How many left handed starters will the White Sox see this year?

[vilehoopster]

I can't believe that too many left handed starters are going to want to face the White Sox this year. Also, I have to believe that a lot of managers are going to try to avoid starting a lefty against the Sox. 

Seriously, if you're an average left hander, even above or below average, are you going to want to go out and pitch against the Sox?  I have to believe no. Now, I know every professional athlete has pride and confidence, but there has to be a point where any athlete (in this case a lefty pitcher) thinks about the odds and how the odds are not in his favor, and what would be best for his stats and his success.

As the Sox are approaching on the schedule, I believe that managers will manipulate starting pitching rotations whenever reasonable and without throwing guys off pitching cycles to avoid putting a lefty out against the Sox this year. I mean 14 for 14 last year says a lot. 

Here's a question. Is it kept track of; is there a stat for how many left-handed starters a team faces in a year? If so, I have to believe the White Sox might set a record for fewest number of starting left handers faced in a year. 

[EloyJenkins]

2 hours ago, vilehoopster said:

I can't believe that too many left handed starters are going to want to face the White Sox this year. Also, I have to believe that a lot of managers are going to try to avoid starting a lefty against the Sox. 

Seriously, if you're an average left hander, even above or below average, are you going to want to go out and pitch against the Sox?  I have to believe no. Now, I know every professional athlete has pride and confidence, but there has to be a point where any athlete (in this case a lefty pitcher) thinks about the odds and how the odds are not in his favor, and what would be best for his stats and his success.

As the Sox are approaching on the schedule, I believe that managers will manipulate starting pitching rotations whenever reasonable and without throwing guys off pitching cycles to avoid putting a lefty out against the Sox this year. I mean 14 for 14 last year says a lot. 

Here's a question. Is it kept track of; is there a stat for how many left-handed starters a team faces in a year? If so, I have to believe the White Sox might set a record for fewest number of starting left handers faced in a year. 

With a Covid impacted season and injuries/callups/rest, I don't see how any team will be able to "avoid" using lefties against the Sox. And the division is pretty heavy with them, so while it may affect a couple games here or there...I just don't see last years small sample size affecting strategy in that big of a way.

[southsider2k5]

42

[hi8is]

20 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

42

This is correct.

[Kyyle23]

[vilehoopster]

So, 42 huh?

What question does that answer?

Is that the least number of left-handed starters any team has ever seen in a season?

Or is 42 the answer to the question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?

Or is it both? 

 

 

[hi8is]

1 minute ago, vilehoopster said:

So, 42 huh?

What question does that answer?

Is that the least number of left-handed starters any team has ever seen in a season?

Or is 42 the answer to the question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?

Or is it both? 

 

 

You who asks many questions, know in your heart the truth.

[TomPickle]

The only teams that would bother messing with their rotation to avoid a lefty starter pitching against the White Sox would likely be divisional rivals vying for a playoff spot. That leaves the Indians (who have zero lefty starters) and the Twins. I could see the Twins trying to avoid Happ getting lit up if they can, but depending on days off and the health of their rotation at the time they might not be able to avoid it. Then maybe in September teams outside the division might try to avoid starting a lefty, but again only if they are fighting for a playoff spot.

I'd guess the number of times teams purposefully skip a lefty starter is significantly smaller than the amount of lefty starters the White Sox do face.

[Capital G]

Last year was not that big of a sample size. IMO, to start the season, no one bothers to plan this out.

Later on, assuming we crush LHP like last year, a playoff contending team might try but I doubt they shuffle around their rotation enough to make it happen. They would if its just a matter of flipping a starter.

[MackowiakYakYak]

What are the odds in any given series that a team could skip a lefty starter? If his spot is up for game 1 of 3 then you’d have to pitch him, right? So do you extend his rest two days if he was supposed to pitch game 2 of 3? That’d mean you’re resting your starter for 6 days instead of 4.
Pitchers are finely tuned machines physically and mentally, and I don’t think throwing off a 180 day routine starters get in would be worth it for maybe 1 run in a game. So I doubt teams are going to mess with rest days outside of the last game in a series, maybe.

Also, it needs to be considered that you need a pitcher to throw instead of the starter being benched. You aren’t going to start a guy on shortened rest for this. You don’t do that during most of the regular season. So you’ve now got a 6th starter you need to find to put in your rotation.

The only difference would be with new call-ups or spot starts. No way a team is going to call up a AAA lefty to pitch against our team if they’ve got a similar righty they could call up. But how often would a team have the flexibility to choose between equally talented righties and lefties? The opposing team is usually going to feel much better about one or the other.

[Blackout Friday]

29.1% of SP’s in MLB in 2019 were lefties. That’s 47 games over a full regular season. Probably somewhere around there. 
 

so 47-0 with those. Just have to go 53-62 against righties and boom 100 wins. 

Edited February 17, 2021 by Blackout Friday

[SoxBlanco]

I don't know how many lefties we will face, but I think we will win 123 out of the 125 games started by a righty.

You might be thinking, "Wait a minute, if you know how many times we will face a righty, then you know how many times we will face a lefty".  But I'm not sure how many ambidextrous starters we will face.