dodgers got going in the bottom of the first with a leadoff homer from Alex Freeland, his eighth of the season, and two batters later Shohei Ohtani hit his 16th of the season to put them up 2-0. It stayed that way for an hour or so, and then we woke up in a huge way -- in the top of the fifth, Tauchman scored off an RBI flyball single by Brandon Valenzuela, and then Ha-seong Kim hit an RBI double to bring in Miguel Vargas, tying it up with just one out against us. Chase Meidroth then got us the lead with a two-run double, and a Cody Bellinger sac-fly made it a 5-2 ballgame midway through the inning! In the top of the sixth we added on a pair with a two-run homer by Yordys Valdes, his fifth of the year, and Jonathan Cannon came out to pitch in the bottom of the sixth with a five-run cushion. We piled on from there via a two-run single by Vargas in the seventh, and Heston Kjersted grounded out to drive in another in the eighth, giving us a 10-2 lead. Julian Merryweather took over in the bottom of that inning, and the rout was on from there ... we scored four more in the top of the ninth including a two-run double for Valdes, and Merryweather stayed in to close out the 14-2 blowout win! Rasmussen improved to 3-3 with a 3.39 ERA, allowing just four hits, a walk and two runs with three strikeouts in his five innings, and we outhit LA 16-4 ... Valdes is finally out of his slump, hitting twice tonight with three runs and four batted in as he got his average back above .200 batting ninth, while Chase Meidroth added three hits, two runs and three RBIs as well. June 25, 2026: Dylan Cease (3-4, 3.36 ERA, 85.2 IP, 97 K’s, 1.12 WHIP) pitched against Roki Sasaki (5-3, 4.37 ERA, 82.1 IP, 94 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) in game three against the Dodgers in LA, and Mike Tauchman got us on the board in the top of the first with a walk that scored Chase Meidroth to put us up 1-0. Cease was on fire early, striking out the side in the bottom of the first, and Ha-seong Kim hit an RBI double in the top of the second to add on. Bellinger hit a solo homer in the third, his 17th of the season, but LA got on the board in the bottom of the inning thanks to an E3 error, James Outman scoring without a hit. Cease made it through five hitless innings, and we picked up another pair of runs in the top of the sixth thanks to singles by Sanchez and Meidroth ... but he had to come out in the bottom of the inning after having thrown 110 pitches -- Eduard Bazardo took over from him to start the inning, keeping them hitless as we flexed our infield defensive muscles. Jose Alvarado came out to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, and Ryan Helsley did the same in the ninth ... at which point he blew the shared no-no by letting Teoscar Hernandez hit a solo homer out of right to cut the lead to three. We got the win though, which is what counts, beating them 5-2 as we completed the road sweep! Cease improved to 4-4 with a five inning four walk, five strikeout effort -- just the one unearned run against him as his ERA improved to 3.18. We outhit the Dodgers 13-2, led by Bellinger with three hits, a run and an RBI, while Meidroth added two hits, a run and an RBI as well. We had to catch a plane this evening to get to Houston for our next three-game road series -- the Astros are 36-41 and in fourth place in the AL West, but they’re coming off a 3-1 series win over the Angels, so they’re hoping to continue their home success against us as they finish a seven-game homestand. We, meanwhile, are now 44-30, fourteen games above .500 and leading the Central division by 4.5 games over Cleveland ... we’ve won seven of our last ten games, including the sweep against the Dodgers, and we’re gelling well enough as a team that people are really starting to take notice. This is no fluke, our White Sox are ready to compete! __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

05-27-2025, 01:12 PM	#117
