Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 5, Tigers 3

Win No. 72: The season ended on a victorious note. (FanGraphs)

White Sox win Game No. “162”

After an exciting finish to the season, let’s go into the stats one last time in 2019:

.335

Tim Anderson wins the MLB and AL batting title with a .335 batting average! Congrats, Stick Talk! Let’s go for back-to-back titles in 2020!

1

Kelvin Herrera, during the last game of the season, records his first save of his 2019 campaign.

2

Joe Resis, my fellow editor-in-crime, has made it back to the #SoxMath Championship at SoxFest for back-to-back seasons!

6

The South Siders used a combination of six pitchers (Detwiler, Cordero, Osich, Marshall, Bummer, and Herrera) en route to their end-of-the-season win.

72

The White Sox picked up their 72nd win of the season! They avoid a 90th loss, and that is a stat worth celebrating!

123

José Abreu secures the AL RBI lead with 123 during his 2019 season. I hope he continues to wear the pinstripes for many, many years to come!

Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 7, Tigers 1

Early turnaround: Though the White Sox fell behind early, things got better for them in a hurry thanks to timely hitting and a great performance by Reynaldo López. (FanGraphs)

.213

Reynaldo López was today’s leader in wins probability added, as he added .213 wins for the White Sox. After allowing an early home run to Miguel Cabrera, López settled down and was outstanding the rest of the way. His line: eight innings, one run, five hits, one walk, nine strikeouts.

2

In his 34th career plate appearance, Danny Mendick hit his second home run. Mendick’s home run was a two-run shot, and it gave the White Sox some insurance, putting them up by a score of 6-1. It has been a good day for Mendick, who turned 26 today.

3

The Tigers only managed to put three balls in play with an exit velocity of 95 mph or more. Many props to the White Sox’s pitching staff, mainly López, for shutting them down.

31

Eloy Jiménez hit his 31st home run by smashing a liner off the foul pole in the seventh inning. Had that shot missed the pole, its projected distance was 403 feet. Jiménez is ending his rookie season on a high note.

37

Miguel Cabrera hit his 37th career home run against the White Sox to open the scoring. The only teams he has more home runs against are the Twins (42) and Cleveland (46). Cabrera’s home run was the 476th of his career. Coincidentally, on the third inning review in which Leury García was eventually ruled out at first, the estimated review time was 37 seconds.

104.0

Adam Engel’s single in the third inning left his bat at 104.0 mph. Considering Engel’s average exit velocity was only 84.1 mph entering play today, that sharp single caught many White Sox fans by surprise.

Six Pack of Stats: Tigers 6, White Sox 3

Early lead goes to waste: Despite grabbing a 2-0 lead in the first, the White Sox’s odds of winning were low throughout the majority of this game. (FanGraphs)

.170

Despite being on the losing team, Eloy Jiménez led all players in wins probability added, with .170. Jiménez accounted for six total bases, as his home run and double gave the White Sox’s chances a boost.

.334

Tim Anderson‘s road to the batting title took a small hit this afternoon, as he finished 1-for-5 (the hit was a single). As a result, his batting average dropped to .334, which still leads the majors.

.920

Yoán Moncada had another multi-hit performance to build on his excellent season. Due to his 2-for-4 performance, which included a double, Moncada’s OPS sits at .920.

3

The bullpen allowed only one run on a grand total of three hits in four innings. Two of those hits were allowed by John Osich, and one of those hits was a solo home run. Despite the rough outing by Osich, this is a bullpen performance that White Sox fans should be happy about, as this one could have spiraled out of control if not for Jace Fry, Carson Fulmer, and Jimmy Cordero.

4

Though the Tigers entered this game last in the American League with 141 home runs, they hit four homers this afternoon. It is a rough day from a pitching perspective when your team allows that many long balls to this team.

424

Eloy Jiménez blasted his 30th home run of the season in the top of the first. That homer left his bat at 106.8 mph and traveled 424 feet. As impressive as that home run was, Jiménez has a handful that have gone farther.

Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 5, Tigers 3

TA, YoYo, Pito: The three keystones for the future displayed exactly why they are integral parts to the future of this ball club. (FanGraphs)

The White Sox have entered a three-game winning streak!

