Play ball! Game times announced for White Sox-Astros series
CHICAGO - Major League Baseball on Monday announced the starting times for the Chicago White Sox’s first three playoff games against the Houston Astros.
Game 1 in Houston will begin at 3:07 p.m. on Thursday, Game 2 will begin at 1:07 p.m. on Friday, and Game 3 will kick off Sunday on Chicago’s South Side at 7 p.m.
Games 1 and 3 will be televised on FOX Sports 1, and Game 2 will be shown on MLB Network, the MLB announced.
The White Sox think pitcher Carlos Rodón will be healthy enough to help them in the playoffs after the All-Star left-hander was limited down the regular-season stretch.
"We remain optimistic that he’s going to be able to contribute over the course of the next month," general manager Rick Hahn said Monday. "Obviously, given the amount of work that he has endured this season, the jump from the previous years, his strength and comfort and general level of soreness and fatigue is something that we continue to monitor."
Hahn said Rodón will only pitch once during the best-of-five division series against the AL West champion Houston Astros that begins Thursday. If the White Sox advance, they’ll evaluate his workload on a series-by-series basis. He is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Tuesday.
Hahn said Lance Lynn or Lucas Giolito will start Game 1. He also said slugger José Abreu has been dealing with a "non-COVID illness" since Saturday, but should be full go for the series.
The best-of-five Division Series begin Thursday with a pair of AL games.
One of the games will be 76-year-old Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa leading the Chicago White Sox into Houston to match wits with 72-year-old skipper Dusty Baker and the Astros.
Associated Press contributed to this report.