Playoff Schedule: Chicago White Sox – Tampa Bay Rays

by Jerod Morris

With the White Sox thrilling win over the Minnesota Twins last night in the one game playoff at U.S. Cellular Field, closed out by a dominating performance from Bobby Jenks, the Good Guys earned the right to play the Tampa Bay Ray in round one of the MLB playoffs. The schedule and pitching matchups for the series are listed below:

(All times are Central)

Game 1 – Thursday 10/2, 1:30: White Sox @ Rays — Javier Vazquez (12-16) v James Shields (14-8)

Game 2 – Friday 10/3, 5:00: White Sox @ Rays — TBA v Scott Kazmir (12-8)

Game 3 – Sunday 10/5, TBD: Rays @ White Sox — Matt Garza (11-9) v TBA

Game 4 – Monday 10/6. TBD: Rays @ White Sox (if necessary)

Game 5 – Wednesday 10/8, TBD: White Sox @ Rays (if necessary)

Obviously, there is uncertainty surrounding the White Sox pitching staff right now. Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd, and John Danks are all coming off pitching on three days’ rest. Something tells me that Ozzie Guillen isn’t too thrilled about penciling Javier Vazquez in for Game 1, but he doesn’t really have another choice. He risks running Mark Buehrle into the ground if he throws him out there, and neither Lance Broadway or Clayton Richard has proven they deserve the ball.

My guess would be that Buehrle pitches Game 2 and Gavin Floyd takes the hill in Game 3 (at which point Floyd would have had almost a full week of rest). The two-day gap between games 2 and 3 will give the White Sox a chance to sort their pitching staff out. But Buehrle will probably need to take the ball on Friday and make it a battle of lefties against Scott Kazmir, assuming his arm is okay after last week (and there is no reason to think that it is not).

I will update this post as the week goes on and we know more about the projected starters and game times. I believe all of the first round games during the week are being broadcast on TBS.

[tags]chicago white sox, mlb playoffs, tampa bay rays[/tags]

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