Slide on your spectacles and pay attention, dear friends. We have the Cleveland Guardians squaring off against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field, a ballpark that plays a friend to the batter if you catch my drift.
Toe-to-toe on the mound we've got Gavin Williams of the Guardians standing tall, flaunting a mighty fine 3.70 ERA this season, peeling off 9 strikeouts per nine innings. Meanwhile, Jonny Cannon makes his claim for the Sox, slightly humbled with a 4.64 ERA and slightly behind in the strikeout tally. You do the math.
To inject a splash of class into the gameplay, the Guardians have Nolan Jones, Angel Martinez, and Jose Ramirez sharpening their bats. Ramirez has been having a bit of a sluggish season this time, but let's not write him off, the last season stats looked quite impressive.
The White Sox retort with their own heavy hitters. Edgar Quero and Mike Tauchman have been holding the fort strong, thanks to their bustling batting averages. Let's not undercut Andrew Benintendi, in spite of his less than stellar batting average. A man doesn't have to sprint to make his point, he's just got to drive in twelve runs.
The former occasions between these two teams seem to sing in favor of the Guardians, waving the victor's flag in their face more often than not. Might I remind you, the Guardian's season record stands quite firmly at 43 wins to 48 losses, a glaring contrast to the White Sox's 31-62 situation. You can almost hear the White Sox fans murmur - "Oh dear."
A look at recent performances doesn't tip the scales radically in any direction, though the Guardians may on the surface seem to have a tad more wind in their sails.
Seems like a hard Soxy day at the park, but then again, who can resist a bunch of fighting underdogs? Now, let's demystify the suspense and unwrap that prediction:
Albert’s Prediction: Cleveland Guardians by 2