Series sweep by Twins shows the White Sox aren't close to contention

Is anyone else glad they missed Thursday afternoon's game because they were at work? Because I sure am.

The Minnesota Twins have outscored the White Sox, 110-51, in the 16 meetings between the two teams this season. In that context, it's a miracle the Sox have won five of 16.

However, none of those five wins came this week at Guaranteed Rate Field, as the Twins left town with an emphatic three-game sweep.

Poor defense by Tim Anderson, the inability of Ross Detwiler to pitch over that poor defense and garbage relief pitching by Jace Fry led to an 8-2 loss Wednesday night.

Thursday was arguably worse, as Dylan Cease (3-7) wasted no time in erasing the optimism his previous start against the Texas Rangers generated.

Cease allowed hits to the first five batters he faced, and six of the first seven, putting the Sox in a 4-0 hole before they had a chance to bat. The rookie right-hander gave up two more runs in the second inning and allowed two solo home runs to start the third inning before mercifully being removed from the game, which ended in a 10-5 Twins victory.

Final line on Cease: 2 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 Ks, 1 BB.

His season ERA now stands at 6.92. Ugh. This is reminiscent of the first halves we saw from Reynaldo Lopez and Ivan Nova.

In this series, Lucas Giolito was the only Sox pitcher who seemed capable of retiring Minnesota batters. And even he lost, because he gave up two runs on a night when the Sox could only muster one.

The Twins are the leaders in the AL Central with a 82-51 record, and they have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that they are significantly better than the Sox.

The gap is so wide, in fact, that it's hard to see the Sox making up the difference in just one offseason. I would go as far as to say general manager Rick Hahn needs not one but two big offseasons to get this team into contention by 2021. This Chicago roster has holes in it like Swiss cheese.

Frankly, I think the Sox have overachieved at 60-73. They have benefited from having two even more dismal teams in their division -- the Kansas City Royals (47-88) and the Detroit Tigers (39-92). Not that Minnesota doesn't benefit from playing those teams, too. They clearly do, but the 22-game edge they own on the Sox, and the run differential in head-to-head meetings, doesn't lie.

And let's not forget the Sox are 48-0 when leading after eight innings this year. That's great, but it's probably not going to be duplicated next season. You have to assume there will be more blown leads in 2020, just because of the law of averages in baseball. The Sox bullpen is protecting leads with ridiculously good efficiency, and as nice as that is, it can fool us into believing the team is closer than it really is.

Looking at the 25-man roster, you've got eight to 10 players who belong with the Sox. The rest of the group needs to be overhauled, and not all of that is going to come from within.

Hahn is going to need to pull a rabbit out of his hat to make the optimists in the fan base correct in their belief that the contention window opens next year.