Guardians have golden opportunity to slow down upstart White Sox's AL Central push

For the past couple years, the Guardians’ series against the White Sox always seemed like an afterthought. While the White Sox would occasionally win one or two games in the series, they almost always trotted out a lineup filled with over-the-hill veterans or Quad-A guys who had no business being on a big league diamond. 

But that’s no longer the case, as the White Sox enter today’s series against the Guardians with a 39-37 record, which puts them one game behind Cleveland in the American League Central. 

And today’s series opener marks the first of 13 matchups between the two teams across the next three months that could end up deciding the fate of the division. 

The Guardians can make a statement in their series against the White Sox this week

The two teams have won in vastly different ways, however. For the Guardians, it’s been yet another year defined by strong pitching and timely hitting (though the offense is a bit better than last year). Meanwhile, the White Sox have slugged 106 home runs (the second-highest total in MLB) and are the only team that has two players with 20+ homers (Colson Montgomery and Munetaka Murakami). 

Although there’s still a lot of baseball left to be played this year, we’re far enough along in the season where the division standings still matter. In other words, the White Sox strong start matters. 

Coming into the year it seemed like the Tigers were going to be the Guardians’ main competition in the American League Central, but they faded to the back after their sluggish start that included Tarik Skubal missing a month. Instead, the White Sox have hung around at the top of the division thanks to that powerful offense that hasn’t missed a beat since Murakami suffered a hamstring injury at the end of May. 

Meanwhile, the Guardians are still navigating life without José Ramírez, who will be out for a month due to a hamate fracture. 

“It’s a talented young team with a very good offense,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of the White Sox, per MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins. “They’ve got some good arms, as well, and can match up with the bullpen. They’ve been good all year, and this series should be a lot of fun.”

Even though the Guardians haven’t played the White Sox this season, they’ve been lingering in the background pretty much all year. Perhaps the best example of that came earlier this month when Braden Montgomery mashed a walk-off homer in his MLB debut for the White Sox at the same time the Guardians were losing a series with the Yankees. 

The good news for the Guardians is that they’re going to be sending Gavin Williams, Parker Messick and Tanner Bibee to the mound against Chicago. 

Luckily the Guardians are going to dodge White Sox ace Davis Martin, though they still could end up falling off against a variety of talented arms. 

Anthony Kay will get the start later today before Sean Burke (the White Sox's second-best starter) will get the ball in Game 2. Erick Feede will get the start in the series finale. 

The Guardians should have the advantage on the mound in every game of the series, but the White Sox have made their hay this season by punishing talented pitchers. The Guardians will need to work hard to make sure they don’t end up on that list. 

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