Do the White Sox Make the Playoffs?

[Snopek]

No. It’s feeling like there’s too much they need to overcome/go their way at this point.

[WBWSF]

No. The team has had too many injuries and the team has too many holes offensively. I wouldn't be surprised if big changes were made this off season. If the White sox can't sign Giolito to a long term contract i wouldn't be surprised if he was traded. I also wouldn't be surprised if TLR didn't come back next season.

[hi8is]

Ask me two weeks after Lynn comes back.

[Tnetennba]

Nope

[JTB]

No

[kitekrazy]

6 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Yes, assuming Hahn shakes up the offense.  Guys are obviously underperforming, but some of them to levels that aren’t sustainable.  Firing the hitting coach and releasing Big Energy would be good first steps.

Ugh, like he did with the pen last year?

[Rounding_Third]

Nope!  Their only chance is winning the Central.  No way they make it as a WC team.  Must win at least 13 games against Twins.  Not impossible but unlikely. 

Besides, they're too busy counting their $'s and kissing their mirrors to give a crap.

[ShoeLessRob]

40 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Ask me two weeks after Lynn comes back.

Can he hit? 

[ShoeLessRob]

And no, they will not make the playoffs. 

[The Beast]

No. Because we have a dumb manager who should not be managing modern baseball games, doesn’t use analytics and probably thinks his nine hole move is innovative. 

We have guys on the team who are a revolving door of being out, like Moncada, Robert, Jimenez and most recently Kelly. The front office has brought in players who haven’t consistently performed or done anything at all, like Harrison, Keuchel and Grandal. 

The offense can’t score runs, the starting pitching has to be perfect to win, struggle to get deep into games and the defense has been bad. 

The rest of the league got better and adapted to the level of competition, our team got worse and is failing.

No, they will not make the playoffs this year.

 

[Balta1701]

All right, no, because the run differential is telling us who this team is.

Their run differential is worse than the Orioles and Rockies and only a tiny bit better than Detroit. That is legitimately awful. Teams can occasionally make the playoffs with a negative run differential, no team this bad has been over .500 in recent years.

They are 5 wins better in their record than their expected record. This is the case because they have been genuinely successful in close games, but their record in close games right now is better than any team’s record was in close games last year. If you want to credit the manager’s bullpen usage for a part of that I can’t disagree, for a legitimately bad bullpen he has gotten a lot out of them.

But we can see what that has done. They have only a few reliable arms out there, and they can’t pitch them 120 times this year. So they save those arms for tie games or tight games, and the other team has a 2 run lead - it becomes a 5 run lead. The bullpen can’t keep things tight when they’re this weak.

Getting Lynn back will help, but 1 pitcher does not make up 75 runs to turn this into a contender. They will slump downwards this year and they don’t have enough help coming.

[hi8is]

1 hour ago, ShoeLessRob said:

Can he hit? 

No but I doubt the team keeps struggling offensively this bad all year.z

[joejoesox]

6 hours ago, fathom said:

Nope, awful coaching staff and front office and too many holes on the roster.  They’re a few pitching injuries away from this all imploding.

that's a great point, you never wanna predict health throughout a season but the way it's gone since 2020, you can basically pencil in a long list of core guys who are gonna miss significant (3 wks or more) time

[flavum]

When Lynn and Eloy are back on the roster, it’s go time. They need to dominate in July and August, and I think they will. 

[thxfrthmmrs]

No, this has been a .500 team for the last 120 games or so now. Great pitching isn’t going to overcome poorly hitting and field and awful lineups and managerial decisions.

[dohnut]

Before the season started, I had them at 90 wins.

Now I’m thinking more along 81-83 wins and no playoffs.

[Highland]

5 hours ago, flavum said:

When Lynn and Eloy are back on the roster, it’s go time. They need to dominate in July and August, and I think they will. 

Lynn should help, but I don't have much faith in Eloy right now. I will have to see it to believe it.

[flavum]

14 minutes ago, Highland said:

Lynn should help, but I don't have much faith in Eloy right now. I will have to see it to believe it.

I posted that before finding out he hurt himself right away. Can’t blame anyone for not believing Eloy can come back and actually stay healthy for 4-5 months.

Edited May 29, 2022 by flavum

[pcq]

I had them at 78 wins not sure they will make it. Keuchel will go to another team and be decent. 

[WBWSF]

Our next 3 series are against 3 good teams. Toronto, Tampa Bay, and the Dodgers. If the White Sox don't do well in those 9 games I wonder if some type of changes will occur.

[Snopek]

7 hours ago, flavum said:

When Lynn and Eloy are back on the roster, it’s go time. They need to dominate in July and August, and I think they will. 

I can’t do the “when they’re healthy” thing anymore. At this point, I fully expect that if/when Lynn and Eloy are back, other key contributors will take their place on the IL.

[Balta1701]

4 minutes ago, Snopek said:

I can’t do the “when they’re healthy” thing anymore. At this point, I fully expect that if/when Lynn and Eloy are back, other key contributors will take their place on the IL.

Which is also…totally normal and something every team is dealing with and which should be expected when constructing a team in the offseason.

[Snopek]

1 minute ago, Balta1701 said:

Which is also…totally normal and something every team is dealing with and which should be expected when constructing a team in the offseason.

Yep. I’ve often thought that the FO kind of operates like fans do. Let’s dream up the best case scenario and just roll with it.

[hankchifan]

22 hours ago, SoxBlanco said:

There’s definitely a high amount of frustration and panic around here right now. I’m curious which people think we make the playoffs and which do not. I don’t want to hear any “ifs”, like “if the offense wakes up…” or “if we get healthy…”.

You are welcome to discuss those things, but I also want a simple yes or no answer from everyone who wants to participate. As we sit here on May 28, gun to your head, do the White Sox make the playoffs this year?

I’ll start:  YES

No. Terrible FO and on field management.  No energy.  No accountability.  No adjustments.  Too many injuries.  Bad defense. Bad hitting and on and on.

[mmmmmbeeer]

There HAS to be some movement toward a statistical mean with this offense.  There are just too many players performing so far below their abilities and histories for the pendulum not to swing back our way on offense.  I mean, you look at some of these stats Cuda is dropping on Twitter and we're not just talking worst of the last few years, or worst of the past 20 years....we're talking some of the worst stats EVER, across all of MLB.  And we're only 5GB and a game below .500.  

With that in mind, I believe we'll make the playoffs.  I don't think we'll do shit once we get there, but we'll make the playoffs.   If we want to make any noise when we get in, we'll need to have a good bit of momentum heading into the postseason.  I just don't trust TLR to maintain momentum to round out the season given his irrational belief in resting 20-30yo professional athletes so often.