Although the Chicago White Sox only scored half as many runs as they did last night, they made it exciting for a third game in a row, the second of which against the Detroit Tigers. Here are what the numbers of the night were like:

.335

Tim Anderson went 1-for-4 on the night, but have no fear, he still leads the league in AVG: .335!

.917

Yoán Moncada has continued to make the All-Star game regret not having him in Cleveland. With a triple and two RBIs in tonight’s game, YoYo increases his OPS to .917; he leads the South Siders in that department.

3

For the third time in the last four games, the White Sox have had all nine starting batters secure a hit in the ballgame.

10

In the past 12 of 14 games, the South Siders have accumulated at least 10 hits on offense! The rebuild is happening!

18

For the 18th time this season, Tim Anderson presented the crowd with STICK TALK! Let’s get to 20 on the season, TA7!

121

Presented with a bases-loaded situation in the top of the eighth inning, José Abreu singled home two runners for his 120th and 121st RBIs on the season! He leads the MLB by one and the American League by nine!

Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 10, Tigers 1

Pure dominance: The White Sox struck first and never looked back in tonight’s lopsided victory. (FanGraphs)

What a great day for the rebuild! Let’s take a look at some numbers from tonight’s exciting victory.

.178

No shocker here, but Eloy Jiménez was tonight’s MVP by wins probability added. Jiménez increased the White Sox’s probability to win the game by .178.

.364

The White Sox batted .364 (8-for-22) with runners in scoring position. That will get the job done, especially considering that a few of those went for extra bases.

2

Two relievers appeared in this game for the White Sox, and both are having rough seasons, but they got it done tonight. Kelvin Herrera and Manny Bañuelos combined to allow only two hits (both singles) in three innings.

5

Daniel Palka has five hits this season in 69 at-bats. Three of those hits occurred tonight, as Palka had his most productive day of the season by far, finishing 3-for-5. As a result, Palka’s OPS improved to .230, and his batting average improved to .072. This put any talk of him breaking the record for lowest batting average for a position player with over 30 at-bats to rest.

8

Eloy Jiménez accounted for eight total bases tonight. He got three in the second inning, when he led off with a triple. In the fourth, Jiménez broke the game open with a grand slam, and in the eighth, he put the cherry on top with a single.

9

Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann allowed 11 hard hit balls (>95 mph exit velocity) in play. Meanwhile, Dylan Cease only allowed two hard hit balls. Nine is a massive difference. It was one of those kinds of nights for the White Sox.

Six Pack of Stats: Mariners 2, White Sox 1

Hello, Darkness, my old friend: Omar Narváez hits the walkoff home run to sail the Seattle Mariners to victory. (FanGraphs)

The Mariners prevail over the White Sox in a low-scoring, extra-innings, late-night ballgame

Of course, a West Coast game goes into extra-innings. Of course, another former Chicago White Sox decides the outcome of the game for the umpteenth time this season. It’s not ideal, but the tables will soon turn — some already have (Thanks, Eloy!).

.200

Aaron Bummer is back on track! Bum pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball between the seventh and eighth innings. With that stellar performance, Aaron created a .200 WPA to his name.

.346

From the seventh inning and beyond, James McCann is a .346 hitter. In the seventh inning of tonight’s ballgame, McCann drew a walk to load the bases and to keep the even batting average. For part two of the stat, in the ninth, McCann struck out to lower the average just a smidge.

4

Alex Colomé has only blown one save in his 2019 campaign, and we admire him for it. For non-save situations, Alex owns a 4-4 record. Honestly, not too shabby for a closer, and it’s hard to be upset with the losses for how lockdown he has been all season. He’ll get them back!

5

My guy, Yolmer “No. 5” Sánchez, tallied a hit for himself in the leadoff spot! The next four guys in the order also notched a hit, so the first five hitters did not go hitless deep in the night. I’d like to thank Yolmer for his leadership and role-modeling skills.

38

Omar Narváez, on the opposite side of the baseball diamond, was the former owner of Zack Collins’ No. 38 jersey number with the Good Guys. Collins drove in the tying run of the game — from hustling off of a fielder’s choice — to eventually lead the game to extra innings. But, the former 38, hit a home run in the bottom of the tenth to seal the deal for Seattle over Chicago.

