White Sox 8, Indians 1: Imagine If This Were a Playoff Race

For the second consecutive game, the White Sox blew out the first place Cleveland Indians to start a series that months ago seemed likely to be important. Instead, it just lessens Cleveland’s chances of securing home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and helps keep the hopes of the Sox dramatically finishing the season at .500 alive.

1. As Jose Quintana finished a scoreless top half of the sixth inning, Jason Benneti went to break describing today’s game as “a bona fide pitchers’ duel”. At the time, it was.  The game was 1-1 going to the bottom of the sixth. Very quickly, however, it turned into a blowout – Trevor Bauer would be chased after allowing five base runners while only recording a single out in the frame and his replacement, Dan Otero, allowed three more while only recording one more out. When the dust had settled, the Sox had sent 12 men to the plate and converted 7 into runs, their most fruitful inning so far this season.
2. After a couple of uncharacteristically shaky starts, Jose Quintana returned to form today, going 8 innings and striking out six and allowing just a single run on a Brandon Guyer solo shot. With the win, Quintana increased his career high win total to 12, and is now within 8 IP of a fourth straight 200 IP season.
3. Quintana’s start was the eighth consecutive start by a White Sox pitcher of at least 6 IP, a welcome stretch after the team started the month of September with a 3 game series in Minnesota where their starters combined for 13 IP. This, combined with consecutive blowout wins and Chris Sale’s consistent 8 inning performances has granted much needed rest to the bullpen and particularly Nate Jones and David Robertson, who have been called upon excessively as the only two reliable pitchers in the pen.
4. The White Sox and their fans set a Guinness World Record for most dogs attending a sporting event tonight at US Cellular Field. The jokes about them having to resort to canines because they’d never set a human attendance record will trickle in at a Guaranteed Rate
5. With a win today or tomorrow, the White Sox would win a series against Cleveland for the first time all season. Couple that with no series wins against Kansas City and one series win against Detroit in 2016 and it’s easy to see how the Sox got to this point of noncontention.