Today marks the merciful end to the 2019 White Sox season, aka Year 3 of the Rebuild. As is the custom on the final day of the regular season, all teams will start at 2:10 p.m. CT as to offer no advantage to the teams playing on the West Coast.
Ross Detwiler will take the mound for the Sox, but given that he's pitching on three days' rest after throwing 65 pitches over five innings on Wednesday, Rick Renteria will probably hope for three innings and expect two, and I'd imagine he'll try to stay away from his better relievers if possible given recent workloads. The way Evan Marshall pumped his fist with his inning-ending strikeout Saturday night suggested an emphatic stamp on his season. Otherwise it's all hands on deck, because all anybody can do is rest afterward.
What else is going on?
Draft position: The White Sox are currently in the 10th spot at 71-89, and they won't be able to advance any higher because even if Colorado and San Diego join the Sox at 71 wins, they'll be one ahead/behind in the loss column. If the White Sox beat the Tigers and the Angels lose to the Astros, they'd slip to 11th.
Batting title chase: Tim Anderson leads all of baseball at .337, and D.J. LeMahieu sits at .329. In order for LeMahieu to close the gap, he would need to go 5-for-5 while Anderson goes 0-for-4. Neither is likely to happen.
BABIP title chase: Moncada has overtaken Anderson for league lead, .405 to .402. Pittsburgh's Bryan Reynolds is third at .387. We're not the only ones noticing this:
RBI title: Jose Abreu leads Xander Bogaerts by seven for the AL RBI title, but trails Anthony Rendon by three.
Team home run lead: Abreu leads Eloy Jiménez 33 to 31, so it appears though he'll survive the rookie's late push.
Postseason picture: The Cardinals hold a one-game lead over the Brewers in the NL Central, so they'll clinch it with a win or Milwaukee loss. St. Louis would host a tiebreaker Game 163 for the division if it comes to that, with the loser heading to Washington for the wild card game.
The rest of the postseason brackets are set, with Oakland hosting Tampa Bay in the AL Wild Card game, and the Astros and Dodgers holding home field advantage in their leagues.
The most nerves might involve a couple of key players who suffered injuries on Saturday. Lorenzo Cain sprained his ankle sliding into home, while Minnesota utilityman Luis Arraez sprained an ankle in a collision with Willians Astudillo at Kauffman Stadium. Arraez was carted off the field in tears, but fortunately for everybody involved, the tests showed no fractures or ligament damage.
