{"id":872712,"date":"2026-08-29T13:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T13:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/872712\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T13:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T13:34:13","slug":"the-opener-white-sox-skubal-sosa-doubleheaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/872712\/","title":{"rendered":"The Opener: White Sox, Skubal, Sosa, Doubleheaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

The White Sox improved to 71-63 after Friday\u2019s 7-4 victory over the Twins, making some unique history in the process.\u00a0 As per MLB.com\u2019s Sarah Langs<\/a>, the 71 wins are the most of any team in history coming off at least three consecutive 100-loss seasons.\u00a0 Chicago\u2019s unlikely rise from doormat to division leader has been one of the top stories of 2026, and between the Sox victory and the Guardians\u2019 3-0 loss to the Royals, the White Sox now lead the AL Central by 3.5 games.<\/p>\n

1. Skubal shines in Detroit return<\/p>\n

Less than a month removed from the blockbuster trade<\/a> that sent Tarik Skubal<\/a> from the Tigers to the Dodgers, the ace made his return to Comerica Park on Friday and soaked in some cheers from the Detroit fans.\u00a0 Skubal also delivered a quality start for the fourth time in five outings as a Dodger, as he held the Tigers to one run on four hits while striking out seven over six innings.\u00a0 It was only enough for a no-decision, since Los Angeles didn\u2019t take the lead until Freddie Freeman<\/a>\u2018s RBI single in the eighth inning proved to be the deciding hit in a 2-1 L.A. win.\u00a0 The Dodgers hold a nine-game lead over the Padres in the NL West, while the fading Tigers are 2-11 in their last 13 games and are now 5.5 games back of the last AL wild card slot.<\/p>\n

2. Phillies score another wild late win<\/p>\n

Wade Meckler<\/a> (just activated from the seven-day concussion IL) made a spectacular catch<\/a> to rob Bryson Stott<\/a> of a three-run homer in the ninth inning of last night\u2019s game between the Angels and Phillies.\u00a0 Stott was the second out of the inning, so it seemed like the Halos had avoided the crisis\u2026until two batters later, when Edmundo Sosa<\/a>\u2018s pinch-hit grand slam put Philadelphia ahead for good in an eventual 5-3 victory.\u00a0 This type of late drama is becoming almost routine for the Phillies, as The Athletic\u2019s Jayson Stark<\/a> notes that this was the fourth time this season Philadelphia has hit a go-ahead home run with two outs in the ninth.\u00a0 The Phillies are 11-2 in their last 13 games and comfortably hold a wild card position, but the club remains five games back in the NL East race since the first-place Braves have won five in a row.<\/p>\n

3. Double the twin bills<\/p>\n

Somewhere, Ernie Banks is smiling.\u00a0 Two doubleheaders are scheduled for today\u2019s action, as the Red Sox face the Yankees twice and the Diamondbacks will play two against the Giants.\u00a0 The nightcap in the Bronx will feature the return of Max Fried<\/a>, as the southpaw is expected to be activated<\/a> from the 15-day injured list after missing just the minimum amount of time recovering from a bone bruise in his left elbow.\u00a0 The two bitter rivals are both in wild card positions, with the Yankees holding a three-game lead over Boston following Friday\u2019s 1-0 win.\u00a0 Over in San Francisco, the Diamondbacks improved to 9-2 over the Giants this season with a 10-6 victory on Friday.\u00a0 Merrill Kelly<\/a> and Mitch Bratt<\/a> are the scheduled starters for an Arizona team that is just a half-game behind the Padres for the final NL wild card berth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The White Sox improved to 71-63 after Friday\u2019s 7-4 victory over the Twins, making some unique history in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-872712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}