Monday, July 18, 2011

73

The All-Star break is over and the White Sox had a chance to sweep the Tigers, leading 3-0 in the third game of the series after taking the first two. Instead, they wound up losing 4-3 and had to settle for a Meat Loaf. The question is whether we’ll be happy if they win two games in every remaining series. At first blush, it sounds good. But when you look at the remaining schedule, it’s not so clear.

There are 21 series left on the schedule – one two-game set with the Angels; four four-game series with the Yankees, Indians, Orioles, and Royals; and 16 traditional three-game slates – plus a rain out against Oakland that may not be made up unless it means something. If the Sox win two games in each of those and win the make-up game, they’ll tack another 43 games onto the win column. That’ll leave them with a final record of 89-73. Is that good enough to win the Central Division?

Well, the hypothetical assumes that they go 8-5 against Cleveland and 6-3 against Detroit, so they make up three of the four-game deficit they currently have against both teams right there. It assumes they go 6-3 against the Twins, so they increase their one-game lead against Minnesota as well. It all depends on whether one of the other teams gets hotter than the hypothetical 43-24 record the Good Guys rack up.

Personally, put me down for it right now. It’s the A.L. Central we’re talking about. The division leading Indians and Tigers would be in fourth place in the A.L. East and third place in the A.L. West. All in all, I’ll take my chances with the Sox winning two games in each series from here on out. Given what we’ve seen so far this year, this almost certainly won’t happen, but we can dream, can’t we? Go Sox!

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