By Woodrow Carroll
Were it not for a 4-3 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles Sunday, June 26, the Chicago White Sox would have been swept by a team that has been a Major League Baseball (MLB) punching bag much of the past decade.
In Chicago for a four-game series last weekend, the Orioles failed to roll over for the White Sox and won three of four games. In fact, most of the rolling over was by the White Sox. In four games, the Sox scored only seven runs to fall 4-0, 4-1, and 6-2 before winning the finale, 4-3, Sunday.
By way of reference, in 2021, the Orioles finished 52-110, 48 games in back of first-place Tampa Bay in the American League East. The Orioles’ final record matched the Arizona Diamondbacks for the worst in the Major League Baseball.
The White Sox were runaway winners in the American League Central Division last season. The Sox ended up 93-69 (.574) and 13 games in front of second-place Cleveland.
Fortunately for the White Sox, division rivals Minnesota and Cleveland, who are this season in front of Chicago are not strong. The Sox were 5.5 games in back of the Minnesota through Sunday and Cleveland was two games behind Minnesota.
The White Sox are a legitimate 34-37 for a .479 team in runs scored as opposed to runs given up. The Sox had scored 295 runs through Sunday and Sox pitching had allowed 345 runs.
• The White Sox are not the only Major League Baseball team that has come up short of expectations this season. The Seattle Mariners have been a major disappointment given what was expected following last season’s results.
The 2021 Mariners did not make the playoffs, however, Seattle was close and finished 90-72 (.556) five games in back of Houston in the American League West.
Not since 2001 has Seattle reached postseason play. The Mariners’ 116-46 record in 2001 was far and away the best in the MLB. Yet, that impressive regular-season showing by Seattle failed to impress the New York Yankees, the 2000 World Series champion. The Yankees bounced the Mariners, four games to one in the playoffs.
• Westward Ho the White Sox! The Sox are in California this week for four games with the Los Angeles Angels and will go up the West Coast for three meetings against the San Francisco Giants.
The Angels are a bit of a mystery. With the likes of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani the team gets its share of attention. Results in the form of victories have been far scarcer. Last season, the Angels ended 77-85 (.475) and not a viable contender in the AL West race. So far this season, it is a repeat of 2021 for the Angels, at 34-40 through Sunday.
The Angels fired Joe Maddon as manager June 7. Maddon has a decent Chicago history, a 2016 World Series championship with the Cubs and it would have been an interesting story against the White Sox.
In 2008, the Tampa Bay Rays with Maddon as manager, captured the franchise’s first playoff series by beating the White Sox, three games to one. The Rays ended up falling to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games in the World Series. In two-plus seasons with the Angels, Maddon struggled. Often in baseball, a team’s success is perceived as due to the players and the team’s failure is the product of bad managing. Ergo, Maddon had to go!