Chicago's clinging to first place in the AL Central, and a banged-up Oakland club that just lost its DH for the year rolls into Rate Field at the worst possible time.
Bush’s Picks
ATHCWS
ATHCWS
OverUnder
Best BetWhite Sox
Chicago's the healthier team playing meaningful baseball, and Oakland just watched its DH get shut down for the year on top of two infielders already out. This is as clean a value gap as you'll find between a first-place club and a last-place one that's actively bleeding talent. Back the White Sox here.
Athletics
+Beat the Dodgers 7-1 just last week
+Nothing to lose, playing loose
−Rooker done for season with knee surgery
−Wilson, Soderstrom out until after All-Star break
−Won just 1 of last 5 games
White Sox
+Sit 1 game up in first place in AL Central
+Won 2 straight, including a comeback vs Cleveland
+Murakami nearing return from rehab assignment
−Lost 3 straight before the current mini-streak
−Bullpen thinned by multiple IL relievers
−Two rotation arms (Bush, Thorpe) still out long-term
This is a series the White Sox should be circling. Chicago sits atop the AL Central at 47-42, up a game on Cleveland, and a soft-looking Oakland team is exactly the kind of opponent a first-place club needs to feast on before the All-Star break. Neither club has announced a starter for Friday's opener yet, but the stakes for Chicago are obvious: this is a chance to build a cushion, not just tread water.
Whoever gets the ball for each side is working with a beat-up supporting cast. The A's have already lost Luis Severino and Gunnar Hoglund for the year on the pitching side, and now their lineup is getting gutted too. Chicago's rotation has its own long-term absences in Ky Bush and Drew Thorpe, though both are progressing, and the bullpen has been thinned out by IL stints for Tyler Gilbert, Jordan Leasure, Prelander Berroa and Mike Vasil.
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ATH Athletics
CWS White Sox
None of that shows up on the scoreboard until it does — bullpen depth gets exposed in exactly these mid-summer series where teams are trying to survive the schedule crunch before the break. That's the quiet subplot here as much as anything with a number attached to it.
Athletics
Jul 9?@ Tigers—
Jul 8?@ Tigers—
Jul 7?@ Tigers—
Chicago White Sox
Jul 9?vs Red Sox—
Jul 8?vs Red Sox—
Jul 7?vs Red Sox—
Recent form.
The form points in opposite directions. Chicago's won 2 straight, including a wild 7-6 comeback over Cleveland, after dropping 3 in a row. Oakland's the opposite story: 1 win in its last 5, with a brutal weekend against Miami that included an 8-9 heartbreaker sandwiched between double-digit runs allowed. The Athletics did smoke the Dodgers 7-1 in there, so there's a pulse, but consistency has been nonexistent.
Athletics
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Chicago White Sox
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
The injury gap is the real story of this series. Oakland just found out Brent Rooker needs season-ending knee surgery, and Jacob Wilson and Tyler Soderstrom are both out until after the break — that's three lineup regulars gone at once for a team that was already scuffling. Chicago's missing pieces sting too, especially Munetaka Murakami, whose .938 OPS made him a lineup centerpiece before a hamstring strain shelved him in late May. But Murakami's now on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte, and the timing lines up for him to rejoin the White Sox as soon as this very series — a jolt of thump right when Chicago needs to pull away in the Central race.