106

Dylan Cease used 106 pitches to get through five innings of a one-run ballgame. He lowered his ERA from 6.53 to 6.18 during that span. Even though Ceasefire much rather see the 106-pitch mark in the seven-plus innings, for now, he’ll certainly take it in the fifth with only one run given up.

Six Pack of Stats: Kansas City 6, White Sox 3

The good, the bad, and the ugly: A new Sox record, a Giolito-start loss, and losing the season series to KC.

Lucas Giolito sets a new White Sox record, but the South Siders drop the season series, 10-9

A Lucas Giolito start that isn’t a winner is usually always disappointing. However, you can’t win them all, but you can certainly try to accomplish that feat. It’s time to go through the numbers of the game to determine what went right and wrong.

-.361

Luc-ace G-elite-o had a very uncharacterisitc, but unusual start during this matinee matchup. He allowed five runs to score, but he established a new Chicago White Sox record: creating an unordinary -.361 WPA Keep reading to find out what our ace of the staff accomplished!

1

Alex Colomé entered the game in the ninth for a well-needed inning to pitch off some dust. However, Alex commited an E-1 by throwing the baseball to center field instead of second base for the forceout. That run came around to score for Kansas City’s sixth run of the game.

2

For some good news, Daniel Palka recorded his second hit of the 2019 season: an infield single in the sixth! Hopefully, that 90-feet sprint to first ignited a spark for the rest of the season.

8

Lucas Giolito recorded three strikeouts in the third inning, three strikeouts in the fourth, and two straight punchouts in the fifth. Luc-ace G-elite-o owns a new White Sox record with eight straight strikeouts!

A franchise record 8 consecutive strikeouts for @Lgio27! pic.twitter.com/qjN7natUKb

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 12, 2019

11

The offense surely tried to string hits together in order to produce runs. With eleven throughout the game, one would think that more than three runs would have crossed the plate for the Good Guys. Unfortunately, during the biggest rally of the third inning, José Abreu ran passed Nick Capra’a stop sign which resulted in the final out of what should have been at least a two- or three-run inning.

115

However, on the bright side, José Abreu took a fly ball to the center-field warning track in the fifth inning. It went as a sac fly to score Adam Engel. Engel’s run counted as Abreu’s 115 RBI of the season!

AL leading RBI No. 115 for Abreu. Game tied at 2

— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) September 12, 2019

Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 5, Angels 1

Bullpen gets it done: Largely thanks to the bullpen, the White Sox’s odds were consistently favorable in the latter innings.

.200

Josh Osich earned today’s MVP award by wins probability added (WPA), with .200. Osich was lights out in his two and two-thirds innings of work, only allowing one hit. Honorable mention goes to José Abreu, who went 1-for-2 with a go-ahead homer and three walks to finish with .172 WPA.

1

Danny Mendick has one career major league home run, as he hit his first blast since being promoted earlier this month. It is still extremely early, but in 14 career plate appearances, Mendick is slashing .357/.357/.571. In other rookie-related news, Dylan Cease has now made one start in which he did not allow at least one home run. Yep, for the first time in his young career, Cease did not allow any long balls this afternoon. In non-rookie news, the White Sox’s bullpen allowed only one hit and issued just one walk in five and two-thirds innings.

2

Today’s game marked the end of the White Sox’s season series with the Angels. In the seven matchups between the two teams, the Angels outscored the White Sox by two runs (39-37). Despite this paper-thin margin, the Angels won five of the seven games.

4

José Abreu reached base safely four times in this game, as he was key to the White Sox’s offense. In addition to walking three times, Abreu launched his 31st home run of the season, a solo blast that traveled a whopping 462 feet. Abreu’s home run gave the White Sox a 2-1 lead, and they never looked back.

5

In negative Dylan Cease news, the rookie right-hander issued five walks in three and one-third innings. As a result, his pitch count climbed very quickly, as it sat at 66 after only two innings. Cease’s updated walk rate is 4.35 BB/9, while the league average is about 2.90 BB/9. For Cease to maximize on his potential, he will have to cut down on his walks.

