Individual White Sox games in 2025 are already straining for relevancy, but Thursday's fraught effort to wrest a series split against the AL Central leader has been knocked down the priority list with extreme prejudice.
First, the White Sox announced that Jerry Reinsdorf and Justin Ishbia "have reached a long-term investment agreement that establishes a framework for Ishbia to obtain a future controlling interest in the White Sox. As part of the agreement, Ishbia will make capital infusions into the White Sox as a limited partner in 2025 and 2026 that will be used to pay down existing debt and support ongoing team operations."
Statement from the Chicago White Sox:
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 5, 2025
Essentially, the agreement sets a timeline in place where Reinsdorf could sell controlling interest in the club to Ishbia as soon as 2029, or as late as after the 2034 season.
Second, NBC 5 Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times have both reported that an end to the Comcast-CHSN impasse is coming as soon as Friday (just in time for Jac Caglianone, obviously), albeit one that likely ends with CHSN being put on the Ultimate tier that costs an extra $20 per month.
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As for actual baseball, well, Owen White was recalled and Caleb Freeman was optioned. White's numbers aren't pretty--6.64 ERA with 13 walks and 14 strikeouts in four starts since returning from a paternity leave--but he's fully stretched out and Will Venable says he'll provide bulk innings, possibly as soon as Thursday.
White has a deep pitch mix to offset the vulnerability of his fastball, but said he's been specifically building out a sweeper since being claimed off waivers by the White Sox in spring.
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Luis Robert Jr. is getting a third day off in a row, but this one wasn't planned. Venable said he took a ricocheted baseball off his head while working in the batting cage on Wednesday. He was checked out and cleared, and was doing work on the field Thursday morning.
Miguel Vargas is getting a day off, which sounds workload-based.
"I wanted to give Vargas the day," Venable said. "I think that was 20-straight for him that he started, and just yeah, just wanted to give him a little bit of a blow with the late game and then the day game today."
First pitch: White Sox vs. Tigers
TV: CHSN
Radio: ESPN 1000 AM, WRTO 1200 AM
Lineups:
| Tigers | White Sox | |
|---|---|---|
| Parker Meadows, CF | 1 | Mike Tauchman, RF |
| Gleyber Torres, 2B | 2 | Chase Meidroth, 2B |
| Kerry Carpenter, DH | 3 | Edgar Quero, C |
| Spencer Torkelson, 1B | 4 | Andrew Benintendi, DH |
| Wenceel Pérez, RF | 5 | Joshua Palacios, LF |
| Zach McKinstry, LF | 6 | Tim Elko, 1B |
| Javier Báez, 3B | 7 | Josh Rojas, 3B |
| Trey Sweeney, SS | 8 | Michael A. Taylor, CF |
| Jake Rogers, C | 9 | Vinny Capra, SS |
| Casey Mize | SP | Sean Burke |
