What a difference a year can make. The Chicago White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays will provide another example Friday night when they open a three-game series in Toronto.
The White Sox have gone from worst last season to a tie for first in the American League Central as play resumes after the All-Star break. The Blue Jays have dropped from first to worst in the AL East.
Both teams occupied the same spot in the standings at the All-Star break last year as they did at the end of the season.
The White Sox are scheduled to start former Blue Jays left-hander Anthony Kay (6-4, 4.23 ERA) on Friday to open their six-game road trip. Kay, who was with Toronto from 2019-2022, is 0-0 with a 4.15 ERA in one career start against the Blue Jays. The 31-year-old allowed two runs in 4 1/3 innings on April 4.
The Blue Jays are expected to start right-hander Spencer Miles (4-1, 2.85) for the opener of a seven-game homestand. He has faced the White Sox once, tossing two scoreless innings in relief on April 5.
The White Sox entered the break by completing a three-game home sweep of the Athletics with a 9-1 victory on Sunday. They are going for their 12th win in the past 20 games.
Despite a three-game home sweep of the Blue Jays April 3-5, the White Sox finished April at 14-17. They are 36-28 since and are tied with the Cleveland Guardians atop the division.
“We just settled in,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “If you’re going to survive in this league, you have to deal with adversity. I thought we did a good job of really staying the course there in the early going. To find our way means a lot.”
The White Sox are 31-17 at home. They should benefit from the recent return of first baseman Munetaka Murakami from a strained hamstring injury. The White Sox were 17-18 in his absence. He was 1-for-11 on his return this past weekend against the Athletics but has 20 home runs and 42 RBIs with a .911 on-base-plus-slugging percentage after 60 games.
The Blue Jays have been trying to regain the magic of last season when they were two outs from winning Game 7 of the World Series. They reached .500 on June 22 but have dropped to six games below entering the break after a 4-5 road trip that ended with a 5-4 loss to the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
“This is not where we want to be, obviously,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “We’ve been trending in the right direction offensively the last two weeks, minus the Seattle series (when they scored two runs over three games in losing two of three to the Mariners). We definitely have to be better in some areas — on the mound, at the plate, whatever it is. There are little things we have to be better at and we’re looking for more consistency from regular guys up and down the lineup.”
Right-hander Kevin Gausman summed it up: “Listen, it’s kind of make-or-break. We’ve got to start playing better.”
The Blue Jays need more production from first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who entered the break with six home runs, 41 RBIs and a .703 OPS.
The Blue Jays have relied heavily on the offensive power of third baseman Kazuma Okamoto, who has 22 homers, 62 RBIs and an OPS of .788.
–Field Level Media
