It's Oct. 10 and we still don't have to dip into the offseason content well, and if you told me that before the season, I'd be pleased as punch.
If you told me that we'd have to start dipping into the offseason content well on Oct. 11 because the White Sox blew a 2-0 lead to the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS, I'd be displeased as dispunch -- less due to any heartbreak, and more because the White Sox's active participation in the postseason has served as a bulwark against the looming specter of a lockout, and I'd been anticipating at least four more games' worth of the good stuff.
As for what we'd been missing, The Athletic's Evan Drellich reported a few days ago about the memo that went out to all teams about the rules for team-player engagement during a lockout. You may remember from five years ago that all references and media pertaining to players was scrubbed from MLB's websites, which reminds me that I should think about which videos I might have to reference for posts after Dec. 2, but Drellich goes into even more detail about interactions that can't necessarily be helped.
A core principle of the lockout is separation.
Club officials are supposed to avoid players “to the greatest extent possible,” because “the line between permissible and prohibited conversations is not always clear,” Halem wrote.
If a club official runs into a player in public, they “should be cordial,” MLB advised. If team staffers have been invited to a player’s wedding, they may attend the nuptials during the lockout, but have to avoid talking shop.
But if a player left his car at a team facility for the winter, it has to be removed.
Meanwhile, Major League Baseball introduced a new facet of its proposal to the union with a 154-game regular season, and using the extra time to expand the divisional series to best-of-seven format. It's likely a nonstarter since it's tied to a salary cap, but the timing is impeccable, given that the White Sox and Guardians have to resort to the Ricky Bobby/Jean Girard foot race just to make it through five. Depending on how the pitching shortage affects tonight's outcome, i'm not even sure fans of the losing team would want to see two more games of this.
As a counterpoint, MLB contends that more off days built into the postseason schedule would create more rest for starters and fewer bullpen games, but if the White Sox happen to be trendsetters of any kind with regards to their pitching staff, more off days would only encourage a greater number of pitching changes.
Will Venable was asked about these proposed changes before Game 3, and he wasn't in the mood for it:
I mean, respectfully, like, I could not care less in this moment right now. So occupied with thinking about our game planning and the Guardians. And, yeah, I wouldn't have an answer for you. I haven't thought about it.
Similarly, these are the kinds of conversations we've been able to stiff-arm because the White Sox are still alive. At about 10 p.m. CT, we'll know whether the team bought us another week of avoiding it.