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	June 26, 2026: Zac Gallen (9-1, 2.81 ERA, 93.0 IP, 83 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) pitched against Alex Cobb (4-6, 2.02 ERA, 62.1 IP, 43 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) in game one against the Astros, and he’s a perfect 5-0 since being traded to our team back in early May from the Reds. Cody Bellinger hit an RBI double in the top of the first to put us up 1-0, but the Astros tied it up in the bottom of the third with an RBI single from Mauricio Dubon. In the bottom of the sixth Jose Altuve hit an RBI double that scored Yandy Diaz from second, giving the Astros a 2-1 lead. Jose Alvarado took over for Gallen on the mound in the bottom of the seventh, and in the top of the eighth we tied it up with a Ha-seong Kim triple that scored Yordys Valdes! Kjerstad hit an RBI single to push us into the lead, and we brought out Jonathan Cannon for the bottom of the inning as we worked to hold on. He easily handled their top hitters, notching two K’s and a groundout, and Ben Joyce took the ball in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately he let Isaac Paredes hit into a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners, and Jeremy Peña grounded out to score Altuve from third ... tie game. We should have had the out we needed to get into extra innings, but Pedro Leon reached on an E6 throwing error, letting Paredes score from second as they walked it off 4-3. Absolutely brutal! Gallen had lasted six innings with seven hits, a walk, a strikeout and two runs, and Cannon picked up his third hold of the year. But Ben Joyce blew his fourth save and took the loss, falling to 6-4 with a 5.64 ERA ... he has ten saves this year, but we need to be able to trust him in games like this. Each team had eight hits tonight, ours led by Kim who had two hits, a run and an RBI. June 27, 2026: Sean Burke (4-4, 4.52 ERA, 65.2 IP, 70 K’s, 1.34 WHIP) pitched against Luis Castillo (8-4, 4.20 ERA, 81.1 IP, 81 K’s, 1.34 WHIP) in game two, and they got going in the bottom of the first with a lead-off triple by Jake McCarthy, scoring off a sac-fly by Yandy Diaz to take the early lead. But we tied it up in the top of the second with an RBI double by Ceddanne Rafaela and Tauchman hit himself an RBI double immediately after that put us into the lead! Miguel Vargas hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 3-1, but he had to be pulled from the game with a pulled hamstring -- that’s going to cost him at least two or three weeks to recover. The game continued with Bellinger on first and Joshua Mears in at right field, and we added on in the top of the third when Kjerstad hit an RBI single to make it a three-run lead, and we took full control in the fourth when Ha-seong Kim hit a three-run homer (his fifth of the year) to give us a 7-1 lead midway through the inning. A sac-fly by Brice Matthews got the Astros back within five runs, but Burke had himself a quality start Bellinger hit a solo homer in the top of the seventh to send us into the stretch leading by six! Noah Syndergaard took over from there, and he pitched the remainder of the way, no-hitting his way to a three-inning save as we won 8-2. Burke had himself six innings with two hits, a walk, five strikeouts and two earned runs, but Syndergaard earned his first save of the year on 42 pitches, walking just one batter as his ERA improved to 6.32. We outhit them 12-2, led by Bellinger with two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI, while Bobby Valenzuela had two hits, a walk and a run and Ha-sueng Kim added his three RBIs off his homer. June 28, 2026: Noah Schultz (6-3, 2.13 ERA, 97.1 IP, 124 K’s, 0.71 WHIP) got the start against Houston’s Christian Javier (2-4, 1 SV, 5.65 ERA, 57.1 IP, 45 K’s, 1.53 WHIP) in the third game of the series, and this one turned into a surprising pitcher’s duel. Schultz didn’t have his best stuff but made up for it off soft contact, until the bottom of the fifth, when a double by Yandy Diaz drove in a pair to put the Astros up 2-0. Jose Altuve hit an RBI single to add on, and we went into the top of the sixth trailing by three. Julian Merryweather took over for Schultz in the bottom of the sixth, and they added on in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run homer for Diaz. Eduard Bazardo took over with two outs and Yainer Diaz on first, getting the final out but sending us into the top of the eighth in a five-run hole we weren’t getting out of. They’d beat us 5-0, and we lost the series two games to one as a result. Schultz took the loss, falling to 6-4 in a game he allowed seven hits and three runs while only striking out three, his worst strikeout performance since April 19th ... snapping a streak of three wins in a row, eight quality starts in a row and five consecutive games with nine or more K’s. They outhit us 10-5, and we wasted Kjerstad, who hit three times but couldn’t get anywhere. We’re off tomorrow, and then play the Yankees (42-36, 2nd AL East) and Brewers (35-43, 4th NL Central) for three each here at home to get us through the Independence Day weekend. We’ll then have three on the road against the Cardinals (38-40, 2nd NL Central), a three-game home set against Kansas City (40-39, 3rd AL Central) and then three against the Angels (36-42, 5th AL West) in LA and four in Minnesota (36-42, 4th AL Central) before the All Star break finally gives us a breather. We’re currently 45-32 and have held our 4.5 game lead over Cleveland as we near the season’s midpoint. June 30, 2026: We’re now fourth overall in the latest power rankings in the entire league, which is incredible considering where we were just two years ago. Drew Rasmussen (3-3, 3.39 ERA, 74.1 IP, 75 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Yankees, facing Clarke Schmidt (1-3, 7.17 ERA, 21.1 IP, 25 K’s, 1.50 WHIP) in front of 37,000 White Sox fans, which is also stunning considering where this fanbase has been. The Yankees took the lead first, scoring off a double by Aaron Judge to go up 1-0 with two outs in the top of the third, and they added on with a solo homer in the top of the fourth by Trent Grisham, his 11th four-bagger of the season. We got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single by Yordys Valdes to get back within a run, trailing 2-1, but Rasmussen stayed out too long ... in the top of the sixth with one out and a man on first, J.T. Realmuto hit a two-run homer (his third of the year) to give them a more commanding three-run advantage. Merryweather took over, but it didn’t matter ... we gave them another run before escaping the inning trailing 5-1, and we looked gassed. The Yanks added on a run in the top of the eighth off a sac-fly by Luke Raley, but we got back into the game in a big way in the bottom of the eighth when Ceddanne Rafaela hit a three-run homer, his seventh of the year, out of right to get us back within two! We’d get two more runners on base but were unable to score, so Ryan Helsley came out to pitch in the top of the ninth in hopes that we could stay in contention. He got three quick outs, including swinging strikeouts by Aaron Judge and Jasson Dominguez, and we came up in the bottom of the inning with an actual shot! With one out they hit Meidroth with a pitch, putting him on base, but we weren’t able to do anything once he got there ... Heston Kjerstad grounded into a U6-3 double play and it was over, a 6-4 loss. Rasmussen took the hit, falling to 3-4 with a 3.50 ERA, allowing six hits, a walk and four runs (three earned) with seven K’s in his 5.1 innings, while we were outhit 11-7 by the Yankees. Rafaela’s three-run homer was our main source of offense and it nearly got us there, but we’d done too much damage to claw all the way back. We finished the month of June with a 16-9 record for the month, which proved our 19-10 record in May wasn’t a fluke. Now we’re heading into the month of July in the enviable position as the division leader, so we’ll have our work cut out for us as other teams in our division take chase and we have to maintain distance. It’s been a long time since we’ve had to do anything of the sort, so I’m hopeful that our lineup can meet the challenge. We’re the second best defensive team in the AL with a +20.4 zone rating (3rd), and our team ERA is second in the league, thanks to our starters’ excellent 3.21 ERA. The bullpen still remains a work in progress, but we’ve struck out 746 batters this year against just 216 walks, while our players have gotten on base at a .326 clip (3rd), striking out 622 times against 301 walks. As for our new owner, Justin Ishbia, he’s currently delighted over our on-field success, which so far has kept him from nitpicking too much, though he keeps reminding me about the bullpen ERA being in the bottom third of the league. I keep pointing out that we’re 12th in the league now instead of 14th, and he’s agreed that there’s no reason for us to shake anything up as long as we’re winning. But if we stumble I’m sure he and his bean-counting private equity co-conspirators will be on us in a flash. One thing he’s definitely come around about is the performance of Yordys Valdes. Though he’s been fighting his way out of that hitting slump, he’s still batted in 25 runs playing in the nine-spot, with two doubles and five homers ... but his performance on defense has been beyond reproach, a +7.4 zone rating, a 1.098 EFF rating, and only FIVE errors all season, enough to give him nearly a full game in WAR. He’s the kind of personality that doesn’t rock the boat, and he’s content with his role ... and at age 24, he still has another year after this one at league minimum, and should be arb-controlled through 2031 when he’ll be just shy of age 30. If he can keep improving on the defensive side, he’s got a lock on the role as far as I’m concerned, whether he can consistently hit or not. Attached Images __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

