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<h3>SteemSports Presenter: Nolan Jacobson, @theprophet0, <a href="https://steemit.com/~witnesses">STEEM Witness</a> & PeerPlays Witness.</h3>
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<h2>Game Information</h2>
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Sunday, June 18th
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10:10 AM Pacific Time
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12:10 AM Central Time
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1:10 AM Eastern Time
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Rogers Center
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<h1>Pitcher Showdown</h1>
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Pitching for the Chicago White Sox is someone who I'd call a successful-failure, that successful-failure is James Shields. Shields was drafted in 2000 in the 16th round by the Rays. Shields had to wait quite a long time before being called up by the Rays to play with the big boys. In those 6 years he had to wait, he dealt with a couple injuries, and in fact, one of those injuries caused him to miss the 2002 minor league season and he had a lot of trouble gaining his velocity again.
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But, he was eventually called up to play for the Rays in 2006, his rookie year was not spectacular, at all. He finished the year with a 6-8 record and an ERA of 4.84. Fast forward to 08 during a very, very memorable game against the Red Sox, he misfired a pitched to Coco Crisp and it ended up hitting Crisp. And, if you didn't know already, Coco Crisp is known to fight. So, Crisp charged the mound and respectively, both of the teams brawled it out. At the end of the 08 season, Shields finished with a 14-8 record with a ERA of 3.56
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Now, I'll fast forward to 2011 when James Shields was selected an all star, he was also the Tampa Bay Rays team MVP and Shields finished that season with an ERA of 2.82. After this season, Shields was traded to the Kansas City Royals and he ended up assisting the team in the 2014 World Series, but his performance was not enough to be crowned the World Series Champs. Fast forward to 2015, Shields was signed by the Padres and had a great year, he managed to grab 13 victories and gave up 7 defeats through 33 games.
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Mid way through the 2016 season, Shields was dealt to the White Sox, and that's where all the troubles began. He finished the season with a 4-12 record and a horrendous 6.77 ERA. Now, in 2017, through 3 games, he is 1-0 with a career best a 1.62 ERA. Hopefully Shields can keep this stellar pitching performance going.
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Taking the mound for the Jays will be the man who has been everywhere in the MLB. That is J.A. Happ. Happ was drafted in 2004, more specifically, he was the third round pick in the draft. He was actually born near me as he was born in Peru, Illinois. Anyway, Happ started his MLB career with the Phillies in 2007, but, he only pitched in one game for the Phillies that season and he came in as a relief pitcher.
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He came back for good in the 2009 season, and he had a stellar year. He finished the season with 12 victories and only 4 defeats, he had an excellent 2.93 ERA, he had thrown 119 K's, and to go along with this outstanding pitching, he was named second in the MLB Rookie of the Year conversation. 
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After this year, he only started three games for the Phillies and later, he was shipped off to the Astros. His troubles really began in the 2011 season. He finished the year with 6 wins and a whopping 15 defeats, and even worse, he gave up 93 ER through only 28 games. Fast forward to the 2013 season when Happ was playing for the Blue Jays, it was a nightmare for J.A. Happ, and I mean literally, a nightmare... On May 7th, he was struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Desmond Jennings. Immediately, he fell to the ground and stayed their for 11 minutes before he was brought off the field on a stretcher.
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Fast forward to 2016 when J.A. Happ, arguably, had the best season of his life with the Blue Jays. He finished the year with a outstanding record of 20-4, he tossed 163 K's and he had an ERA of 3.18.  And, to top everything off, Happ finished sixth in voting for the 2016 American League Cy Young Award, receiving three third-place votes, two fourth-place votes, and one fifth-place vote. 2016 was a great year for pitchers all around the league, so it came at no surprise to why he finished in 6th with such a great record and strikeout total.
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<h1>Match Preview</h1>
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The Sox and Jays will be playing the third and final game of their three game series that begun on Friday. The Sox defeated the Blue Jays yesterday afternoon with a final score of 5-2 and if the Sox win today, they will be able to get the bragging rights of a SWEEP! Fun fact: Chicago has won six straight at the Rogers Center dating back to July 8th, 2015. Believe it or not, the White Sox have won 6 of their last 8 games and they are 7-8 in the month of June.
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Both of these teams are in last place in their division, but, they are actively looking to flip the script. Neither of these teams have been very dominant this season, which is also shown by their statistics. Each team only has one top 10 hitting stat and one top 15 pitching stat. And, each team only has one batter hitting over .300. For the White Sox, that batter is Avisail Garcia who is batting .337 with 10 HR's and for the Blue Jays, that batter is Josh Donaldson at .305 with 8 HR's. Overall, this should be a great game to watch and I am very curious to see if James Shields can keep up his hot streak or if he will go back to his old-self and give up a load of HR's.
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