Gamethread: White Sox at Rangers

Hey, White Sox fans. Thank you for being here with me for yet another Sunday pregame where we’ll try to find the balance between hope and self-loathing.

The third-place Chicago White Sox are in Arlington for the finale of a four-game set against the Texas Rangers. The Rangers, you’ll recall, have spent the better part of this series trotting out starting pitchers whose names you needed to Google. (Except for old friend Dane Dunning, who we are objectively happy for, I guess.) What should have been an all-you-can-eat feast against high-ERA rookies for the seasoned Chicago offense has instead turned out to be an agonizing hunger strike. The White Sox were given the gift of Cole Ragans and Glenn Otto and could only manage four cumulative runs in return.

It’ll be more of the same today, as the Rangers will send yet another rookie to the hill in righthander Spencer Howard (2-3, 6.82 ERA). Take a look at Howard’s percentile rankings from Baseball Savant. If the White Sox can’t get it done today, then man, I just don’t know what to tell you anymore.

On the other hand, maybe the White Sox can invoke a little rookie magic of their own — Lenyn Sosa is back!

... but not in the lineup. Instead, manager Tony La Russa continues his love affair with Leury Legend and the Sunday Shuffle. (Dibs on that band name.)

Hey, the White Sox already needlessly burned one of Lenyn’s options, why not bring him back for a few days to sit on the bench and watch Leury again?

Lucas Giolito (7-6, 5.06 ERA) is on the bump for the South Siders, and I would also show you his Baseball Savant percentile rankings, but I won’t, because it’s depressing. Suffice to say it’s not been an easy season for everyone’s favorite cat guy. Giolito is ranked sixth in the league for home runs allowed (18) and will have to deal with the Rangers, ranked fifth in home runs (132), who will line up like this:

First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. CT and can be found in the usual places.