When 'settling for a split' feels like the best possible outcome ...

Jose Ramirez

If you read or listen to recaps of this week's four-game series between the White Sox and the Cleveland Indians, someone may note that the Sox "settled for a split."

The phrase is commonly used when a team wins the first two games of a series, only to lose the last two. And that's precisely what the Sox did in this case.

Jose Ramirez hit a two-run homer off Kelvin Herrera in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday, lifting the Indians to a 5-3 win. Cleveland also won Thursday, 5-0, in a game that was shortened to five innings by rain.

Truthfully, the rain was a blessing for the Sox. Their bullpen didn't get have to pitch another three innings in a game that was a lost cause. Sox hitters, as is their custom, could do nothing with Carlos Carrasco. And Manny Banuelos is a long reliever (at best) being asked to be a starting pitcher on this team.

Predictable results ensue.

And that's pretty much the problem here. If you had asked me Sunday night if I would take a Sox split of this four-game series, I would have said, "You bet."

We've reached a point of hopelessness to where two wins out of four games is considered a rousing success. Let's not pretend the Indians are a juggernaut -- they are 20-16; they aren't going to win 102 games like they did two seasons ago.

It shouldn't be completely implausible for the Sox to take three out of four from this Cleveland team, and while they had two opportunities to do so, there was never any real feeling that they'd actually pull it off.

That's a reason why I refer to Sox fandom as being like a second job these days. The absolute best you can hope for is for the team to not embarrass itself. The Sox didn't embarrass themselves in Cleveland, so we gleefully "settle for the split" and get ready to watch a weekend series against Toronto.