White Sox 7, Cleveland 2: AL Central champions

White Sox win

Last year, the White Sox had a chance to knock Cleveland out of the running with a late-September series in Progressive Field, only to get swept in four games. That set the course for a third-place finish and a first-round exit in the expanded 2020 postseason.

This time, the White Sox only had to win one game to settle matters, and they wasted no time taking care of business. For the first time since 2008, the White Sox are AL Central champs, and it’s so much easier this time. Here’s hoping this foreshadows further successes.

Tim Anderson gave the White Sox the lead three pitches into the game with a leadoff homer off Aaron Civale. He added another big fly as part of a three-homer second that gave the Sox 7-0 lead through two. Reynaldo López stranded a leadoff double for the appreciated shutdown inning, and the clinching was on.

The White Sox told Civale how little he had. While he limited the damage to Anderson’s solo shot in the first, he had no escape in the second. Luis Robert greeted him with a leadoff homer, and he’d come to the plate a second time. In between, Eloy Jiménez made it back-to-back, followed by a Leury García single. After Gavin Sheets struck out, César Hernández followed with his own single to right to bring the top of the order back around.

That’s when Anderson went deep for the second time. He rode Civale’s high fastball out to right field for a three-run dinger and a 6-0 lead that basically settled matters. The Sox just refused to let Civale off the hook, drawing two walks and a Luis Robert wall-banging single for the seventh and final run.

López pitched to the score, giving up solo shots in the third and fourth. But he only gave up two other hits, he didn’t walk anybody, and he threw 40 of 65 pitches for strikes over 3⅓ innings. He looked a little miffed when La Russa pulled him after Bobby Bradley’s homer in the fourth, but the proactive course paid off. Garrett Crochet ended the inning with a double play, and Aaron Bummer threw a perfect fifth.

Craig Kimbrel had an adventure in the sixth, one that might’ve wracked some nerves had Bradley Zimmer’s leadoff HBP not been erased with an ill-advised stolen base attempt, courtesy of Yasmani Grandal. He issued two other walks and didn’t get a strikeout, but he still had a zero to show for his toil.

Liam Hendriks pitched the seventh, but only out of ceremony. He worked around a one-out single, capping the game with a strikeout and a scream. The on-field celebration was relatively muted, whether because there’s still a lot of (post)season left, or because there’s a Game 2 in a couple of hours. If it’s the latter, at least they can take it easy.

Bullet points:

*The Sox didn’t need Yasmani Grandal for power, which was good since he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

*Hernández went 3-for-3 at the bottom of the order, which paired well with Anderson’s 3-for-4 at the top of it.

*Hernández and Yoán Moncada bobbled potential double-play balls in the sixth and seventh inning, but settled for one out to avoid errors.

*The White Sox are AL Central champs.

Record: 86-66 | Box score | Statcast

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asinwreck

Love that last bullet point.

MonicaMG

I’m happy for team. Good job and don’t stop now boys.

roke1960

Hey Paris Sox, did your daughter get to see the clincher?

ParisSox

@roke1960 Yes she did! And an Eloy homer to boot! Great memories

xubrent

First part of the job is completed. Happy for the team, the city and Sox fans everywhere. I, for one, need atleast another month of WhiteSox baseball to quench the thirst. Hopefully they can make it happen!

As Cirensica

Couldn’t watch the game as I am stuck with a heavy workload, but wanna to chime in to celebrate with my White Sox buddies commenters and SoxMachine team. A bottle of wine awaits at home for proper celebration once I leave the office.

roke1960

Too bad you missed it. I watched it at work without the sound. But it was a great game!!

As Cirensica

I just couldn’t. I had so many zoom calls that I just couldn’t even sneak the game in. I saw a tweet of Robert’s homer and oh man…that was glorious. He is gonna be a 8 WAR player soon.

NDSox12

Same! And a possible good omen… the Sox have gone on to win the World Series 100% of the time when I’ve missed the division clinching game due to work.

fustercluck

my job’s 2-days/week remote policy came through big in the clutch today

madridsox

It was great to be able to watch the clincher live and not 6 hours later hastily before commuting in the awful Madrid traffic. It would have been a happy commute, but I definitely prefer a happy night sleep. Cheers everyone!

Foulkelore

Buenas noches

madridsox

¡Igualmente!

Joliet Orange Sox

I’m happy to see this time slot was popular with viewers in Paris, Madrid, and Tel Aviv. In Joliet, it conflicted with my work schedule and I just checked the score a few times.

I wonder if the TV people have any data about whether there are more Sox fans in the Chicago area or in Europe/Israel?

(I’m leaving work now after reading Jim’s great recap of the happy events of the day. There’s some construction between here and my home and I’m worried my commute will take over 10 minutes which I’m spoiled enough (very spoiled!) to find onerous so I guess I can let Madrid have this!)

Foulkelore

It’s been a lot of fun following this team’s success with you all this year. Here’s hoping to a lot more fun yet to come.

As Cirensica

White Sox are the first team to clinch a division. Many other teams have clinched a playoff berth, but none had clinched their respective divisions. Brewers should be next.

mikeschach

Finally a nicely timed for Tel-Aviv (daytime) win – and well worth the wait!
On to the next

Foulkelore

I didn’t think I’d care much about game 2, but Vaughn’s in the lineup. That’s unexpected but good to see.

jorgefabregas

Playing third. Always want to put a player in an unfamiliar position (that is notorious for injuring the back) when they are coming back from a back injury.

metasox

Assuming he is on the post-season roster, he may be the only infield depth (not including 1B) other than Leury. I don’t know about the back issue, but I can understand getting him some reps at 3B

MileHiJoe

Going to the game Saturday hope to see some of you! What a time to be a Sox fan.

jhomeslice

Great to see them get it done. Hopefully the start of some better play and more umph from them heading into the postseason.

Root Cause

I am actually interested in watching game 2. (Missed game one so thanks for the post).
There are several playing who probably want to make a good impression while they can.

GrinnellSteve

The first step in a 4-part journey.

It was inevitable, but watching it was satisfying. Now on to step 2.