Gamethread: Dodgers at White Sox

Baseball fever hits on March 16, with an Opening Day lineup at a sold-out Camelback Ranch

Back-to-back sellouts at Camelback Ranch, baby! We’ll look down at our shoes uncomfortably when asked whether it’s actually the visiting teams driving the sellouts, however.

For the White Sox, it’s pretty much the Opening Day lineup:

And for Los Doyers:

Here’s the pitching lineup for today, and through the weekend. Apparently, Josh Osich will make his White Sox debut this afternoon:

With the usual caveat to not stare too hard at the tea leaves, Manny Bañuelos getting the start on Monday while Dylan Covey still plies his wares as the second man in confirms that Bañuelos is currently the club’s fifth starter, Covey (perhaps) the sixth, with Ervin Santana filing in somewhere, TBD through spring’s final days.

With the strange way the contract is structured, the plan always may have been to have Santana as insurance in case Bañuelos and Covey pulled a Carson Fulmer ’18 in Cactus League play, and with both pitchers proving worthy enough thus far, Santana will be released rather than have a $4.3 million salary guaranteed. It doesn’t seem likely that the White Sox will guarantee that kind of salary to a guy coming off of injury based on (theoretically) one good (non back fields/B-game) spring start, which at this point may be all Santana has time to squeeze in ... after Tuesday, just seven spring games will remain.

Anyway, it’s an NBC Sports Chicago game this afternoon, available on MLB.TV as well.