Gavin Sheets has better numbers when he plays for a winning team.
So, he has been a major contributor to the San Diego Padres (84-71), who go into Sunday afternoon’s rubber game against the host Chicago White Sox (58-97) with a magic number of three to clinch their second consecutive playoff berth.
Sheets, who had an RBI single and scored a run in the Padres’ 7-3 win over the White Sox on Saturday night, has 19 home runs, 69 RBIs and a .258 batting average with a .769 OPS this season.
He began his career with the White Sox in 2021. Sheets had a .250 batting average and 830 OPS as Chicago won the American League Central crown, and he batted .241 with a .706 OPS the following season when the White Sox contended for the playoffs.
But when the team floundered the following two campaigns, Sheets hit .203 with a .599 OPS in 2023 and .233/.660 in 2024.
He was a non-tendered free agent this past offseason and signed with San Diego.
“I didn’t think that I was the player that I was the last two years. I think that was the most frustrating thing about my time in Chicago was just the way things turned,” Sheets said. “That was why it was so important to get to a winning team, to play winning baseball. Because I felt like I could be a piece of that. I knew how to play the game. I knew how to play winning baseball.”
Right-hander Michael King (4-3, 3.84 ERA) is the scheduled starter for the Padres on Sunday. He has made four appearances against the White Sox in his career. They were all in relief and all came when King was with the New York Yankees during the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in 8 1/3 innings with a walk and 10 strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Chicago is completing its second consecutive season as AL Central cellar dwellers.
But right fielder Michael Tauchman was a bright spot in the loss on Saturday night with three spectacular catches.
The first was a diving catch in right-center in the third inning as he charged Luis Arraez’s liner that Tauchman turned into an inning-ending double play when he scrambled to his feet and threw to first to double off Freddy Fermin.
The second came in the fourth when Tauchman raced toward the right field line and dove to snare Jackson Merrill’s liner. On his third great catch, Tauchman not only went into foul territory but jumped into the screen that protects fans in foul territory to grab Fermin’s pop fly in the sixth. And for good measure, Tauchman bounced off the screen back onto the field.
“He’s a guy that leaves it out there every single day,” catcher Kyle Teel said of Tauchman. “It’s awesome to be on the field with him every single day.”
Teel had an RBI double on Saturday night.
Sean Burke (4-10, 4.29) will start for the White Sox on Sunday.
His lone start against the Padres came on Sept. 22, 2024, when Burke allowed a run and two hits in six innings with a walk and eight strikeouts. He did not get a decision.