3 Factors That Will Decide Blue Jays-White Sox Series
The Blue Jays are hot.
Coming off a four-game sweep of the Angels in Los Angeles and five total wins in a row, Toronto is arguably playing its best baseball of the season. It was a chaotic recipe out West, but the Jays’ bats went wild and the club’s bullpen zig-zagged its way through several tense innings, including covering 6.2 frames in Sunday’s win.
The result? Toronto sits at 27-20, one game up on the Halos for the second wild-card spot despite a minus-1 run differential.
Up next for the Blue Jays is a three-gamer at home versus the White Sox, who aren’t far off in the AL wild card hunt either. Here are three factors that will determine the Toronto-Chicago series.
Who wins the pitching battles?
TUES – Giolito vs. Gausman
WED – Kopech vs. Ryu
THURS – Cueto vs. Manoah
This will be a fun series, starting with a superb showdown Tuesday between Lucas Giolito and Kevin Gausman. Giolito has done a stint on the injury list but has otherwise been fabulous, fashioning a 2.63 ERA to go with 51 strikeouts in 37.2 innings. Luckily, the Jays counter with Gausman, who’s been equally polished this year. In a game with two horses on the mound, the better starter usually earns the win for his team. Expect Tuesday to be no different.
The later matchups are also intriguing, too. With a heavy fastball and big slider, Michael Kopech is an extreme opposite to Hyun Jin Ryu, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Ryu surprised everyone May 26, when he outpitched Shohei Ohtani (with tons of help from his offense) to earn the win. There will be a bit more faith in the big lefty this time around. Look for him to deliver a steady outing.
Johnny Cueto, perhaps baseball’s most interesting man, always brings some energy to his starts. With the always-electric Alek Manoah on the Jays side Thursday, fans in Toronto will be in for a treat.
Who battles harder in close games?
The White Sox and Blue Jays come into Tuesday ranked sixth (.774) and ninth (.759), respectively, in team OPS in late and close games. For two teams with underperforming offenses, that condition has been critical in victories this season.
The Blue Jays scooped up three more one-run victories against the Angels, making it now a league-leading 14 wins in one-run games this year. Toronto’s been challenged at times by its own defensive ineptitude, some occasional bullpen missteps, and an overall lack of clutch hitting. In Anaheim, the Jays plated 27 runs on just four home runs, clawing their way through loads of chaos to secure a sweep.
There’s no excuse for Toronto not to bring that rabid energy home to Toronto, and they’ll need it against a good White Sox team.
What does Toronto get from its role players?
The Blue Jays lineup is so much deeper when everyone chips in, and we saw that over the weekend at Angel Stadium. Alejandro Kirk (5-for-9, 1.378 OPS), Raimel Tapia (4-for-10, .955 OPS), and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (5-for-13, 1.145 OPS) all heavily contributed to the Blue Jays’ recent sweep.
During a stretch where Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernández haven’t produced at the level they have in the past, the offensive burden stretches to the bottom-of-the-order guys and the fill-ins.
It’s possible Hernández and Guerrero snap out of their skids at any moment, but if we assume the Jays’ studs need a bit longer to figure things out, then big hits from Toronto’s role players could make or break the momentum of this upcoming series versus Chicago.
Ethan Diamandas is a contributing writer who covers the Toronto Blue Jays for Sports Illustrated. He also writes for Yahoo Sports Canada and MLB.com. Follow Ethan on Twitter @EthanDiamandas