CHICAGO -- White Sox right-hander Dylan Covey is counting down the days to June 26, when his wife, Kimmie, and his two-month-old son, Jett Ethan, will join him in Chicago.

Even without his child on the premises, connecting currently through daily face timing, Covey was beaming Sunday while celebrating his first Father’s Day as a dad.

“It’s awesome,” Covey said. “It’s life-changing for me and I haven’t really spent more than a couple of nights with the baby. I’m sure my life is going to change even more when they get here in 10 days. I’m really excited for it.

“I’ve been away from my baby for two months. It’s been kind of a tough process for me, but I’m ready to start doing the deeds that a dad does.”

During Father’s Day games, for the fourth consecutive year, players wore specially-designed New Era caps to raise awareness and funds for the fight against prostate cancer. Players also had the option to wear Stance multi-pattern blue-dyed socks. MLB will again donate 100% of its royalties from the sales of specialty caps and apparel emblazoned with the symbolic blue ribbon -- a minimum $300,000 collective donation -- to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer.

This effort also includes the annual Prostate Cancer Foundation “Home Run Challenge,” which has given fans the chance to make a one-time monetary donation or pledge for every home run hit by their favorite MLB Clubs during the time period of Saturday, June 1st through Father’s Day, Sunday, June 16th, all the while tracking where their team stacks up in a “Team vs. Team” competition. Every dollar donated through the Home Run Challenge goes to PCF to fund critical research to defeat prostate cancer. As of June 13th, more than $1.26 million has been pledged via the Home Run Challenge in 2019. Since inception, the Home Run Challenge has raised more than $51 million for PCF, the world’s leading philanthropic organization funding and accelerating prostate cancer research.

Founded in 1993, the Prostate Cancer Foundation has funded nearly $800 million of cutting-edge research by 2,200 scientists at 220 leading cancer centers in 22 countries around the world. Because of PCF’s commitment to ending death and suffering from prostate cancer, the death rate is down more than 52% and 1.5 million men are alive today as a result. PCF research now impacts 67 forms of human cancer by focusing on immunotherapy, the microbiome, and food as medicine. Learn more at pcf.org.

Lucas Giolito picked up victory No. 10 Friday night with his dad, Rick, in attendance. The two are spending time together until Giolito’s dad departs on Monday. Kids and fathers threw out ceremonial first pitches to their respective White Sox dads and sons prior to Sunday’s series finale.

For reliever Ryan Burr, his favorite memory with his father, Scott, comes from a game he was playing with Double-A Birmingham in 2018.

“We were actually in a rain delay, but it wasn’t raining. My parents were sitting out on the berm in Birmingham, there’s a huge grass berm in the outfield,” Burr said. “I just kind of walked out there and just stood there and played catch with my dad for 10 minutes before the game and they ended up calling the game. It was cool to be out there playing catch with him and having a good time.

“He’s the one who gave me this love for the game. It was really nice. I don’t think I could ever repay him monetarily for the amount of money he’s spent on tournaments, travel, all that kind of stuff. I really appreciate everything he did and does. He’s the No. 1 fan for me. It’s special.”

“When I got my first win here this year, he was there,” Burr said. “I just remember looking up into the stands and just he had his arms straight up in the air and was looking at me. It was cool.”

Attendance on the rise

If you rebuild it, they will come.

That theory looks to be in the early stages of playing out during the 2019 season for the White Sox, who had their second straight sellout on Sunday. Attendance is on the rise for the team overall compared to ‘18, according to senior vice president of sales and marketing Brooks Boyer.

“This is the players,” Boyer said. “We’ve got really good promotions. People are finding out. We’ve got really good pricing and we have everything trending in the right direction.

“The on-field product is terrific. People are identifying with the good players.”

Getting to know the team’s core now should only increase drawing potential when the team moves closer to contention in 2020.

“[Fans] are seeing the pivot point of a rebuild and the pieces that are going to be here for a while. They are connecting with them,” Boyer said. “The cool part is our players like to connect with them.

“It helps when the players are engaged with the fans. We can put the promotions on top of it, and it all comes together really well.”

Injury updates

Covey, on the injured list retroactive to June 6 with right shoulder inflammation, threw a light bullpen Saturday. He bounced back Sunday to play catch from 150 feet and was encouraged by the progress.

Yoan Moncada returned to the starting lineup at third base after missing four days due to a mid-back strain.

He said it

“Wow. That would be pretty cool. To possibly be able to get on a bike and ride all the way to the park on the other side of town to play a game would be pretty exciting.” -- White Sox manager Rick Renteria on a potential Cubs/White Sox World Series.