[jksander]

April 17, 2026: Whatever you want to say about our White Sox this year, everybody’s earning their pay. We’re just 12 games into our season and already are 2-2 in extra innings games and 3-3 in one-run games, despite a -19 run differential that ranks third-worst in the American League, only ahead of the 3-10 Athletics and 3-10 Rangers out in the AL West. Dylan Cease (0-0, 1.50 ERA, 12.0 IP, 15 K’s, 0.67 WHIP) got his third start of the year tonight in our first game at Rate Field against the Guardians, facing Brayan Bello (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 13.0 IP, 8 K’s, 0.62 WHIP) in what was expected to be a maximum level pitching duel. Jose Ramirez hit into a 4-6-3 double play in the top of the first, driving in the go-ahead for the Guardians, and Cease struggled to get that third out ... two more runs scored when Gavin Lux hit an RBI double, and we went into the bottom of the inning trailing 3-0 -- in a game where we need Cease to get deep into the game, that was not optimal. We finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single by Cedanne Rafaela, and Cease settled in incredibly well, getting us into the stretch still trailing by just the two runs. He stayed out to finish the eighth inning as well, becoming our first starter all year to break 100 pitches, and when the ninth inning rolled around and we were still in the hole, he got three quick outs to become the first starter since I took the team over to go a full regulation nine innings. In the bottom of the ninth, Brooks Lee pinch-hit for Yordys Valdes, taking a leadoff walk, and with the count full against him, Ha-seong Kim singled him into scoring position. But we weren’t able to get either of them in to score, losing this one 3-1.

Dylan Cease did everything in his power to make up for that first inning, but even a complete game six hitter wasn’t enough ... two walks, five strikeouts and three earned runs finished his stat-line as he fell to 0-1 with a 2.14 ERA through 21 innings, and that may be the most White Sox stat-line for a pitcher ever. Worse, we actually outhit them 10-6, but they walked five times and were able to overcome the hitting disparity, our offense led by Meidroth with two hits and a run, while Rafaela added two hits and an RBI.

April 18, 2026: The good thing about Cease pitching his complete game yesterday is that our bullpen is nicely rested, which is going to allow us to rest Noah Schultz an extra day and get our rotation back onto its proper rotation. Jonathan Cannon took the bullpen start, making his first appearance for us this season after starting out 1-0 through 17.1 innings with 23 K’s and a 1.04 WHIP down in AAA. He faced off against Cleveland’s Hunter Gaddis (0-1, 9.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 6 K’s, 1.89 WHIP), and he got us through four scoreless innings before our bats awoke in the bottom of the fourth, Vargas batting in two with a line drive double to get us on the board! Brandon Valenzuela hit an RBI single to add on, giving us a 3-0 cushion heading into the fifth for Cannon to stay out there to qualify for the win. Eduardo Bazardo took over in the top of the sixth, getting three quick outfield flies to end the inning with ease. Luis Sanchez took the ball in the seventh, and we added on three more runs in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single by Meidroth, a groundout by Kjerstad and an RBI single for Ceddanne Rafaela! Sanchez struck out three in the eighth to strand David Fry on first, and former Twin Matt Canterino came out to mop things up in the ninth with a huge lead. He got two quick outs and then had to be pulled after he complained of a jammed finger. Ryan Helsley took over with two outs and a man on first, striking out Bo Naylor swinging as we completed the 6-0 shutout victory! Cannon started his season with a 1-0 record and a 0.00 ERA, getting through five innings with two hits, two walks and three strikeouts! Bazardo and Sanchez earned holds, and Sanchez was particularly impressive, pitching two innings with a hit and five strikeouts -- through his first eight bullpen apperances, the 22-year-old Dominican right-hander has struck out 19 batters through 9.1 innings, with just FOUR WALKS and seven hits against him! Thankfully the Cubs didn’t know what they had and left him unprotected ... today we outhit the Guardians 9-4, led by Miguel Vargas with two hits, a run and two RBIs.

April 19, 2026: Noah Schultz (0-1, 5.06 ERA, 16.0 IP, 19 K’s, 0.94 WHIP) pitched in game three against Cleveland’s Reese Olson (1-0, 3.72 ERA, 19.1 IP, 21 K’s, 0.93 WHIP), and in the bottom of the fourth we broke through with a run off a fielder’s choice, Ceddanne Rafaela’s hit driving in Meidroth to put us up 1-0. But a pair of weak infield squibs that each should have been outs set up Steven Kwan for what became an RBI single to tie us up on two outs, sending us into the bottom of the fifth stuck in another squeaker. With Schultz at 88 pitches and tiring fast, we brought out Noah Syndergaard in the top of the sixth, and with two outs and two men on, he let Brayan Rocchio hit an RBI double to put Cleveland up 2-1. Their next batter, Gavin Lux, hit a three-run bomb out of left and this one was suddenly not so close. Jose Alvarado took the ball in the seventh, trailing 5-1 at the time, but the game became a rout in the eighth -- with two outs and men on first and second, Luis Sanchez came out to face a 9-1 bloodbath, and though he got the four outs we needed to get through the rest of the game, our bats were completely absent as we lost by the same margin. Let’s face it, when we get crushed, we get crushed BADLY. Schultz had a solid five innings, with three hits, three strikeouts and an unearned run as his ERA improved to 3.86. But Syndergaard took the loss thanks to three hits and four runs with a walk and a strikeout in his inning, and Alvarado gave up six hits and four runs with a walk and two strikeouts in his 1.2 innings. They outhit us 12-3, Kjerstad leading the way with a hit and a walk while Rafaela batted in our only run.

Matt Canterino is a bust ... our recent waiver claim from Minnesota will spend the next three months on the IL ... his “jammed finger” actually resulted in a ruptured tendon. We’ve added him to the 60-day list, recalling Julian Merryweather, who just cleared waivers, to return to our 26-man roster. We have a much-needed day off tomorrow as we travel to face Toronto (6-10, 5th AL East) and Cincinnati (9-7, 1st NL Central) on the road. We’ll then finish out the month with three games at home against Tampa (7-8, 4th AL East). Our record currently is 6-9, half a game out of last place as we try to keep pace in a hectic AL Central.