The West Coast apparently doesn’t have the same thing in the water as it did elsewhere, as the White Sox return to Chicago after a 2-4 road trip. What started as an almost sweep of the Angels in LA turned into a blown lead on Sunday and a subsequent sweep by the Mariners. An atrocious extra-innings performance by the Chicago defense capped off the latest loss. But today is a new day, and the Guardians are in town. The Guardians didn’t make massive changes at the deadline, but they are missing a few players of note.

While Steven Kwan was not traded, the Cleveland team is missing some key pieces. Notably, Emmanuel Clase, who wasn’t traded but instead was put on non-disciplinary paid leave through at least Aug. 31 as part of a sports gambling investigation. Coming off the 2024 season, where he finished third in the Cy Young voting, the righty closer was having a respectable season with 24 saves, 47 strikeouts, and a 3.23 ERA. The bullpen has seemingly not missed a beat as the Guardians finished a sweep of the Mets on Wednesday.

Also, no longer on the Cleveland roster is the injured starting pitcher Shane Bieber. The righthander, who had Tommy John surgery in April of 2024, had been working his way back to the major league roster before he was traded to Toronto. Here is hoping the former Cy Young winner can help the Blue Jays take down the Yankees in the AL East.

Still on the roster and starting for the Guardians this evening is right-handed pitcher Tanner Bibee. Since breaking into the majors in 2023, Bibee has started just three games against the White Sox. He has gone 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA and 13 strikeouts over those three appearances. The hitter Bibee will want to watch out for the most is leadoff man Andrew Benintendi. The left fielder is 2-6 with two walks against the starter. A player Bibbe might be excited to see? Colson Montgomery, who is 0-2 against the righty with two strikeouts.

Starting for Chicago tonight is Aaron Civale. The righthander is coming off of a 6 1/3 inning shutout performance. Civale has faced the Guardians only three times in his career. This makes sense, given he played for the Cleveland squad from 2019 until he was traded to Tampa Bay during the 2023 season. In the three appearances since the trade away from the team, Civale is 1-0 with a 3.24 ERA and nine strikeouts.

The White Sox starter will likely not be looking forward to facing Brayan Rocchio, who is 3-4 with a double when facing Civale. Carlos Santana, on the other han,d has faced the righty in 15 at-bats and has only been able to get a hit once. He has also struck out three times when facing him. Tonight’s lineup for Cleveland includes just one hitter, Kyle Manzardo, who has hit a home run off of Civale.

Unfortunately, starting pitchers cannot pick who they are going to be facing, and so the lineup is as follows. A speedy Steven Kwan will lead things off and play left field. Daniel Schneemann is up next and playing center field, followed by the thorn in everyone’s side, third baseman Jose Ramirez. Cleaning it up for the Guardians is DH Manzardo, then Santana at first base, and Gabriel Arias at shortstop. The lineup finishes out with the catcher Bo Naylor, right fielder C.J. Kayfus, and Rocchio at second base.

The 59-55 Guardians are slowly chipping away at a six-game deficit in the AL Central and will try to take advantage in Chicago while they hope the Detroit Tigers continue their post-All-Star Break struggles.

The White Sox would like to stop the four-game losing streak, and Will Venable has just the lineup to do that (or so I am hoping). The hometown boy, Mike Tauchman, will get things started and play right field. A hot Lenyn Sosa will be at second base and batting second. He will be followed by the DH Benintendi. Luis Robert Jr. will bat fourth and play centerfield with Montgomery at shortstop following. Curtis Mead is starting at first base tonight and batting sixth. Chicago finishes out their lineup with Kyle Teel at catcher, Michael A. Taylor in left field, and Brooks Baldwin is in the nine spot playing third base.

The 10-8 post All-Star Break White Sox will have the first pitch this evening at the Rate at 6:40 p.m. CDT. You can catch the broadcast on CHSN or listen on ESPN 1000.