05-27-2025, 01:14 PM	#118
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	July 1, 2026: Dylan Cease (4-4, 3.18 ERA, 90.2 IP, 102 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) pitched against the Yankees’ Brandon Woodruff (7-3, 3.77 ERA, 88.1 IP, 89 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) in game two of our series, and again New York got on the board first -- this time it was a solo homer for Nathaniel Lowe in the top of the second that did it. But we answered quickly, with Yordys Valdes hitting a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning, just his sixth long-ball of the season! The Yankees left the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, and Cease kept them guessing into the seventh, but we replaced him with Jonathan Cannon with one out and Oswald Peraza on first, still leading by a pair. Peraza scored on two outs with an RBI single by Jazz Chisholm Jr, but we got Anthony Volpe out on strikes to get into the stretch still leading 3-2. Jose Alvarado took over in the eighth, and he got two outs but let them load the bases ... and a single by Peraza drove in two to put New York ahead 4-3 heading into the bottom of the inning. We squared it up with a solo homer for Kjerstad to start the frame, and with two outs Gary Sanchez got us back into the lead with an RBI single into center! Helsley took over with no outs and Chisholm Jr on second in the top of the ninth, and with two outs Jasson Dominguez batted him home with a double, tying the score again, now at 5-5. Ha-seong Kim took a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth, but we couldn’t advance him, so this one headed for extra innings. Eduard Bazardo took the mound in the top of the 10th, and he pitched brilliantly to keep the pinch-runner from scoring. We came out in the bottom of the inning with Bellinger on second, and he took third on a hit-and-run, and an E2 throwing error allowed him to round that base and slide safely into home ... walkoff steal on a swinging strike, we win 6-5! That’s one folk’ll be talking about for a while! Bazardo took the win, improving to 4-0 with a 2.82 ERA, but Cease had laid a good groundwork ... 6.1 innings with six hits, a walk, six strikeouts and just two earned runs. Alvarado and Helsley each had blown saves, but we got the win and that’s what matters. We matched them on hits with nine each, led by Yordys Valdes who had two hits, a run and three RBIs, while Kjerstad added two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI and Bellinger scored twice off a pair of hits. July 2, 2026: Zac Gallen (9-1, 2.82 ERA, 99.0 IP, 84 K’s, 1.07 WHIP) pitched against Shane McClanahan (8-4, 2.74 ERA, 101.2 IP, 111 K’s, 0.94 WHIP) in the last game of our Yankees series, and for the third day in a row we let the Yankees score first, this time off an RBI double by Jasson Dominguez in the top of the first. He came around to score off a single by Nathaniel Lowe, and a triple by Trent Grisham batted in their third run ... all coming on two outs. So we came up to hit for the first time trailing already 3-0, putting Gallen’s perfect streak since joining our team quickly on the line. The Yankees added on a run in the fifth when Anthony Volpe hit an RBI double, and though we got on the board with a solo homer from Gary Sanchez in the bottom of the inning Gallen’s night was over. Noah Syndergaard took over in the top of the sixth trailing 4-1, and we got back in the game in the bottom of the eighth, a single by Heston Kjerstad batting in two runs to get us within one! Syndergaard got us through the top of the ninth with a chance, but we couldn’t get anyone on base in the bottom of the inning, losing this one 4-3. Gallen took the loss, allowing eight hits with four earned runs and three strikeouts, but it was Syndergaard who really shined tonight ... FOUR innings, with just a walk and two strikeouts, throwing 47 pitches in a dominating bullpen performance. He now has a 5.71 ERA through 41 innings over 24 appearances. We outhit them 9-8, led by Gary Sanchez who had two hits, two runs and an RBI. Kansas City is now on a five-game winning streak after sweeping Houston, and they have a 43-39 record, overtaking Cleveland by half a game in the divisional race. They now are just four games behind us, as the division tightens up. The 37-45 Brewers are coming in to play us for three games here at Rate Field, and we could really use a good winning streak right about now after losing two series in a row. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

