CHICAGO -- Aaron Bummer’s attitude in terms of individual performance for the 2021 season is somewhat representative of the entire White Sox bullpen, not to mention the entire team on the verge of clinching its first American League Central title since 2008.

There have been highs and lows for the veteran left-hander since early April. But with so much at stake for this team in the immediate future, Bummer isn’t worried about the past.

“As long as we keep moving forward and keep throwing the ball the way we want to, I don’t care what happened over the last five months,” Bummer told MLB.com. “I don’t care about the outings I had back then. The only thing that matters moving forward is today and tomorrow.

“Anything I can do to help our team win today, that’s my job and my goal for the day. Whatever happened yesterday is gone. You have to have that short memory. I’m ready for today. Just trying to keep it day by day.”

Bummer, who turns 28 on Sept. 21, has a 12.5 K/9 ratio, the highest of his career for a full season. But when his 66 strikeouts over 47 1/3 innings were mentioned, Bummer laughed and noted he also has one of the higher ERAs of his career at 4.18 in 51 games.

The sinkerball hurler also has a 73.7 ground ball percentage, per Statcast, marking the highest of his career. So, he’s finding the best of both avenues with a focused effort for more swings and misses in 2021.

“Our hitting coaches preach this: Balls in play make good things happen. So, that was something I took upon myself,” Bummer said. “I really wanted to limit the amount of balls in play. If I could strike out more guys in bigger spots than relying on ground balls, that was definitely my goal."

But again, Bummer is more concerned about what transpires in the next few weeks and months for himself and his relief crew then past history.

“Us as a whole, we are going to keep working to be in the best spot we possibly can starting now. That’s the goal is to continue,” Bummer said. “Guys are starting to fall into roles, and we are starting to see the things, the roles that are going to take place moving forward over the next three weeks and into the playoffs.

“That’s all we can take it day by day and keep going. The talent is there. It’s obvious. The strikeouts per nine. The walk numbers. Our bullpen has everything you need to be successful.”

Grandal supporting Cuba
Catcher Yasmani Grandal was taught by his mother to never talk about religion or politics. So his introduction of the "SOS CUBA" T-shirt sported during Friday's batting practice was more about a desire to help his home country.

“All we are trying to do is raise awareness to what’s going on over there. It’s a tough situation,” Grandal said. “I was one of the lucky ones to leave the country early and come to the country that could give me better opportunities. Set me up to a point to where I’m able to do these kind of things.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of people who know what’s going on or how things are over there. My wife [Heather], included. She had no idea what Cuba was about until she actually visited. We are just trying to raise awareness and kind of figure out how we can help out.”

Grandal is from Havana but left when he was 10 years old. His father’s side of the family remains in the country.

“There’s been a lot of killings, there have been a lot of abductions. There have been no food, no nothing,” Grandal said. “People are trying to go day to day with what they can possibly get, whether it’s food or things to be able to shower or be able to cook, water.

“There’s just, there’s not much over there right now. There’s a lot of people struggling. The message is to hopefully get to a point where we can figure out how we can help out.”

They said it
“We have to go out and play our game. We know that when we play our game, we are pretty damn good. That’s all we can ask for from here on out.” -- Bummer