OAKLAND, Calif. - He doesn’t expect chaos or bedlam.
But manager Robin Ventura thinks he could have a few confused players wandering aimlessly in the White Sox clubhouse on Friday morning.
The White Sox are set to arrive home late Thursday night or early in the morning after they conclude a four-game series at the Oakland A’s. Their late arrival and afternoon home opener on Friday doesn’t give the team’s seven new players much time to figure out the logistics of the home clubhouse.
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The White Sox open at home against the Cleveland Indians at 3:05 p.m. CST on Friday.
“That’s the schedule,” Ventura said. “It’s not ideal, but we’re going to have to deal with it.”
“I wish we had a day to go home and get acclimated to it. It’s a little odd when you have so many guys coming in not going where to go, where their locker is at, the routine they would set for themselves. It’s a bit different, but we’ll be fine.”
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The team is only at home for three nights before it hits the road again. The White Sox travel to Minneapolis on Sunday night before they head to Tampa.
Ventura thinks the real issue will be for players to acclimate to their cold surroundings. Most of the White Sox players probably haven’t felt a sub-60 degree temperature since they attended SoxFest in January. It has been warmer than normal in Oakland this week with an 83-degree temperature at first pitch on Wednesday night.
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Friday’s forecast calls for rain and snow in the morning with wind, overcast skies and temperatures in the upper 30s in the afternoon, according to weather.com. While John Danks said Wednesday he’d love for 20 degrees and sleet, he’s probably in the minority.
“It’s going to be cold, that’s probably more of an issue than anything,” Ventura said. “When we go back that’s the first thing we’re going to feel when we get off the plane. Both teams are playing in it so you might as well get used to it and get going.”