Whether imitating the unique arm angle of closer Craig Kimbrel, booing Kyle Schwarber for being a former Cub or exploding in unison after a José Abreu blast, Chicago White Sox fans have made their presence felt this weekend during their series against the Boston Red Sox.
With three weeks left in the regular season, the vibe at Guaranteed Rate Field grows by the day, even as the Sox basically clinched a division title by the All-Star break and have given stars such as Tim Anderson, Lance Lynn and Carlos Rodón a chance to hit pause and refresh themselves, mentally and physically, for what lies ahead.
Everyone knows the end game is to win the World Series, and anything short of making it there will be a huge disappointment.
Rodón pitched five strong innings in Friday’s win and Lynn makes his return from the 10-day injured list Sunday, with Lucas Giolito following right behind him Tuesday. Anderson looked close to form during batting practice Saturday and could return to the top of the order this week.
With a likely Division Series matchup against the Houston Astros all but sealed, the only real question is how manager Tony La Russa will slot his starters in the opening round.
Is Lynn, a Cy Young candidate who last started a postseason game in 2014, the obvious Game 1 choice?
Or will the superstitious La Russa go with Giolito, who started and won Game 1 for the Sox last fall against the Oakland A’s?
Is Rodón set for Game 3? Is the enigmatic Dylan Cease, who was knocked out during the Red Sox’s seven-run third inning Saturday, the Game 4 starter, or can Reynaldo Lopez sneak into the picture?
And what do the Sox do about the Dallas Keuchel dilemma?
These are all questions La Russa and the Sox brain trust are discussing behind closed doors, even if it’s too early for anyone to admit to doing something as logical as planning for October with an 11-game lead. The Sox’s magic number entering Sunday is 11 the same as the the number of postseason wins needed for their first title since 2005.
While you wait to see what happens, take a moment, look around the ballpark and enjoy what is happening on the South Side. It has been a long time since the Sox were relevant in September with fans in the stands instead of cardboard cutouts, and it’s something to see.
The Sox’s 81-61 record on Saturday was their best after 142 games since 2006, the hangover season from the ‘05 championship. They haven’t won a division title since 2008 and went through a long and arduous rebuild in 2016 after unsuccessfully trying to reload on an annual basis from 2009-15.
This playoff atmosphere at Sox Park figures to pay dividends when the real deal arrives, and everyone is getting into the act. During Friday’s game, NBC Sports Chicago showed a young boy in an aisle imitating Kimbrel, hanging his right arm out at a 90-degree angle like a folding ruler while awaiting the sign and then delivering his phantom pitch at the same time as the Sox reliever.
Kimbrel got a chance to watch the video of “Kid Kimbrel” after the game.
“Pretty cool,” he said. “Glad I had a fan out there rooting me on. I thought his reaction when somebody came up and showed him (the video on his phone) was pretty good too. It’s almost like ‘They got me.’ ”
Kimbrel started out with the stance in 2010 when biceps tendinitis made it too painful to keep his right arm behind his back. On Saturday he said he originally started hanging his arm down straight like Liam Hendriks, but it evolved into the crablike stance that’s now his signature.
“It’s like, ‘Here’s I come, it’s time to work,’ ” he said. “It also helps me separate.”
If it works so well for Kimbrel, why don’t other pitchers try it?
“I’ve seen a couple Little Leaguers do it,” he said. “My friends back home send me pictures all the time of their kids doing it, saying: ‘Look what you did. You ruined him.’ ”
Kimbrel has to be Kimbrel, and Sox fans have to be Sox fans. Maybe that’s why every time Schwarber has come to the plate this weekend he has been roundly jeered, even though he hasn’t worn a Cubs uniform in almost a year.
Once a Cub, always a Cub?
“I guess so,” Schwarber said Saturday. “Got booed here and got booed in Cleveland when we were there.
“Whenever you get booed, it means you’re doing something good, right?”
Whatever works.
The Sox’s .662 winning percentage at home (47-25) was tops in the American League entering Sunday and the team’s second-best home record since 1973. The last time they were as dominant at 35th and Shields was in 1983, when they went 55-26 for a .679 winning percentage.
That “Winning Ugly” team also was managed by La Russa, whose Sox cruised to the AL West title and felt unbeatable at old Comiskey Park behind a stellar rotation and a lineup with Rudy Law, Ron Kittle, Harold Baines, Carlton Fisk and Greg Luzinski.
The team attitude was borderline cocky. Ditto for the 2021 Sox.
“We feel like no matter what, no matter when, we’re in the game and we have the ability to come back,” Giolito said. “Our offense is so prolific.”
Times have changed since 1983. The game is different, and the players don’t follow any unwritten rules.
The common denominators are La Russa and Sox fans, a little bit older and a lot wiser.
