— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 12, 2019
Game 1: Cease vs. Greinke, 3:40 p.m.
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) August 12, 2019
Game 2 Nova vs. Cole
Welp, you all will have to wait to watch Dylan Cease go up against MLB’s best offense until 3:40 pm tomorrow. Sheesh, the Sox go from facing Zack Greinke to Gerrit Cole real quick in the straight doubleheader tomorrow. Cease is up against a bear of a ballclub.
As a team — let me remind you, as a team — the Houston Astros have an OPS+ of 120, tops in MLB. Only three White Sox players have a 120 OPS+ or higher, Tim Anderson (120), Ryan Goins (125), and Yoán Moncada (133), which says a lot about Chicago’s offense.
How might this be a concern for Cease? Here are the OPS+ of his opponents: Detroit Tigers (78, and MLB worst); Kansas City Royals (88); Tampa Bay Rays (100); New York Mets (102); and Minnesota Twins (117). The closest OPS+ to the Astros, the Twins, tagged Cease for the worst start of his career. So Game 1 will probably go as you all expect.
There was some news, at least, even without the Sox playing tonight. Their 2020 schedule came out today.
A 2020 vision. #WhiteSox schedule pic.twitter.com/WK677CLnQT
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) August 12, 2019
The schedule seems ripe for some additional postponements in the early going, you know, because the Sox are playing at home in March. Some highlights from the schedule: the Sox are going up against the NL West; all four games against the Cubs will be in July; and that game in Iowa is a part of a nine-game “homestand” in August.
The real and only question is: Will the Sox be playing meaningful games by the time that road trip to Iowa comes?