By Woodrow Carroll
After falling, 6-5, to the Miami Marlins Sunday, June 11 at Guaranteed Rate Field, the host Chicago White Sox record dropped to 29-38 in the American League Central. The three-game series with the Marlins, which started on a positive note, a 2-1 Sox victory, ended with two Sox late-game collapses, a bad send off to West Coast games this week against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle.
The White Sox opened this campaign with a 7-21 won-loss record. From that point, the Sox put together a 22-15 record entering this week, hardly a monster run. Yet, in the American League Central Division, where a .500 record might be good enough to win the division championship and a playoff spot, the Sox had to feel good about prospects.
Miami made a living in the one-run-victory department. Miami left Chicago with a 17-5 record in one-run games.
The White Sox were on target for another one-run victory Saturday, June 10 with a 1-0 lead entering the ninth inning.
Then came a meltdown!
Miami scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning and the Sox had no answer for a 5-1 Miami victory. If the Saturday, June 10 White Sox meltdown was a disappointment, the result from the Sunday, June 11 game against Miami was down right disheartening.
Leading 5-1 in the eighth inning, the Marlins scored twice and tacked on three more runs in the top of the ninth inning with no response from the Sox for a 6-5 Miami victory.
The Marlins are locked in a tight battle with the Atlanta Braves for the top spot in the National League East through Sunday with a 38-29 record.
The Chicago Cubs were 28-37 through Sunday and in fourth place in the five-team National League Central. The Cubs will be at home this week against Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Next week, June 24-25, the Cubs will play two games in London, England, against last-place St. Louis.
The Cubs and White Sox each ended the weekend nine games under .500. The Sox were 29-38.
If the Sox have something to put their hopes on, it is the Club being the American League’s Central Division.
Minnesota ended the weekend leading the AL Central with a 33-33 (.500) record. In the AL East, the Boston Red Sox were the same 33-33. The Red Sox are in last place in the East Division, 14 games in back of the Tampa Bay Rays 48-20 (.706) through Sunday, June 11, in the AL East. Looking at it another way, Boston would be tied for first were the Red Sox in the AL Central. Instead, the Red Sox are the cellar-dwellers in the AL East.
The White Sox and Tampa Bay faced each other seven times in the early part of the schedule. The White Sox dropped the first six games before a 12-9 comeback victory April 30. That’s when White Sox were at a low ebb, 7-21.
The White Sox have held their own against Central Division rivals. They were 15-11 against Minnesota, Cleveland, Detroit, and Kansas City.
This week it’s the White Sox road show for three games each against the Los Angeles Dodgers and in Seattle.
The next home game for the White Sox will be June 19 against the Texas Rangers.