05-27-2025, 03:20 PM	#119
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	July 3, 2026: Sean Burke (5-4, 4.40 ERA, 71.2 IP, 75 K’s, 1.27 WHIP) got the start in game one against Milwaukee, facing off against Aaron Ashby (6-1, 3.41 ERA, 68.2 IP, 65 K’s, 1.35 WHIP). Christian Yelich got the Brewers a lead in the top of the first with an RBI single that scored Jackson Chourio, but we caught Mike Boeve trying to make it around to score as well and his out ended the frame before they could do too much damage. We had two hits in the bottom of the first that nearly left the park, but the wind wasn’t our friend early. But the Brewers did get some good breaks, and in the top of the third a solo homer for Chourio extended their lead to 2-0. Gary Sanchez finally got us going in the bottom of the inning with a solo blast out of left, and we tied it up with an RBI single by Heston Kjerstad! But in the top of the fourth the wind betrayed us once again when Jake Bauers hit a three-run slam out of right to put them back up 5-2, as Burke began to show signs of wearing down. Eduard Bazardo took over to start the top of the fifth trailing by the three runs. We left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth without making any headway, but in the bottom of the sixth we loaded them again and with one out, Chase Meidroth walked in a run to cut our deficit to two. With Kjerstad at the bat, a wild pitch drove in another, pushing Kim and Meidroth into scoring position, and a sac-fly by Kjerstad tied us up at 5-5! Another wild pitch with Bellinger at the plate advanced Meidroth to third ... they walked Bellinger, and then ANOTHER wild pitch scored Meidroth ... incredibly we’d fought our way back to take the lead 6-5! With the bases again loaded, Brandon Valenzuela (at the plate for the second time) walked in a run ... his second walk of the inning! ... before we finally ended the inning with a pop-fly to center by Gary Sanchez. Merryweather replaced Bazardo on the mound in the top of the seventh, and Jonathan Cannon took over with two outs and nobody on in the top of the eighth, still leading by two. He stayed out the rest of the way, shutting them down without a baserunner as we won this one 7-5! Eduard Bazardo improved to 5-0 with a 2.68 ERA, allowing a hit with two strikeouts in his two innings as we turned the tide. Merryweather earned his fifth hold and Cannon his third save, and while Milwaukee outhit us 7-5, we outwalked them 11-2. Kjerstad led the way with two hits, a walk and two RBIs, while Bobby Valenzuela had a run and an RBI off two walks. July 4, 2026: Happy 250th birthday, America! There’s lots of baseball action here in the Windy City today, as we play the Brewers and the Cubs play the Rockies ... our stadium was a virtual sellout, as our young phenom Noah Schultz (6-4, 2.29 ERA, 102.1 IP, 127 K’s, 0.74 WHIP) battled Milwaukee’s Michael King (2-8, 4.52 ERA, 81.2 IP, 96 K’s, 1.26 WHIP) in a 1:05 p.m. start. We were solid on defense early, with two double plays in the first three innings, and in the bottom of the third we took the lead off a wild pitch, Tauchman scoring to put us up 1-0. We got our third double play of the game in the top of the fourth, when Christian Yelich lined into a U4 play, and we took control in the bottom of the inning, scoring off a single by Brooks Lee, a sac-fly by Kjerstad and a flyball double by Bellinger to go up 4-0 heading into the fifth! Schultz showed his age in the top of the fifth, loading the bases while hitting two batters, so we had to start warming arms in the pen ... a sac-fly by Willson Contreras got the Brewers on the board, Sal Frelick struck out swinging, and Jefferson Quero grounded out to first, however, so he was able to get through the inning with the lead intact. Julian Merryweather took over in the top of the sixth still leading by three ... with one out, Jackson Chourio hit into a fielder’s choice, driving in a run as we took him out at first. Bazardo took over in the top of the seventh with one