The Guardians come off an amazing sweep of the Mets and head to Chicago, looking to continue their recent surge while playing against the cellar-dweller of the AL Central, but a team that has been playing better of late.

The Guardians are 59-55 with a -23 run differential, 26th in team wRC+ at 88. The White Sox are 42-73 with a -71 run differential, 28th in team wRC+ at 86. Interestingly enough, however, both teams have been much improved over the last month offensively, with the White Sox putting up a team 109 wRC+ and the Guardians a 106. The Guardians are 11th in baserunning runs above average at 2.3, sixth in Defense at +6, 23rd in starting pitcher FIP at 4.36, and fourth in bullpen FIP at 3.61.

The White Sox are 29th in baserunning runs above average at -3.2, 26th in Defense at -38.2, 28th in starting pitcher FIP at 4.70, and 17th in bullpen FIP at 4.15. Overall, again, the Guardians and White Sox have been much improved over the past month, with the Guardians overall staff FIP at 3.84 and 7th in baseball and the White Sox at 18th in baseball at 4.23 FIP overall.

The White Sox are not a good team, but they are spunky. The Guardians will need to play a great brand of baseball to get a series win. Put the ball in play as much as possible is a good strategy for this series, given how terrible the White Sox are at defense.

Matchups:
Game One, Friday, 7:40PM EDT: Tanner Bibee, RHP, 4.50 FIP vs. Aaron Civale, RHP 4.52 FIP
Game Two, Saturday, 7:10PM EDT: Joey Cantillo, LHP, 3.77 FIP vs. Sean Burke, RHP 4.79 FIP
Game Three, Sunday, 2:10PM EDT: Slade Cecconi, RHP, 4.56 FIP vs. Davis Martin, RHP 4.61 FIP

The Guardians are led by Jose Ramirez at 140 wRC+, Steven Kwan at 112 wRC+, Kyle Manzardo at 109 wRC+, and Daniel Schneemann at 104 wRC+.

The White Sox are led by Mike Tauchman 131 wRC+, Colson Montgomery 121 wRC+, Curtis Mead 115 wRC+, Lenyn Sosa 106 wRC+, and Kyle Teel 104 wRC+. Don’t let Tauchman and Montgomery beat you and this will likely be a good series.

I am most interested to see if Tanner Bibee can finally shake his season-long inconsistencies and deliver a big victory for the club here in the opening game. Let’s go, Guardians!