White Sox preparing to embrace '20 destiny

It’s Sept. 4, and the White Sox are not only a playoff team but stationed just inches away from the top of the American League Central.

This scenario is what the organization has been planning for and working toward over the past three years of its rebuild. And manager Rick Renteria thinks his charges will be ready for the September stretch drive.

“These guys are having fun, they are enjoying it,” Renteria said. “But it’s really not about putting more pressure on oneself.

“You remain focused and relaxed and you trust your skillset, and everybody knows the gravity of it, at the end of the day, what the outcomes are, the results are, let them take care of themselves. Remain in the moment and take care of those things in a ballgame that allow us to be able to move forward.”

Renteria added his team truly understands how important every game is, especially during a 60-game regular season.

“Everybody is trying to do the best they can to put the best foot forward and give yourself the best chance to have success,” Renteria said.

Engel ready for righties or lefties
Adam Engel has 18 more plate appearances against right-handed pitchers this season than he does against southpaws, although he’s hitting .364 against lefties vs. .250 against righties. But the Gold Glove-caliber outfielder is ready for either side of this challenge on offense.

“As a player on this team, you've got to be ready for anything. Lefty, righty, it doesn't matter to me,” Engel said. “I'm just going up there trying to have quality at-bats.

“Just going up there trying to help the team win, any way I can. As long as we're winning games, I'll face whoever it is. Doesn't matter to me.”

Fan cutouts
The White Sox began selling to the general public a limited number of additional FANtastic Faces -- the initiative allowing fans to purchase a cardboard cutout of their likeness displayed at Guaranteed Rate Field -- on Friday at noon. According to Christine O’Reilly-Riordan, the White Sox vice president of community relations, sales were going well.

“We are hoping to do similar numbers to last time, so somewhere between 1,300 to 1,500,” O’Reilly-Riordan said. “It takes a lot to produce them and install them. It’s not that we want to limit the opportunity for our fans. We just have to fit it in under the constraints of the process.

“It just speaks to how excited everybody is about the season and more importantly about this team, how they just want to be there for them. Even if it’s as a fan cutout.”

These new FANtastic Faces will join the group already in place at the ballpark. They will be displayed during the crosstown series against the Cubs, beginning Sept. 25.

Net proceeds from the second sale will add to the more than $50,000 the initiative already raised for Chicago White Sox Charities. Fans eventually can claim this round of Faces.

“What will happen is at the end of the season -- which we hope is in November when the snow is falling -- we will reach out to folks and arrange times to come by to the ballpark to pick them up,” O’Reilly-Riordan said. “We also have a shipping option for people if they are not able to make it down to the ballpark.

“They will be authenticated through MLB’s authentication process. So, we have that going on and fans can come and pick it up if they want to move it to their own dining room table or wherever they want to install themselves.”

Third to first
• Carlos Rodón was scheduled to throw 60 pitches at the team’s alternate training facility in Schaumburg, Ill., on Friday. It will be the second 60-pitch session for Rodón, who is on the 10-day injured list with left shoulder soreness.

• José Abreu started Friday with his 13th career hitting streak of 10-plus games, and the fourth of 15 plus.

They said it
“It definitely would be a cool accomplishment. But I definitely want something bigger than the batting title. I want something I can share with everybody, and that’s the ring. Hopefully, we can just continue to keep fighting and keep pushing and see what happens.” -- White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, on wanting something bigger, team-wise, to go along with becoming the 15th player in history (19th time) to lead the American League in batting average in back-to-back seasons

“As soon as he hit it, it was crushed, man. I just wanted to see where it was going to land. This is a really big park, and he made it look small last night.” -- Engel, on his shocked dugout reaction caught on the White Sox television broadcast when Luis Robert connected for the longest home run of his career during Thursday’s victory