out and Luisangel Acuna on first, getting us safely into the stretch still leading 4-2. Brooks Lee hit a sac-fly in the bottom of the inning to extend our lead back to three, and Ryan Weber came out of the pen with one out in the top of the eighth, getting two quick outs to keep it that way. Ben Joyce came out to close in the ninth, getting two strikeouts and a flyout to left to end this one as a 5-2 victory. Schultz improved to 7-4 with a 2.26 ERA, striking out four with a walk and five hits, allowing just the one earned run. Merryweather (8), Bazardo (8) and Weber (4) each had holds, and Joyce picked up his 11th save, as we outhit Milwaukee 8-7. Cody Bellinger led the way with three hits and two RBIs, while Chase Meidroth added a hit and two runs scored. July 5, 2026: We’re less than a week away from the draft, where we hold the #5 pick, and based on how we’ve been playing lately, this may be the last year we have picks this high in a draft for a while ... so we’re working hard behind the scenes to make the picks count! Drew Rasmussen (3-4, 3.50 ERA, 79.2 IP, 82 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) pitched game three of the Brewers series, facing Carlos Rodriguez (1-2, 5.00 ERA, 18.0 IP, 16 K’s, 1.33 WHIP), It was a duel for three and a half innings, and then we went wild in the bottom of the fourth -- Brandon Valenzuela hit a two-run single, Andre Lipcius followed him with an RBI single, Gary Sanchez hit an RBI double and then Ha-seong Kim grounded out to first but allowed Lipcius to score, putting us up 5-0! We added on three more runs in the bottom of the sixth, and Ryan Weber took over in the top of the seventh leading by eight runs. He stayed out in the eighth and a run scored off a groundout by Christian Yelich to first, blowing the shutout. Weber stayed out and finished the job, however, and we won easily 8-1. Rasmussen improved to 4-4 with a 3.26 ERA thanks to six innings with five hits, a walk and five strikeouts, and Weber earned a three-inning save with five hits, four strikeouts and the one earned run, improving his ERA to 5.96 through 15 appearances. We outhit the Brewers 14-10, led by Bellinger with three hits and an RBI and by Gary Sanchez with two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI. It was a team effort -- everybody in the lineup got at least one hit, with four guys having multi-hit games. We’re off tomorrow for a travel day, and will spend the 7th through 9th of July in St. Louis against the 42-43 Cardinals, before returning to Chicago for three home games against the 43-42 Royals, with the draft taking place on the day of the second game of that series. We’ll then have seven games on the road in LA and Minnesota before the All Star break lets us completely reset. Incredibly, we’re just a game away from our 50th win, something that two years ago would have sounded like an impossibility. All these series on paper look like winnable series, even on the road ... so we’re hopeful we can keep this win streak going. *We’re calling up Colson Montgomery for the first game in St. Louis, bringing him up from AAA to get a few games under his belt while Vargas is injured* ... the 24-year-old is ranked 63rd overall in the most recent BNN rankings. He’s hit .261 with 19 doubles and 10 homers in Charlotte this season. We may not keep him up past the All Star break, since it could be worth protecting his rookie status ahead of an opening day call-up next season for Prospect Promotion Incentive consideration. We’ll need to keep him under 45 days of major service, and under 130 at-bats if we want him to be PPI eligible next season. __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty

05-28-2025, 08:27 PM	#120
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,486	July 7, 2026: Dylan Cease (4-4, 3.15 ERA, 97.0 IP, 108 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) pitched against Sem Robberse (1-2, 4.12 ERA, 24.0 IP, 21 K’s, 1.50 WHIP) in game one in St. Louis, and the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead immediately with a solo homer by Masyn Wynn in the botom of the first. But we hit them back in the top of the fourth with a leadoff homer by Heston Kjerstad, and we loaded the bases from there, taking the lead off a sac-fly by rookie Colson Montgomery in just his second major league at-bat! Yordys Valdes hit an RBI single to make it 3-1 heading into the bottom of the inning, and we were suddenly rolling. But Nolan Gorman hit a solo homer leading off