Going Head-To-Head With Chicago White Sox Should Be An Exciting Challenge For Detroit Tigers This Summer

Nearly two months into the 2016 MLB season, the Detroit Tigers find themselves sitting in fourth place in the AL Central with a record of 23-23. The Tigers are sitting three games back of the division-leading Chicago White Sox, a team that they have still yet to play.

The White Sox have been a bit of a surprise team this year, and a major strength for them has been a starting rotation that currently ranks first in the American League with a 5.1 fWAR. The South Siders’ rotation is led by ace Chris Sale, who is currently 9-1 with a 2.26 ERA  and an 0.84 WHIP. Jose Quintana is also having an excellent season so far, and youngster Carlos Rodon and reclamation project Mat Latos have done some good work for their club this season as well.

Although the White Sox certainly have a few very good bats in their lineup, such as Todd Frazier and Jose Abreu, their offense has not been as big of a strength as their pitching. They currently rank 11th in the AL with a .389 slugging percentage.

For the Tigers, it has been about the opposite — a good offense (especially lately) and inconsistent starting pitching. The Tigers’ offense ranks third in the AL with a .438 slugging percentage, but their starting rotation ranks just 10th among AL teams with a 4.60 ERA. For the most part these days, fans don’t have a lot of confidence when someone not named Justin Verlander or Jordan Zimmermann takes the mound, although it should be noted that youngster Michael Fulmer was excellent his last time out against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The first of 19 season meetings between these two teams will come on June 3 when the Tigers host the South Siders for a three-game series. It will certainly be interesting to see if the Tigers’ bats are up to the challenge of facing a very good Chicago staff, and it will be very interesting to see how these games end up impacting the AL Central standings.

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