After inspiring lots of hand-wringing about the future of baseball with dueling bullpen games in the opener of the Wild Card Series, the White Sox and Astros turn back the clock to a simpler time of, what, a year or two ago?
Hunter Brown was always starting this game for Houston, but after contemplating an opener, the White Sox are just letting Sean Burke take ownership of this game from the get-go.
The White Sox lineup is the same nine names as Tuesday, with the only difference between Chase Meidroth batting seventh and Braden Montgomery eighth, as those names were flipped for Game 1. Prepare for the usual assortment of pinch hitters, although maybe Will Venable won't be as aggressive after watching how his lefties handled the Astros' southpaws.
In other news, Bennett Sousa realized he made a mistake:
“I’m sorry for the comments I made about our fanbase. Anyone that knows me knows how much I care about this organization, this city and our fans. This team took me in four years ago when I was at my lowest. They’ve seen me at my highest. I feel really bad about last night. One thing I would love for people to know is that no matter how bad they feel about me or anything like that, that I’m feeling it 10 times worse. I’m going out there, giving it everything I got. This whole team is. These fans have supported us. They love us. I personally was emotional after an emotional game and was emotional in the wrong way. It needs to be about me there and look inside and know it’s not about the fans. It’s about me. I need to step it up for this team. I will today. Turn the page to today, hopefully win today and keep this thing rolling.”
TV: NBC Sports Network and Peacock
Lineups:
| White Sox | Astros | |
|---|---|---|
| Sam Antonacci, LF | 1 | Jeremy Peña, SS |
| Kyle Teel, C | 2 | Yordan Alvarez, LF |
| Miguel Vargas, 3B | 3 | Isaac Paredes, DH |
| Munetaka Murakami, 1B | 4 | Jose Altuve, 2B |
| Andrew Benintendi, DH | 5 | Yainer Diaz, C |
| Tristan Peters, CF | 6 | Christian Walker, 1B |
| Chase Meidroth, 2B | 7 | Lucas Spence, CF |
| Braden Montgomery, RF | 8 | Cam Smith, RF |
| Colson Montgomery, SS | 9 | Nick Allen, 3B |
| Sean Burke | SP | Hunter Brown |
