Gamethread: Royals at White Sox

The season has not gone the way the White Sox (63-65) had hoped. Tonight, the Royals (52-77) are in Chicago to open a three-game series. Entering this game, the Royals are 9-7 in the season series.

The White Sox have lost nine out of their last 11 games and are now in a situation that is precarious at best. According to FanGraphs, the South Siders only have a 12.5% chance of making the playoffs. Starter Lucas Giolito is looking to stop the bleeding. Giolito, like many White Sox players, is having a season he would like to forget. He enters with a subpar ERA of 5.14, although the advanced peripherals (4.12 xERA, 4.09 FIP) are fairly forgiving. As a result, he has accumulated 1.3 fWAR in 122 ²⁄₃ innings.

Brady Singer, a right-handed pitcher, will start for Kansas City. Singer, 26, enters with a 3.15 ERA, a 3.71 xERA, and a 3.55 FIP in 117 innings. As a result, he has accumulated 2.2 fWAR. Singer has made eight appearances (seven starts) against the White Sox in his career. During those eight appearances, Singer pitched 46 ¹⁄₃ innings, and his ERA has been quite strong (2.91).

Here are tonight’s starting lineups:

Shortly before the game, the White Sox made the following announcement:

Best wishes to Tony La Russa during the medical testing.

The first pitch is scheduled to happen at 7:10 p.m. Central. As usual, NBC Sports Chicago will televise the game, and WMVP 1000 AM will have the radio coverage. Let’s get back on the right track, shall we?