Gamethread: Blue Jays at White Sox

The White Sox (36-23) welcome the Blue Jays (30-27) to town for a three-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field. While the Blue Jays are in third place in a highly competitive AL East, the White Sox lead the AL Central by four games.

Carlos Rodón will start for the South Siders on the mound. It is June, and Rodón’s strong performance can no longer be labeled as a result of a small sample size. Rodón has a 1.98 ERA, a 2.67 FIP, and a 2.63 xFIP in 54 ²⁄₃ innings. Those numbers render him a 1.8-WAR pitcher, per FanGraphs. The only season Rodón topped that number was 2016, when he had 2.7. Rodón is easily on pace to top that mark this season. However, tonight will be a challenge, as the Blue Jays enter with an average of 4.95 runs per game. That offense is led by 22-year-old superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is slashing .333/.436/.662 with a 195 wRC (3.5 WAR).

Left-hander Robbie Ray, 29, will start for the Blue Jays. Ray enters with a 3.57 ERA, a 4.73 FIP, and a 3.36 xFIP. FanGraphs uses a FIP-based formula to calculate WAR, so he is only a 0.2-WAR pitcher, per FanGraphs. However, Ray’s luck on fly balls has been poor, as nearly 24% of fly balls against Ray have left the park. That luck is likely to even out quite a bit before the end of the season.

Here are tonight’s starting lineups:

The game will start at 7:10 p.m. CST, and NBC Sports Chicago will televise it. As usual, WMVP 1000 AM and WRTO 1200 AM will have the radio coverage. Time to get our 37th victory.