White Sox sim roundup: May 5

The Out of the Park sim we started at South Side Sox is running over with Brett and his team at South Side Hit Pen — Sports Illustrated.

Maybe by the end of this, all three sims will share the same record. Tonight, the top dogs (B-R Sox) got crushed, but the SSHP and SoM Sox pulled off decisive wins. The SSHP game was particularly nail-biting.

Baseball-Reference OOTP sim

Final Rays 9, White Sox 1
Winning Pitcher Tyler Glasnow (1-4)
Losing Pitcher Lucas Giolito (3-3)
HRs Brandon Lowe 2 (7 + 8), Austin Meadows (7), Kevan Smith 2 (1 + 2)
Standings 21-14, second place, 1 ½ games behind Cleveland, sixth-best record in baseball

OK, calling b.s. on this sim, with the whole five Rays homers, and Smith two dongs in one game. C’mon. The top of the Tampa lineup (Kevin Kiermaier, José Martínez and Austin Meadows) went 7-for-15, and Smith, batting ninth, got on base all four times at bat. Michael Kopech keeps getting his ass kicked (two earned in one inning of relief, to a 22.85 ERA) and Carlos Ramírez, who I’d never heard of before this sim, has now pitched 11 games in relief for the White Sox, to an 11.48 ERA.

South Side Hit Pen OOTP sim

Final White Sox 5, Rays 4
Winning Pitcher Dylan Cease (2-1)
Losing Pitcher Tyler Glasnow (1-4)
Save Alex Colomé (6)
HRs Ji-man Choi (8), Yasiel Puig (4), Nomar Mazara (4)
Standings 18-17, third place, 4 ½ games behind Minnesota and Cleveland, tied for 14th-best in baseball

The third inning was key. Two stellar defensive plays, by Cease and Leury García (CF), kept Tampa off the board. In the bottom half, the White Sox put up a five-spot, centered by a first White Sox home run from Puig (.909 OPS since arriving in Chicago). Fellow ex-Giant Tony Watson made his White Sox debut a huge one as well, entering the eighth inning of a one-run game with no outs and runners on second and third, and escaping it clean.

Sports Illustrated writeup

Strat-o-Matic sim

Final White Sox 4, Rays 1
Winning Pitcher Aaron Bummer (1-1)
Losing Pitcher Blake Snell (5-1)
Save Alex Colomé (7)
HR Tim Anderson (6)
Standings 14-21, fourth place, 6 ½ games behind Minnesota, Cleveland and Kansas City, sixth-worst record in baseball

Snell had an ERA of somewhere around 0.50 along with a 5-0 record heading into tonight, and the White Sox got to him just enough for the win, with a three-run bomb from TA. The White Sox made their hits count, with only six on the night. Dallas Keuchel didn’t factor in the decision, but pitched every bit as well as Snell. More worrisome for the high-flying Rays (second in East) is the loss of both Willy Adames and Brandon Lowe, with both players missing at least Wednesday’s game.