Gamethread: White Sox vs. Mariners (rain-delayed)

Well folks, we are being told that there is baseball yet to be played tonight. Supposedly. Until the White Sox (3-1) wait for everyone to buy their beer and hot dogs and officially make call, we are under the assumption that they’ll take the field against the Mariners (2-3) and have a go at the team’s first 4-1 start since 2012.

The White Sox will take on reigning Cy Young winner Robbie Ray, fresh off a seven-inning, one-run Opening Day outing against the Twins.

For their part, Dallas Keuchel takes the ball for the Sox, he of the 19 hits and 10 runs in 11 ¹⁄₃ innings in spring training. We’ll resist to insert a joke about preferring the rain. Regardless, if Keuchel’s Arizona woes bleed over into the regular season, he may wind up receiving the John Danks treatment sooner rather than later, as the buyout on his 2023 option is just $1.5 million.

Here is the lineup that will probably need to hit Ray a lot harder than they hit Matt Brash to pull out another win:

With Yoán Moncada and AJ Pollock on the IL, this is the closest the Sox will have to an A lineup, given Adam Engel and Andrew Vaughn’s platoon splits. Vaughn, of course, doesn’t have to prove he can be successful against a lefty as talented as Ray:

Seattle is turning over about a third of their lineup from yesterday, replacing one top prospect with another as Julio Rodríguez takes Jarred Kelenic’s place in CF after the latter’s Golden Sombrero yesterday afternoon. Star outfielder Jesse Winker is out against the left-hander Keuchel, replaced by righty power-speed threat Dylan Moore.

Game time is undetermined as of now, although Chuck Garfein is telling us that they’re aiming for a rainless patch near 6:30 p.m. CT. Good luck with that!

But if first pitch does in fact happen tonight, we’ll see you there!