Ringside Report Discusses the MLB – Baseball News
By Ron Signore
We are half way through May and about a quarter of the way through the 2021 Major League Baseball season. The Chicago White Sox recently ripped off a 6 game winning streak and sit atop the AL Central.
During the preseason, I expressed my belief of the talent of this ball club. They came into the season with very high expectations on a national level, and more critically so on a local level. The talent pool is continuously proving the critics correct. Currently, ESPN has the South Side Hitmen ranked first in it’s power rankings noting, “It does not feel like the White Sox have reached their full stride, yet they are starting to climb to the top of quite a few rankings lists, both of the subjective and objective variety. And why not? The ChiSox lead the majors in runs per game and rank second in runs allowed per game. The lofty offensive ranking is eye-catching since a team we figured would hit lots of long balls thus far ranks just 25th in isolated power. Yes, Chicago still has to navigate the long-term absences of Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez. Nevertheless, there is plenty of reason to believe it’s only going to get better from here.”
The pitching has been outstanding behind Luis Gioloto, Dallas Keuchel, Lance Lynn, and Liam Hendricks. But I think the most surprising, and pleasantly at that, performance thus far is from Carlos Rodon. Carlos threw a no hitter in April and has just consistently crushed teams holding them to an extremely low earned run average, in fact, holding opponents to an amazingly low ability to get on base. We have also seen strong participation of up and coming success from young hurler Dylan Cease. These pitching talents have led to the top ERA in the American League and 3rd best in the MLB overall.
The batting has continued to support the strong pitching. Ranking in the top 5 for batting average and runs batted in, the White Sox find themselves as an extremely well rounded team. The surprising thing is the absence of Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez has not hindered their ability to keep offensive momentum. The offensive threats up and down the lineup behind reigning MVP Jose Abreu, young stud Juan Moncada and veteran leadership displayed by the returning Adam Eaton and finding ways to conquer any flows.
The one weak spot is still Manager Tony LaRussa. The original Comiskey Park used to be filled with chants of “LaRussa Sucks,” during his first stint as White Sox manager during the 1980’s, yet he went on to win World Series’ with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Oakland A’s. His long time role as a manager now has him approaching the second most wins all time as a manager, which this year has clearly proven is due to the talent fielded by the roster. Multiple losses for the White Sox have come this year in extra innings, which now has new rules to increase a speedy ending to the game. His clear demonstration of not knowing these rules have cost the Good Guys a couple of W’s in the wins column.
Despite that, my observation is the same as ESPN (for once in my life). The White Sox clearly feel like the best team in baseball, yet, it doesn’t feel like they have reached their peak potential. The Major Leagues better watch out if that is the case, if that tide rises enough, it will be a tsunami over the rest of the league.
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