How hot are the White Sox?
They were the American League’s big winners Saturday, and all they did was travel home from Boston to Chicago.
The rained-out Game 4 of the AL Division Series on Saturday at Yankee Stadium was a good thing for the White Sox. It could turn out to be a very good thing.
If the New York Yankees win the makeup game Sunday night against the Los Angeles Angels, the teams would be forced to make a 2,800-mile flight to play a deciding Game 5 Monday in Anaheim. The survivor would assemble scouts and coaches aboard an immediate 2,000-mile flight to Chicago, making plans to open the AL Championship Series on Tuesday night (or possibly Wednesday night) at U.S. Cellular Field.
Between them, the Yankees and Angels have appeared in six of the last seven World Series. It’s the team that accounts for five of those six appearances–the Yankees–that the White Sox are better suited to face.
The Angels, who have won three of their four previous postseason series under manager Mike Scioscia, are the most balanced team in the league. They have a rotation and a bullpen that compares to the Sox but have had a significantly more productive lineup.
The Yankees have elite hitters in Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield, as well as a huge winner in Derek Jeter. But pitching depth is a huge problem for them, as it was for the Boston Red Sox, whom the White Sox swept.
The White Sox had an advantage against Boston because the Red Sox didn’t clinch a playoff spot until the last day of the regular season, only two days before the first-round series began. Matt Clement, who had gone 3-4 with a 5.72 ERA in the second half, started Game 1, which turned into a 14-2 victory for the White Sox.
They could have a similar advantage in the ALCS, but not as big as it could have been if Scioscia had opted to go for the jugular Sunday. The rainout gave him a chance to use Game 1 starter Bartolo Colon on regular rest in Game 4, but he stuck with lefty Jarrod Washburn, leaving Colon available to start Game 1 of the ALCS if the Angels win Sunday. Colon would start Game 5 on Monday, making John Lackey the starter in the ALCS opener.
If the Yankees advance, they will face the White Sox with their ALDS Game 1 winner, Mike Mussina, unavailable until Game 4. He is scheduled to start the possible first-round Game 5 on Monday. Manager Joe Torre would choose between rookie Chien-Ming Wang and Randy Johnson, who would be pitching on three days’ rest after giving up five runs in three innings in Game 3, to start the opener against the White Sox.
