The Chicago White Sox will kick off the 2023 season on national television. Jeff Agrest of the Sun-Times reported that ESPN will televise the White Sox Opening Night game against the Houston Astros on March 30th.
Going up against the defending World Series Champions will be a good test for new manager Pedro Grifol and his squad. The Astros will be raising their championship banner in what should be a raucous environment at Minute Maid Park. Last season the Astros took the season series against the South Siders 4-3.
Early projections would also have Dylan Cease squaring off against Justin Verlander for a marquee pitching matchup that features two of the American League Cy Young Finalists. The pair faced off on August 16th. Cease got the better of Verlander, throwing five innings of three-run ball, which was enough to earn the win.
Entering the 2022 season, both teams had championship aspirations. After getting bounced by the Astros in the 2021 ALDS, the White Sox seemed poised to take the next step and challenge Houston for the pennant. But their two seasons quickly went in opposite directions.
The Astros are coming off a 106-win regular season, then proceeded to rattle off seven straight wins to start the postseason. They met some resistance from the Philidelphia Phillies in the World Series but ultimately dispatched them in six games.
Meanwhile, the White Sox underachieved in a weak AL Central Division. They finished with an 81-81 record and failed to qualify for the postseason.
The two managers will also present a unique matchup. In the Astros dugout is Dusty Baker, who is adding the finishing touches on a Hall of Fame career. He finally captured that long-awaited World Series ring that had eluded him for so many years. Meanwhile, Pedro Grifol will be making his managerial debut for the White Sox after spending the last decade in the Royals organization.
It will be an early barometer for the White Sox to see how they compete in a hostile environment against a World Series-caliber squad. The White Sox also have a chance to set the tone for the rest of their season in front of a national TV audience.
As a lifelong Sox fan, this is depressing. If they don’t make some meaningful trades/acquisitions, it will simply be more of the same – the Astros embarrassing the Sox.
The Sox won’t be ready to compete with Houston in 2023. Reinsdork and Hahn have put the White Sox into the same “re-build” mode as the Bears.
Cool