The 2013 Chicago White Sox season was the club's 114th season in Chicago and 113th in the American League.
Offseason White Sox promoted Kenny Williams to Executive Vice President; Rick Hahn became the team's new General Manager.
Offseason additions and subtractions Subtractions Additions Players RHP Philip Humber (claimed off waivers by Astros) LHP Francisco Liriano (signed with Pirates) RHP Brett Myers (signed with Indians) RHP Brian Bruney (free agent) C A. J. Pierzynski (signed with Rangers) 1B Dan Johnson (signed with Yankees) 3B Kevin Youkilis (signed with Yankees) INF Ray Olmedo (signed with Twins) INF José López (signed with NPB Yomiuri Giants) INF Orlando Hudson (free agent) RHP Matt Lindstrom (free agent) RHP Zach Stewart (claimed off waivers from Pirates) RHP Jeff Gray** (Minor League free agent) RHP Tony Peña Jr.* (Minor League free agent) 1B Randy Ruiz (Minor League free agent) 3B Conor Gillaspie (Traded from Giants) 3B Josh Bell** (Minor League free agent) INF Jeff Keppinger (free agent) INF Ángel Sánchez (claimed off waivers from Angels) OF Blake Tekotte (traded from Padres) OF Stefan Gartrell* (Minor League free agent) Personnel GM Kenny Williams† GM Rick Hahn† First base coach Daryl Boston Assistant hitting coach Harold Baines† †Player/Personnel promoted following 2012 season *Player spent entire 2012 season in Minor Leagues **Player was non-roster invitee to Spring training (not on 40-man roster)
2013 top prospects Ranked before 2013 season # Player Position Top 100 Rank MLB Rank 2013 Starting Team (Level) 1 Courtney Hawkins Outfielder 55 68 Advanced A 2 Trayce Thompson Outfielder - - AA 3 Erik Johnson Right-handed pitcher - - AA 4 Carlos Sánchez Second baseman/Shortstop - - AAA 5 Jared Mitchell Outfielder - - AAA 6 Scott Snodgress Left-handed pitcher - - AA 7 Keon Barnum First baseman - - Rookie 8 Keenyn Walker Outfielder - - AA 9 Andre Rienzo Right-handed pitcher - - AAA 10 Chris Beck Right-handed pitcher - - Advanced A * According to Baseball America Top 100 Prospects
* According to 2013 Prospect Watch
* Top 10 White Sox prospects via Baseball America
Regular season
Transactions 04/01/13 – Signed free agent SS Tyler Greene to a minor league deal. 04/01/13 – Acquired 1B Lars Anderson from the Toronto Blue Jays for cash. 04/02/13 – Signed free agent RHP Jason Berken to a minor league deal. 04/23/13 – Signed free agent LHP Charles Leesman to a minor league deal. 04/29/13 – Acquired OF Casper Wells from the Oakland Athletics for cash. 05/07/13 – Claimed 1B/DH Mike McDade off waivers from Cleveland Indians. 07/02/13 – Signed International free agent OF Micker Zapata from the Dominican Republic. 07/13/13 – Traded LHP Matt Thornton and cash to the Boston Red Sox for OF Brandon Jacobs. 07/29/13 – Traded RHP Jesse Crain and cash to the Tampa Bay Rays for Player to be named later and/or cash considerations. 07/30/13 – Traded RHP Jake Peavy to the Boston Red Sox in part of three-way trade with Detroit Tigers for OF Avisaíl García from the Tigers and RHP J.B. Wendelken, RHP Francellis Montas and SS Cleuluis Rondon from the Red Sox. 08/03/13 – Released OF DeWayne Wise. 08/08/13 – Philadelphia Phillies claimed OF Casper Wells off of waivers and received cash for a player to be named later. 08/09/13 – Traded OF Alex Ríos and cash to the Texas Rangers after being claimed off of waivers for Leury García. 09/21/13 – Received LHP Frank De Los Santos from a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays for cash considerations.
Season standings
American League Central
American League Wild Card
Record vs. opponents
Detailed records and runs scored/allowed Opponent Home Away Total Pct. Runs scored Runs allowed AL East Baltimore Orioles 2–1 1–3 3–4 18 21 Boston Red Sox 2–1 0–3 2–4 22 29 New York Yankees 3–0 0–3 3–3 27 29 Tampa Bay Rays 2–2 0–3 2–5 21 38 Toronto Blue Jays 2–1 2–2 4–3 33 25 11–5 3–14 14–19 121 142 AL Central Cleveland Indians 1–9 1–8 2–17 57 118 Detroit Tigers 4–6 3–6 7–12 76 90 Kansas City Royals 3–7 6–3 9–10 56 57 Minnesota Twins 3–6 5–5 8–11 87 85 11–28 15–22 26–50 276 350 AL West Houston Astros 2–1 1–3 3–4 30 27 Los Angeles Angels 1–2 2–2 3–4 29 32 Oakland Athletics 2–2 0–3 2–5 18 21 Seattle Mariners 2–1 1–2 3–3 21 25 Texas Rangers 2–1 2–1 4–2 27 28 9–7 6–11 15–18 132 138 Interleague Atlanta Braves 2–1 0–0 2–1 17 13 Chicago Cubs 0–2 0–2 0–4 8 32 Miami Marlins 3–0 0–0 3–0 11 7 New York Mets 1–1 1–1 2–2 11 11 Philadelphia Phillies 0–0 1–2 1–2 9 10 Washington Nationals 0–0 0–3 0–3 13 20 6–4 2–8 8–12 69 93
Season summary
Composite inning summary
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Runs scored 75 49 52 82 62 87 67 68 45 3 5 3 0 5 0 2 Runs allowed 77 76 69 102 102 84 60 75 52 15 1 5 1 5 0 0
Opening Day lineup Alejandro De Aza CF Jeff Keppinger 3B Adam Dunn DH Alex Ríos RF Paul Konerko 1B Dayán Viciedo LF Alexei Ramírez SS Tyler Flowers C Gordon Beckham 2B Chris Sale P
Monthly summaries
April The Sox won the opening series against the Royals, including a 1–0 victory on Opening Day and then won the series against the Mariners to complete their first homestand of the season. In the finale of that series, the Sox achieved their first walk-off win of the season in extras. Last season, the Sox did not achieve their first walk-off win until June 7. Since 2008, the Sox went 19–4 at home against Seattle. The Sox went to Washington, D.C., where they took on one of the World Series contending teams, the Nationals. The Sox were unsurprisingly been swept and fall to 4-5 all time against the Nationals. Until 2013, April was the only baseball month when Sox never faced NL teams along with all other AL teams. The Sox swept the Nationals in their last visit to D.C. in 2010. The Sox went to Cleveland where they lost two of three to that upgraded team. The Sox went to Toronto where they faced the top favorite in the AL East, the Blue Jays. The Sox would split the four-game series, winning in second and third games. That was the seventh consecutive seasons that they played four-game series in Toronto, and the Sox are 9–19 in that span.