in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to one, so we knew we wouldn’t get off that easy. We got the run back in the top of the fifth with a sac-fly by Kjerstad, but Gorman hit another homer in the sixth to keep this one close ... too close, as moments later Austin Meadows hit a two-run blast out of right to rocket them back into the lead 5-4. Sean Burke took over with one out and Willson Contreras on first, and J.J. Weatherholt lined into a U3 double-play to get us into the seventh just trailing by one. We loaded the bags in the top of the eighth, and with two outs Ha-seong Kim hit one into deep center, allowing him to leg out a three-run triple that put us right back into the lead by a pair! Ryan Helsley took over in the bottom of the ninth with the lead unchanged, and he did the job as we shut them down 7-5 to win and keep our streak going. Sean Burke, who Ozzie Guillen has moved into the bullpen, improved to 6-4 with a 4.60 ERA, lasting 2.2 innings with three hits and two strikeouts after Cease went 5.1 innings with eight hits, a walk, five runs and eight strikeouts. Helsley earned his fifth save of the year, allowing two hits but bringing his ERA down to 3.02. They outhit us 13-10, but we walked five times to their one, and Ha-seong Kim led the way with three hits, a run and three RBIs. July 8, 2026: Zac Gallen (9-2, 3.03 ERA, 104.0 IP, 87 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) pitched against Chris Paddack (2-6, 4.74 ERA, 79.2 IP, 64 K’s, 1.29 WHIP) in game two in St. Louis, and the longball continued to be a plague ... in the bottom of the first they got on the board with a solo homer out of right by Eguy Rosario, but we stuck to our gameplan and an RBI triple for Bellinger in the top of the third tied us up! That’s when Ceddanne Rafela hit a two-run homer out of center-left, shooting us into the lead once again! We left two runners on the corners when the inning came to an end, but we’d built a 3-1 lead, and thus far this season Gallen’s been tough to beat once he gets a good lead. Lars Nootbaar hit a solo homer out of left in the bottom of the fifth to cut into the lead, but we got out of the inning without giving up our advantage. We brought out Eduard Bazardo in the bottom of the sixth still leading 3-2, and in the top of the seventh we loaded the bases on one out, setting up Tauchman perfectly -- he walked in a run with his patient approach, and we went into the stretch leading by a pair. With one out and Jordan Walker on first in the bottom of the inning we brought out Jose Alvarado, shutting them down with two quick outs to keep the lead safe. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth Masyn Wynn hit a solo homer out of right to cut our lead back to one run, but Alvarado got us out of the inning still ahead of the Cardinals. Unable to add any insurance, we brought Ben Joyce out to pitch in the bottom of the ninth, and with three quick outs he sealed it as we won 4-3! Gallen had five innings with two hits, a walk, four strikeouts and two earned runs, and we finished with nine hits against four for the Cardinals ... Bazardo (9) and Alvarado (6) had holds, and Joyce saved his 12th game of the year, improving his ERA to 5.18 after a one strikeout, no baserunner inning. Ceddanne Rafaela led the way with his two-run homer that set the tone for the rest of the game. He’s now hitting .244 and has hit 14 doubles and eight homers this season for 38 RBIs. In a little deep-minors news, we promoted 16-year-old starting pitcher Abnar Marroquin from the International Complex to our Dominican rookie team, just three months after he was discovered by our scout Mike Shirley. And damned if the kid didn’t make a stellar impression right out of the gate ... he pitched a complete game two-hit shutout against the Cincinnati (DSL) Rojos this afternoon, striking out TWENTY batters, most of whom are already significantly older than him ... if he actually IS just 16, there’s been some debate about his birth certificate. We have to keep him in the DSL league until next summer when he’ll be 17, but if he dominates the competition at rookie level, he could very easily make it up to single-A next season ... definitely a young prospect we’re paying heightened attention to! July 9, 2026: Jonathan Cannon (2-0, 3 SV, 3.38 ERA, 40.0 IP, 37 K’s, 1.12 WHIP) got the start in game three, facing the Cards’ Ranger Suarez (5-7, 4.92 ERA, 91.2 IP, 87 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) in a game where