The 2022 MLB regular season is over. Here's what we loved and hated about it.
White Sox Ace Dylan Cease Loses No-Hitter with 2 Outs in 9th Inning vs. Twins
Sep 4, 2022
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - SEPTEMBER 03: Dylan Cease #84 of the Chicago White Sox pitches against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning at Guaranteed Rate Field on September 03, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Chase Agnello-Dean/Getty Images)
Dylan Cease was so close to making history.
The Chicago White Sox ace was tossing a no-hitter through nine innings of Saturday's game against the Minnesota Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field. That changed with two outs in the top of the ninth.
Luis Arraez singled on a line drive to right fielder Mark Payton for Minnesota's first hit of the night, preventing Cease from becoming the third ChiSox pitcher in the last three seasons to throw a complete-game no-hitter.
Despite giving up the hit, Cease finished the game with seven strikeouts and two walks in a 13-0 victory for Chicago.
Cease walked Jake Cave in the third inning and Gilberto Celestino in the sixth inning for what were Minnesota's only baserunners until Arraez singled in the top of the ninth.
After Arraez got on base, Cease went on to strike out Kyle Garlick to end the game.
Speaking with MLB insider Ken Rosenthal after the win, Cease admitted it was disappointing to have his no-hitter broken up with just one more out to go.
"I am disappointed, but like you said, it's a win, [complete game]. I'll take it, but yeah, it's a little disappointing," Cease said.
Dylan Cease was one out away from throwing a no-hitter!
Cease, in the midst of his best season in Major League Baseball, will likely be in the running for the American League Cy Young Award.
The 26-year-old entered Saturday's game with a 12-6 record, 2.27 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 190 strikeouts in 147 innings across 26 starts. He has been an anchor in a Chicago rotation that also includes Giolito, Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech and Johnny Cueto.
After being drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 2014 MLB draft, Cease made his debut with the White Sox in 2019. He has three more seasons of arbitration eligibility before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
The White Sox are third in the AL Central with a 67-66 record, 2.5 games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians for the division crown. It's hard to imagine they'll snag a playoff spot if they don't win the division, as they are 5.5 games back of a wild-card spot.
The American League's second-best strikeout artist, the National League's third-best home run hitter and two of the best strikeout pitchers in the National...
Sometimes, you just can't trust your eyes. If they tell you the Marlins might be good, or that Dansby Swanson could be a fringe-MVP candidate, then it's...
Nothing sends a fantasy baseball manager scrambling to the waiver wire faster than an injury. As soon as the ailment surfaces, you need roster relief. Maybe you just lost Dustin May to Tommy John surgery...
White Sox Clinch 2020 MLB Playoff Berth with Win vs. Twins
Sep 17, 2020
Chicago White Sox's Adam Engel (15) celebrates with catcher Yasmani Grandal and relief pitcher Alex Colome the team's 3-1 win over the Minnesota Twins after a baseball game, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Thursday's 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins clinched the first postseason berth on the South Side since 2008, and it's just the second since the Sox won the World Series in 2005.
Led by first baseman Jose Abreu, shortstop Tim Anderson, pitcher Lucas Giolito and a cast of rookies playing like established veterans, Chicago's rebuild has accelerated to the point where the once dark-horse wild-card candidate has become a legitimate World Series threat.
The White Sox are just two seasons removed from a 100-loss campaign that followed a dramatic teardown and rebuild led by general manager Rick Hahn.
Ace Chris Sale was sent to the Boston Red Sox for a package featuring third baseman Yoan Moncada and pitcher Michael Kopech; outfielder Adam Eaton was dealt to the Washington Nationals for Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning; and Jose Quintana was moved just a few miles north to the Chicago Cubs for slugger Eloy Jimenez and starter Dylan Cease.
Each player acquired in those trades has become a major key to the success of the Sox in 2020 with Giolito's transformation—going from finishing as the worst qualified starting pitcher in 2018 to the no-hitter-throwing ace of the rotation two years later—serving as a microcosm of the rebuild itself.
Along the way, Abreu (.332/.374/.644, 17 home runs, 50 RBI) and Anderson (.365/.401/.582, 19 RBI, 41 R)Â have earned legitimate MVP considerations, while 23-year-old center fielder Luis Robert (.246/.307/.485, 11 home runs, 30 RBI)Â looks increasingly like a favorite for Rookie of the Year.
Yet the work of Hahn goes well beyond scouting and developing. The GM made two significant offseason acquisitions last winter in catcher Yasmani Grandal and pitcher Dallas Keuchel.
It was Keuchel, in fact, who called out his teammates early in the season for poor performance, arguing the club was too talented to make excuses.
The Sox responded immediately by taking control of the American League Central, cementing themselves as one of baseball's most entertaining teams.
All of it dovetailed into a charmed season for Chicago, which is seeing its championship window crack back open for the first time in years.
In a 60-game MLB season with limited time to prepare, things are bound to get a little weird on the pitching side of things this year. We might not see starters pitching beyond the fifth inning for the first few weeks...
