White Sox Get Unfortunate News Ahead Of Guardians Series

The Chicago White Sox have a crucial series upcoming against the Cleveland Guardians. 

The White Sox will start a three-game series against the Guardians beginning on Monday. This is easily the biggest White Sox series of the season, as the two division rivals are fighting for the top spot in the American League Central. 

Chicago entered Saturday with a ½ game lead in the AL Central standings. The Guardians (75-73) have closed the deficit in this division, and the White Sox (75-72) are barely hanging on to first place. 

That makes this White Sox versus Guardians series the biggest one of the year. The White Sox currently own the tiebreaker over the Guardians because they own the season series (6-4), but things can quickly change if Cleveland sweeps this Chicago team at home. 

The Guardians would then own the season series and be in the driver’s seat to win this division. Both teams know how important this upcoming series is, especially Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt. 

Vogt decided to switch up the Guardians' rotation to throw out their best three pitchers in this pivotal series. Gavin Williams was originally expected to start this weekend against the Minnesota Twins, but he has been pushed back to early next week against the White Sox. 

The Guardians know this can make or break their postseason chances. They are giving the White Sox everything they have by throwing out Williams, Foster Griffin, and Parker Messick in this three-game series.

Williams has faced this White Sox team twice already this season. Chicago has held its own in both previous meetings. The Guardians right-hander allowed three runs across 4 ⅔ innings on July 3 and gave up two runs with seven strikeouts across 5 ⅔ innings on August 8. 

The White Sox faced Griffin back in late April when he was still with the Washington Nationals. In that outing, the southpaw threw seven shutout innings with two walks and eight strikeouts. 

The White Sox are most familiar with Messick, as they will see him for a fourth time in this series. However, the rookie has dominated this offense in all three meetings. Messick has allowed just five earned runs across 19 ⅔ innings against the South Siders this season, which included a 10-strikeout game back on June 23. 

While the Guardians will be throwing out their three best pitchers, the White Sox will likely be answering with Davis Martin (Monday), Hagen Smith/Erick Fedde (Tuesday), and Anthony Kay (Wednesday) in this three-game series. 

This is a big series upcoming, and the Guardians made sure to send out their three best starters to the mound.