Gamethread CXXXV: White Sox at Royals

Another September game, another chance for the Royals to beat up on the best team in the AL Central. Today the Royals will send Daniel Lynch to the mound once again. This will be Lynch’s second start against the White Sox; you may recall that the first one was the absolute worst of his career so far. He could not get out of the first inning and allowed eight runs. He’ll probably do better this time.

The White Sox will counter with Reynaldo López. López was acquired from the Nationals along with Lucas Giolito back when the White Sox were tanking and trading off every available asset. He had more initial success than Giolito but came on some hard times in recent years. He had a 5.38 ERA in 2019 but still managed to be worth 2,3 fWAR. In 2020, though, he had a 6.49 ERA and was worth -0.5 fWAR. He started this year in the minors but was recalled in July and was pitching out of the bullpen until a rash of injuries forced him into the starting rotation. Either way, the demotion seems to have done him good as he now carries a feather-light 1.54 ERA, including pitching five perfect innings in relief against the Cubs last week.

Adalberto Mondesi is out of the lineup again, presumably in an effort to try to keep him healthy. Hunter Dozier is also missing from today’s lineup, presumably because he hasn’t been very good this year. Ryan O’Hearn will see his first start in the month of September, though. Honestly I couldn’t tell you what the deal is with Matheny’s lineups lately, they’ve been all over the place.

Lineups