The Sox went to the homestand for the second time this season. Friday's game against the Twins was postponed due to cold and the three-game series was reduced to two-game series. The Sox were swept in that short series. In the next home series against another division rival, the Indians. The scheduled three-game series was against reduced to two-game series as one of the games was postponed due to rain. This series has a different result as they split the series. The Sox would go on to play the series against the Rays for as many games as against the division rivals in this homestand. The Sox resulted in the split, winning in first two games before losing final two. They went back on the road to play the Rangers, Royals, and Mets, though only the first game was played in April.
May The Sox lost the first game of the series in Texas before winning the final two. The Rangers suffered only their first series loss of the 2013 season. The team went straight to Kansas City, but the opening game was postponed due to rain. Next day, the Sox were shut out against Jeremy Guthrie, 2–0. Guthrie set the franchise record at 17 consecutive starts without a loss. Before the game, it was announced that Gavin Floyd would undergo Tommy John surgery and miss 14–19 months. In the following game, the Sox led after eight innings but went on to lose in extras. In the series finale, which was a make-up game from three days earlier, Alexei Ramírez hit a long ball that was ruled foul but video showed it was actually a home-run that would have given the Sox the lead. The Sox trailed at that point until they tied it in the ninth of that same batter. In the eleventh inning, Jordan Danks hit the solo shot for a 2-1 Sox lead and went on to win by that score. Danks' first two career homers were game-winning. The Sox went on to play the Mets for the first time since 2002. In the first of two-game set against them, the Sox went almost offenseless as only one batter reached base via an infield single by Alex Ríos in the seventh. Mets ace Matt Harvey shut down the Sox lineup for nine innings, striking out a career-high twelve batters. The Sox played extra innings for a third consecutive game, tied 0-0. In the bottom of the tenth, Mike Baxter hit a walk-off single for the Sox's third walk-off loss of the year in their first ever visit to Queens. In the second game of the set, the Sox's offense broke through with six runs on 13 hits as the Sox defeated the Mets 6–3 for the series split. The Sox then came home for a three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. After losing the first two games of the series, on May 12, the Sox avoided a sweep with the help of Chris Sale. Sale pitched a one-hit complete game shutout. He had a perfect game with one out in the seventh inning when Mike Trout singled up the middle. Trout was the lone base runner in the game as Sale had 7 strikeouts and walked none. This occurred just five days after team's offense was held to one hit and one base runner.
The Sox then went on a seven-game road trip, three against the Twins and four against the Angels. The Sox lost the opener of the series and then won final two to win the series. The Sox won first two against the Angels and then lost the final two for a split. The Sox went on to their 8-game homestand, five against last place teams in respective divisions. But first, they played three against the Red Sox, who were near the top of the AL East. In the series, White Sox beat Red Sox twice, including one when José Quintana took his no-hitter into the seventh inning until David Ortiz ended it with a single. After the series win, the Sox played three against the Marlins, who at the time had the worst record in baseball. The Sox swept that series against the Marlins, including two on walk-offs and one in extra innings. The Sox then played consecutive home-and-home series against the crosstown rival Cubs, starting with two in the South Side and finishing with two at Wrigley Field. The Sox lost the first game at the "Cell", 7–0, and the second game was postponed due to rain. Then the Sox lost both games at Wrigley Field, getting outscored 17–6. In the final game of the month, the Sox got shut out in Oakland 3–0 by former Sox pitcher Bartolo Colón. Despite a four-game losing streak to close out the month, the Sox finished the month with a winning record of 14–13.
June The Sox started June getting swept by Athletics and losing two of three against the Mariners in the West. In the third game of that series on June 5, neither team scored runs until the 14th inning when Sox scored five runs in the top half, but the Mariners tied it in the bottom half with a grand slam by Kyle Seager. The Sox went on to win 7–5 in 16 innings. It was the first time in MLB history that each team scored five or more runs while neither team scored during the regulation (first nine innings). The Sox then played the A's again, this time at home where the Sox split the four-game series after winning the final two games of the series. The Sox split a short, two-game series against the Blue Jays that was cut short due to finale being rained out.