As we scuffle through a straight doubleheader against the Houston Astros, what better use for your free time during what promises to be several pitching changes than previewing the 2020 White Sox schedule and making plans for road trips with your buddies that will all but certainly fall through days before?
Let’s get started!
March/April Smarch
The 2020 season kicks off for the third consecutive time against Tim Anderson’s favorite opponent the Kansas City Royals, this time at the GRate (3/26; 3/28-29). The Sox then are off to Cleveland and then to Beantown as the opponent for the Red Sox home opener (4/2; 4/4-5) for some early season sampling of Sweet Caroline, if that’s your thing.
Other tidbits: The Sox should thank whoever drew this up with nine (!) games against K.C. in Smarch. Also, get your fill of the AL/NL West with home series against Seattle (4/6-8) and Texas (4/16-20) and roadies at Los Angeles [née Anaheim] (4/23-26) and Colorado (4/28-29).
May
Don’t look for this month to contain much hostile AL Central bad blood. The Twins are the only divisional opponent the Sox face, with back-to-back weekend series to close out the month. The Sox interleague journey takes them out west to take on the Giants (5/8-10) and Ron Burgundy’s San Diego Padres (5/11-13). I’ve been told the Padres have a couple of players that the Sox once had their eyes on. Huh. Can’t wait to get familiar with this strange opponent.
Other tidbits: Another year with the season series against the Orioles crammed in a month! And get ready for Bo and Vlad Jr. to bring their three to five months’ head start in their MLB development to Chicago (5/14-17).
June
Hey kids! School’s out and you, little Sox fan boys and girls get 10 (!!) scintillating matchups against Gordon Beckham’s Detroit Tigers (I’d list them all but just pick any day. It’s probably Detroit.)
Other tidbits: Sprinkled in with the standard divisional slate, why not grab the kids (your own, not someone else’s ... that’s kidnapping) and take a trip to the Lone Star State and relive your 2005 nostalgia with a series in Houston (6/12-14) Will Gerrit Cole be making his return in White Sox greys? [Maury Povich voice: The lie detector determined that was a lie ...]
July
Get your passports ready for your annual trip north of the border for a three-game set in Toronto (6/30-7/2) then get repatriated and celebrate ’Murica’s independence by sweating your Stone Ponies off in Texas (7/3-5). Then the battle to take the [Insert Brand Name Here] Cup resumes with our two-game home-and-home series against those Carpetbaggers from the North (GRate 7/9-10; A Flaming Pile of Garbage with Ivy on the Walls 7/20-21).
Other tidbits: The Arizona Diamondbacks randomly show up at Sox Park (7/10-12) and the All-Star Game is out in Dodger Stadium, as somehow things continue to go L.A.’s way along with three two straight World Series appearances. More divisional games are played, but will they even matter by this point?
August
The Yankees are the headliners for the Month That Dog Days Built. Sandwiched between home and away matchups with the 2019 Wild Card AL Central Champion Indians, the Sox’s first visit Yankee Stadium (8/3-5), then welcome them home to ... wait ... Is this Guaranteed Rate Field? No, it’s Iowa! That mangled movie line is from the classic Kevin Costner film Waterworld Field of Dreams that will serve as the inspiration for the first “home” game at an as-of-yet built, 8,000-seat stadium in a real-life corn field (8/13) followed by two games on the South Side (8/15-16).
Other tidbits: The Sox’s second month with only one divisional opponent will have a doozy of a homestand, featuring two recent World Series Champions. Boston (8/25-27) and Houston (8/28-30) show up at the end of an absolute Murderer’s Row of opponents. A four-game series in Seattle (8/20-23) may be the only chance at a series win!
September
The fruits of playing through the Ides of Smarch pay off with a schedule that ends a full three days before the end of the month. August’s Death Row of opponents continues with a road trip starting at The Trop against Tampa Bay (8/31-9/3) and then in Minneapolis for the Twins (9/4-6), followed by a brief, three-game home series against the back-to-back (third “to back” pending) World Series Runners-Up Los Angeles Dodgers (9/8-10). The home portion of the 2020 season will conclude with three against the Indians (9/21-23), and game 162 will be reached in a road set with the Tigers (9/25-27). Then the 2020 AL Wild Card Chicago White Sox will prepare to host their one-game play-in the following night!
Other tidbits: If you wondered where the Royals have been all season, they play seven more times on consecutive weekends, and our scheduled road sweep at the hands of the Athletics comes later this season (9/14-16).
That’s the 2020 season! According to Steve Stone’s book: “How to Build Your Dream House (and Playoff Team) in Five Short Years”, this is the year before the year the White Sox are truly ready to succeed, so sorry you wasted your time, money, and energy! But despite that, let me know what series you are most interested in and if the Sox can somehow shock the world and actually compete for a division title!