we have a mostly rested bullpen. Bellinger hit a leadoff triple in the top of the second to give us our first spark of the evening, and he scored off a sac-fly by Tauchman to put us on the board. Cannon had great control through the first four innings, and in the top of the fifth we added on with a run off a wild pitch, and another off a sac-fly, going into the botom of the fifth leading 3-0. That gave Cannon room to stay out in the fifth and avoid the long bullpen innings. We loaded the bases in the sixth, but failed to add on when Yordys Valdes grounded into a 3-2-3 double play to squelch the potential reaming in its tracks. Noah Syndergaard took over in the bottom of the inning, and it was not a great appearance for him ... with one out, Nolan Gorman hit a two-run double to put St. Louis right back in contention, and even with him having to leave the game after a collision sliding in, suddenly all the momentum was with the home team. Jake Merryweather took the ball from there, and it went from bad to worse when Jordan Walker hit a two-run blast out of left to steal the lead back 4-3 for the Cards. Merryweather got us into the eighth inning still trailing just by a single run, and Sean Burke took over in the bottom of the eighth, striking out the side to keep us in it. But we’d need to score in the ninth if we wanted to finish the job ... and this time it wasn’t in the “cards” for us as St. Louis held on to win 4-3, snapping our winning streak at five games. Merryweather gave us 1.2 innings with a hit, a walk, a strikeout and the earned run that lost the game, so he is now 0-4 (all off blown saves) despite a 3.68 ERA through 32 appearances. We outhit them 8-6, led by Bellinger and Valdes, each of them with two hits and a run scored. We’ll take a stellar 51-35 record into our three-game weekend series against the Royals, who are 44-43 and in third place in the division, seven games behind us and two back of the Guardians. Miguel Vargas is going to need at least another week on the IL before he’ll be ready to return, and we could have Matt Canterino and Brandon Pfaadt back in the rotation soon after the All Star game, though all three players will likely go through at least a short rehab assignment before I consider bringing them back up. Two days till the draft, and it’s getting a bit harried around here ... bring it on, though, we’re ready for the challenge! July 10, 2026: Noah Schultz (7-4, 2.26 ERA, 107.1 IP, 131 K’s, 0.76 WHIP) started in game one against the Royals, facing Seth Lugo (5-4, 4.02 ERA, 105.1 IP, 92 K’s, 1.25 WHIP). It took a bit, but we took the lead first in the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer out of center by Bellinger, his 19th homer of the season, and we followed that with a pair of doubles, Ceddanne Rafaela coming in to score our second run while Tauchman took immediate scoring position. Gary Sanchez batted in a third run with a single, and a pair of walks loaded the bases for Ha-seong Kim who promptly walked in a run, our fourth of the inning! Meidroth grounded into a fielder’s choice to get the Royals out of the hellish inning, but we’d done our damage. Bazardo came out to pitch with two outs and nobody on in the top of the sixth, quietly striking out Jace Jung to keep the shutout intact into the bottom of the inning. Bellinger hit an RBI single on two outs to add on in the bottom of the seventh, and we brought Merryweather out in the eighth. He got two outs in the ninth only to then allow a three-run double ... Ben Joyce came in leading by two with Yunior Severino coming to the plate as a potential tying run, but we got the groundout we needed and got out of here with a 5-3 win. None of Merryweather’s runs were earned, and he had two hits and a walk in his 1.2 innings ... we kept him out too long, and we were lucky Joyce was able to come out quickly and get that 13th save. Schultz, meanwhile, continues to impress -- he’s now 8-4 with a 2.15 ERA, going 5.2 innings tonight with five hits, two walks and five strikeouts in his 19th start of the season. We outhit the 13-7, led by Ceddanne Rafaela who had three hits and a run, while Bellinger had two hits a run and two RBIs. Tomorrow we draft, and then play game two againt the Royals with a 7:35 p.m. first pitch! __________________ "Oh No! We Suck Again!" -- Reviving the White Sox in 2025 -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty "The Rockies' Baseball Horror Show" -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty