In Game 1 of the White Sox's Wild Card Series against Oakland during the 2020 postseason, Rick Renteria rolled out Lucas Giolito, who would go on to finish seventh in the American League Cy Young voting.
In Game 1 of the White Sox's Divisional Series against Houston during the 2021 postseason, Tony La Russa went with Lance Lynn, who would go on to finish third in the Cy Young race.
In Game 1 of the White Sox's Wild Card Series against Houston starting today, Will Venable is rolling with ... Hagen Smith, who will either be an opener for a bulk boy to be named later, or merely the start of a true bullpen game.
It's a sign of this pitching staff's rickety nature, but it's also a sign of the times. The White Sox don't have the usual sort of typical, certified Game 1 material to work with, but Smith will be squaring off against AJ Blubaugh, who is leading some sort of bullpen game on Houston's side.
Chris Getz spoke to reporters in Houston on Monday and endorsed the general strategy.
"I think it's more leaning into what we feel our strengths are. That would be some guys that we've used in the bullpen," Getz said. "Have we been creative at times? Have we needed to be creative? Yeah, we feel like we've needed to be. But when you have some of the weapons that we do in our bullpen, finding as many opportunities as we can to pitch those particular players, I think it's more that than the overall state of our pitching...
"We've still got some quality starts from guys and some quality innings throughout the year from prototypical starters as well. I know if you compare how we've gone about it to other clubs, it's different. But quite honestly, we've had to be different this year to be successful."
James added some input from Zach Bove, who is treating it as more of the same.
“Kind of being doing it all year, right?” Sox pitching coach Zach Bove told the Sun-Times. “The message to all the guys is to be ready for multiple situations. That’s it. We’ll communicate as best we can to where they’re going to be. But at the same time, it’s maybe not going to be the traditional way of going about it.”
The traditional way of going about it produces better television, because a parade of relievers shifts the competition's emphasis from the mound to the dugout, and as we discussed on Monday's podcast, that's not my preferred way to process a game as it unfolds in real time.
But while Saturday's loss to Colorado cemented the White Sox's wild card fate, it was helpful in illustrating the philosophy behind treating the first inning(s) like a high-leverage situation. The Rockies pummeled Davis Martin for three runs over one-third of an inning, and the Sox basically spent the rest of the game down three.
In the middle of a 162-game season, you can hope that Martin rights the ship to at least get to the game's halfway point and spare the bullpen some innings that might be put to better use the next day. Even in a seven-game series, there's always the option of waving the white flag on a Game 1 that gets away in order to marshal resources toward the next two.
In a three-game series, there's no such long game to play, just 18 innings to cover before seeing whether another nine are necessary. If you don't love -- or even like -- your starter's chances of getting the game off on the right foot, you may as well roll with a reliever you more trust to play for a couple of scoreless innings that give your club some control of the circumstances.
With Yordan Alvarez coming to the plate in the first inning and weaker against lefties as of late ...
- First half vs. LHP: .286/.346/.551 over 110 PA
- Second half vs. LHP: .234/.324/.391 over 74 PA
... it makes sense to have a lefty taking the first run at him, and with Bryan Hudson running a 6.15 ERA in the second half, Smith and Sean Newcomb are the two valid choices. If I were the one forced to choose, I'd probably lean Newcomb, because if he breezes through the first inning, he could very well complete three. If Venable is exceptionally lucky, maybe Newcomb is even able to face Alvarez a second time. Projecting the opposite end of the success spectrum, there's probably less second-guessing in the event of a Newcomb dud because multiple games are likely to hinge on his appearances.
But I can also see the argument for opening with Smith, as it guarantees him a clean inning and allows him at least one batter of forgiveness if his command takes a later bus to the ballpark. Were Smith to be called upon to extinguish a bases-loaded situation in a hostile environment, I'd be inclined to think that's putting a rookie in a position to fail.
If the White Sox are to make a postseason run of any kind -- and since 2005 is the only time in the last 109 years that they've won a playoff series, two wins in Houston would be an out-and-out triumph -- Smith will likely be a prominent factor, so there may be little point in trying to delay or hide him. Even though it'll be in smaller doses, perhaps he follows the lead of 2024 draftmate Trey Yesavage, who went from being selected 20th overall one year to being a postseason pitching sensation the next. For the time being, the immediate goal is to avoid the kind of disaster that becomes a shorthand dismissal of a strategy that had served the Sox's desperate needs at so many points over the first six months.
