Chicago White Sox Since We Last Met: Boston Red Sox

Here we are in the final weeks of the 2023 baseball season. Playoff chases abound, each and every game seemingly has rippling implications for teams on the cusp of the postseason chase still fighting for their playoff lives. This Sox vs Sawx series, however, is not one of those, as your Chicago White Sox pay a visit to Bean Town to take on the other Sox at Fenway.

The visiting White Sox have long since been eliminated from post season play. Far too much digital ink has been spilt rehashing the horrors of the 2023 Sox season. The Red Sox 2023 season, while not as dismally miserable as that of the White Sox, is still seen as a disappointment. While this season’s slow fade doesn’t compare to such Red Sox heartbreaks as 1978, 2003, or 2011, the team entered 2023 with playoff expectations, and as such, there are consequences and repercussions for another failed season. Hence Red Sox ownership shaking up their front-office personnel:

The Boston Red Sox fired chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 14, 2023

See Jerry, good organizations regularly hold themselves accountable, instead of merely replacing one de facto failson with whichever warm body is next in line.

Thank god Jerry had the foresight to lock Chris Getz down before the Red Sox job became open. https://t.co/JD5X5mAlAD
— Tyrone (@TheTyronePalmer) September 14, 2023

What Have the Red Sox Been Up To?

The home team found itself 6 1⁄2 games out of the final wildcard spot on September 1, with a month left to play. The Red Sox did themselves no favors, though, losing series against the Rays, Orioles, Yankees, Blue Jays, and Rangers. As the White Sox come to town, Boston is still mathematically alive for the final Wild Card spot, but they will need a miracle. They sit 9 1⁄2 games back of Texas and Seattle with only nine games left. Even if they won out, they would need help. A lot of help. Their fate in 2023 is essentially sealed, making this just another meaningless series between two bad teams late in September. I won’t even lie, despite the Pale Hose being an embarrassing catastrophe that we’d all like to erase from memory, I am thoroughly enjoying a baseball September where MLB has neither of their beloved northeast baseball darlings in the playoff hunt. Take that, Rob Manfred! The BoSox have the decency to suck again after their cheating scandal fades into memory, unlike those smug, unrepentant Astros ...

At least for this series, the stakes will be immeasurably low for the road team, and virtually inconsequential for the home team Red Sox who are 2-8 in their last 10 and 27-35 in the second half. This doesn’t seem like a Boston team that gets hot the last week, jump over three teams ahead of them in the standings, and defy the odds and a less than a 0.1% chance of qualifying for the postseason. They are, realistically, done.

Granted, this quote is taken from a film about Red Sox fandom, but it is ever so fitting for this craptastic catastrophe of a White Sox season as well.

What Are the Pitching Matchups? How Do We Match Up?

Friday, September 22

Touki Toussaint vs Chris Sale