Chicago White Sox: Playing the Houston Astros isn’t a guarantee

The Chicago White Sox are the first team in Major League Baseball to clinch their division. They will be playing the playoffs as a division winner and they likely won’t have the top seed in the American League. That means that they won’t have the winner of the Wild Card game in the first round of the postseason.

If the season ended right now, they would face the Houston Astros on the road. A lot of people, however, are talking as if it is a lock for the White Sox to match up against them. That is not the case. Houston lost on Thursday night to the Los Angeles Angels but they have been very good recently. They are 7-3 in their last ten. Now, they are three games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the top spot in the AL.

The Rays are 5-5 in their last 10 games which isn’t terrible but it’s .500 baseball. They are one of the better teams in the American League so you know they will be fine but it isn’t a lock that they are the top seed.

Houston is about to start a very tough series with the Oakland A’s. The Rays are about to start a series against the Miami Marlins. After that, these two have a series against each other which is absolutely insane. That series could determine who ends the year with the one seed in the American League. Following that big series, the Rays have the Yankees and the Astros have the Oakland A’s again.

The Chicago White Sox are going to play a good team in the ALDS no matter what.

As mentioned before, these two teams are only separated by three games as of right now. For the White Sox, facing both teams would be hard but it is interesting to think about who they match up better against.

They were swept by the Astros in Houston and they lost two of three in Tampa Bay. However, they took two of three from both in Chicago. None of those games matter now though because both teams are in completely different spots.

The White Sox aren’t looking towards their playoff opponent at all but we can do that for them. They need to just worry about setting the rotation and bullpen up while making sure the hitters feel good about themselves.

Whoever the White Sox plays is going to get a tough opponent because they are a great team. They may or may not win but it is going to be an incredibly entertaining series either way. Once you make the MLB postseason, you are going to face a good opponent no matter what. Whether it’s the Astros or Rays, the White Sox have as good of a chance as anyone to win the pennant.