White Sox whining about Guardians grounds crew is poor excuse amid AL Central battle

Early Sunday night, White Sox pitcher Sean Newcomb struck out Gabriel Arias to secure Chicago’s 7-6 win over the Guardians. With the win, the White Sox secured a one game lead over the Guardians in the American League Central while also grabbing a series split in a crucial series. 

But, according to some White Sox players, they feel they should have gotten more than just a series sweep. 

On Friday night, the Guardians picked up their second-straight walk-off win over the White Sox in the form of a 4-3 win that was capped off by a game-ending single from Kahlil Watson. 

But Watson’s heroics came after a 1 hour, 55 minute delay that came seconds after Miguel Vargas staked the White Sox to a 3-1 lead after a three-run home run in the fifth inning. 

Even though the delay came at a time when the weather was at its worst, the White Sox had a lot to say about it, namely pitcher Anthony Kay. 

“I was hoping to go six, seven, eight innings, give the bullpen some help, but I think they messed around with the tarp,” Kay said after the game, per the Chicago Sun-Times’ Jeff Agrest. “We probably had at least 20 to 30 minutes of light rain that we could’ve played through.

Kay went on to say that he felt the tarp was pulled directly after the home run so the Guardians could get him out of the game quicker. 

And not only is that assessment unfounded since MLB makes the decisions of when to delay a game, but it also is missing some key context about how the delay impacted both teams. 

While Vargas’ home run confirmed that Williams wasn’t going to throw a complete game, he had thrown just 79 pitches when the tarp went on. It robbed him of at least another inning. 

It’s hard to imagine either team wanted to have to rely on their bullpen for 5+ innings in the second game of a four game series. 

To his credit, Kay walked his statement back a bit the next day, though he still said that he felt the Guardians could have gotten in the umpire's ear to influence the delay. 

Even if Kay felt the teams could have played through the rain on Friday, it was still a crazy weather day in Northeast Ohio that had whipping winds and rain. MLB always prefers that teams jump the gun a bit on the tarp since that makes a return to play easier, and that’s exactly what they did. 

It seems clear the Guardians and White Sox’s battle for the American League Central is going to be an all season affair, but Kay’s words also make it clear the White Sox are still the Guardians’ little brother. 

The White Sox have a talented roster (which we saw in the final two games of the two team’s series), but they’ve yet to win together as a unit. Meanwhile, the Guardians are coming off back-to-back American League Central titles and have one of the best managers in baseball on the top step of their dugout. 

That’s more important to winning than any grounds crew shenanigans. 

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