38

The Royals, the White Sox’s next opponent, are 38 games under .500. On Tuesday, the White Sox will look to pick up where they left off this afternoon as they face a struggling 53-91 team at home.

Six Pack of Stats: Angels 5, White Sox 4

Drop-off slide: The graph, at the eighth inning mark, was construed to represent a water slide — made for Angels fans only. (FanGraphs)

Lucas Giolito pitches seven innings, and Tim Anderson crushes a two-run homer, but it all goes for naught

The Chicago White Sox’s starting pitching did a job well-done. The Chicago White Sox’s offense did a pretty good job. The Chicago White Sox’s back-end of the bullpen faltered during this fluke of a game.

-.261

In a rare, rare, incredibly bizarre sight, Aaron Bummer had an off day. And, you know what? That’s okay. For how spectacular he has been this season, this is okay. It does hurt that he contributed a -.261 WPA, but his 2.4 WAR this season speaks louder.

.333

Tim Anderson’s 2-for-4 night, which included a single and a two-run blast, kept his batting average at .333. In some of the best news of the night, TA still leads the American League in batting average!

2

This was only the second time ALL season where the Good Guys have lost the game leading after seven innings. That’s pretty impressive given that they aren’t a playoff team, and it just amplifies how great the late-inning arms have been for the South Siders.

7

Lucas Giolito continues to dazzle and impress. Luc-ace G-elite-o allowed only two runs off of three hits in this seven-inning start. Unfortunately, he couldn’t capture his 15th win of the season, but have no fear, he will try again in five days!

107

José Abreu’s first-inning double allowed Tim Anderson to score the first run of the game. TA7 accoutned for Mal Tiempo’s 107th RBI of the season. With Timmy leading the leauge in BA and Abreu second in the league with RBIs, I say we cheer them on to finish first in their respective categories by season’s end!

216

Giolito reocrded his 216th strikeout during tonight’s game. This feat puts Lucas in second place behind Ed Walsh as White Sox righthanders to strikeout at least this many during a season. Walsh recorded 269, 258, 255, and 254 strikeouts from 1908, 1910-1912 (Baseball Reference). Lucas is a little way away from tying Walsh’s 254 strikeouts in 1912, but he might surprise us by the time the season ends. Regardless, I am incredibly happy with how Gio has turned his pitching career around that has resulted in complete games, being one win out from 15, and having his name and Walsh’s in the same conversation.

Six Pack of Stats: White Sox 7, Cleveland 1

Pitching and Offense: It all came together in a terrific afternoon ballgame that resulted in a series split with Cleveland. (FanGraphs)

Masterful pitching and flaming bats spark a series-split afternoon victory

Last night’s late-innings offense, which was beautifully complemented by an outstanding pitching performance by Reynaldo López, carried over into this early afternoon’s ballgame! With that wonderful combination, the Chicago White Sox split the series against Cleveland!

1

First and foremost, ReyLo only gave up one hit in his complete-game performance! Can we please acknowledge how incredible Reynaldo has been for the second-half of the season!? It’s utter insanity, but I am totally here for it. Keep it up, ReyLo!

3

With his first complete game of the season, López joins Lucas Giolito and Iván Nova as the third White Sox pitcher to throw a complete game in the 2019 season. Funnily enough, it’s a cool 3-2-1 sequence with Gio, Nova, and ReyLo in the quantity of nine-inning games pitched, respectively.

7

For the Sox’s hitting perspective, the Good Guys put up seven runs on the board, and seven guys recorded hits to make that run total possible. Surprisingly enough, Welington Castillo and Adam Engel accounted for five of the seven RBIs. Unsurprisingly, Yolmer Sánchez had the other two RBIs. 🙂

12

The seven runs scored were based off of 12 hits. This offense can be all-or-nothing at times, like our neuron’s action potential, but it sure is fun to watch when the offensive is producing big like this!

22

With 22 games left of the season, this team has the (action) potential to do something great and to keep it interesting for the team and the fans; let’s hope that it happens!

62

The South Siders have accumulated 62 wins, and if they could get to 75, that would definitely be something to end the season with this year. It’s a long-shot goal, but it’s possible.