Meanwhile Chicago just finished torching a truly dreadful Athletics club, extending Oakland's losing streak to 9 games in the process. That's the kind of series that pads a stat line, but it also caps off a stretch where the White Sox have gone 29-17 since mid-April — tied for the best mark in the American League over that span, and enough to push them into a share of first place in the AL Central at the break.
Nobody saw this White Sox season coming after three straight 100-loss campaigns, but the power has been real. Colson Montgomery, Miguel Vargas and Munetaka Murakami have each cleared 20 homers, and rookie Tristan Peters — who hit for the cycle from the 9-hole earlier this month — just got tabbed for the All-Star Game. Ace Davis Martin takes a 9-4 record and 3.41 ERA into the second half, giving Chicago the kind of top-of-the-rotation stability Toronto would kill for right now.
Toronto still isn't dead — at 45-51 they're only 2.5 games back of the final AL Wild Card spot, and this same lineup put up 9 and 10 runs against the Giants earlier this month. But they're last in the AL East, 12 games behind Tampa Bay, and with the trade deadline landing August 3, a rough week could push Toronto's front office from buying to selling. This series is as much about direction as it is about the final score.