A hateful guide to the ALDS

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Frankly, I'm a little exhausted.

Back in my day, the dread and despair of a full baseball season being brutally snuffed out as quickly as possible built up over the course of at least a work week. My dinner prep Wednesday night consisted of reheating taco meat in the microwave and dropping it in tortillas and the Pirates whole season was still screwed before I started eating.

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TCS Morning 10: Jose Quintana deserves better

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"Jose Quintana deserves so much better" is an annoying trope that the Sox can't help but keep fulfilling. It smacks of reverence for the win stat, but Quintana is a competitor--it might be one of his strongest traits--who strives to win the game for his team, and clubbing him over the head with negative reinforcement constantly is increasingly gruesome to watch. 

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The Blue Jays should trade for Jeff Samardzija

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After the White Sox beat the Cardinals 7-1 on Wednesday, I did as I often do and went to ESPN.com's MLB standings page to check out where certain teams stand in the run differential department.

Sure enough, the White Sox are still the second worst in baseball, although significantly #BetterThanThePhillies.

What I was surprised by is the fact that the Cardinals, who even after two straight defeats against the White Sox are 25 games over .500, no longer have the best run differential in baseball. That title now belongs to the 42-38 Toronto Blue Jays.

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Important stuff from a 6-0 game the Sox lost to the Blue Jays because scoring was required

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After Adam LaRoche read the riot act on the White Sox offense Sunday, calling their performance "embarrassing" and acknowledging that they had been making "good pitchers look great," the White Sox squared off with the Blue Jays and....really showed everyone what he was talking about.

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Important stuff from another 8-1 loss to the Twins on the darkest timeline

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The Astros and the Royals are the American League's very best, the Twins are hitting with vigor and purpose again, and the Sox can't find anyone who can even slug .500, or catch line drives hit right at them, or string hits together off No. 6 quality starters from the Minnesota Twins. Or anything.

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The Catbird Seat's 2015 MLB Season Predictions

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Sick of reading what other people think is going to happen this season?

Yes? Oh, well this is awkward...

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Every team in the AL sucks

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Heading into the 2015 regular season, it seems that most every American League team fancies themselves as a contender. As I’ve talked about earlier, this center-heavy distribution of talent should have interesting implications on the playoff race. This post is not about that. This post is me being a mean person who sees the flaws in everything. This post is about how every team in the American League will finish below .500, mathematical impossibilities be damned*.

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White Sox Reportedly Sign Melky Cabrera to 3-Year-Deal

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As the White Sox have begun to load up for 2015 contention, a persistent worry has been what to do with the last outfield position. Simply put, a team that won only 73 games in 2014 would be hard-pressed to contend while relying on a bat-first left fielder who can’t really hit and really can’t field. This sentiment was clearly shared by Rick Hahn & Co., who late Saturday night reportedly agreed to sign former Blue Jay Melky Cabrera to a three-year deal reportedly in the $45 million range.

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Important stuff from a fun-enough 7-5 rubber match win over Toronto

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There's an identity that we want to understand the 2014 White Sox under, in which Sunday's 7-5 triumph in the rubber match against a desperate and hungry Blue Jays team fits perfectly. The White Sox flashed dizzying, game-changing offensive potential, had their lack of pitching depth exposed by both starter and reliever performance, and did just enough to keep the watching fun and not sort of tragic. Six games under .500, obviously the prototypical 2014 White Sox game would seem to be a loss, and their offense's season performance does not live up to the ideals their juggernaut April inspired, but the Sox have had less than 10 games where their young offensive core of Adam Eaton, Jose Abreu, Avisail Garcia, and yeah, Conor Gillaspie have been operating at once. They didn't build on that total Sunday, but a seven-run outburst stoked its legend all the same.

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Important Stuff From 6-3 Loss To Toronto

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This is one of those games that a rebuilding team can manage to enjoy even though the result was a loss. By far the most important thing is that Avisail Garcia returned from the DL, and in fact went 2/4 on the night. Far less important is the return of Matt Lindstrom's return from the DL. Unfortunately, he was knocked around - but there's a silver lining here as well.

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Old Southpaw v. New Southpaw - Lineups & Preview 6/29

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Today, barring incident, I probably won't be too upset if the White Sox lose. Probably heresy, but it's hard for me to ever stop rooting for Mark Buehrle. The former White Sox institution is actually a Cy Young contender this year, with a 10-4 record and an ERA of 2.52, somehow posting the lowest home run rate of his career at age 35. Buehrle is an obvious regression candidate as the season progresses, but the more achievements he can shove in his cap and the longer he hangs around, the closer he creeps to a weird, dark horse Hall of Fame resumé. And that would make me very happy.

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White Sox victory only built on 4 Cuban dingers

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Sometimes baseball is a simple game, where success is simply measured by clobbering more home runs than your opponent. In this mode of play--one that takes outfield defense out of the equation--the White Sox are a pretty competitive group. Jose Bautista should take note, a team with Jose Abreu on it can win some home run competitions, as the Sox out-homered the Blue Jays 4-3, and won the game outright 5-4.

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