The good news for Carlos Correa is he gets to make his big league debut Monday night for a Houston Astros team that can't wait to run him out there. But here's the bad news:

He has to face Chris Sale.

So there's a 100 percent probability of swinging and missing. And a lot of it.

Nobody has talked much about this, but there's an excellent chance we're about to witness something Monday, on the South Side of Chicago, that we've never seen any active pitcher accomplish.

Before I tell you what that is, let's review what the White Sox whiff master has already done.

• In Sale's last start, Wednesday at Texas: 26 swings and misses.

• In his previous start, May 28 at Baltimore: 25 swings and misses.

• In the start before that, May 23 vs. Minnesota: 20 swings and misses.

So that's three starts in a row of at least 20 swings that hit nothing but air. And ladies and gentlemen, you don't see that happen a whole lot.

You know how many pitchers have had a streak like that at any point in the past eight seasons? That would be none. Nada.

The last year any pitcher did it, according to ESPN's trusty Stats & Info gurus, is 2007. Johan Santana spun off three in a row that May (against the Indians, Rangers and White Sox). Then Javy Vazquez pulled it off in September (against the Indians, Royals and Twins).

And they're the only two pitchers (besides Sale) to do it since 2004, when Santana and Jason Schmidt were the human air conditioners.

But now let's look ahead to Monday night. On one side, you have the Astros, the team that stands between Sale and four in a row -- and a team you can always count on to create a breeze in any weather.

The Astros have already struck out 531 times this season. That's the most in the American League.

They're on pace to whiff 1,483 times this year. That would be the second-most in the history of the American League (even though it wouldn't even be the most in the history of the Astros, who K'd 1,535 times in 2013).

And they've already had 26 games this season in which they've swung and missed at least 20 times, including four of their past five, five of their past seven, seven of their past 10 and nine of their past 14.

So ... they're just the sort of team we'd order up if we were interested in seeing something that no pitcher, on any team, has done since ...

... Would you believe 2002?

Yes, sir. The last time any pitcher for any team had a streak of four consecutive games in which he made the other team swing and miss at least 20 times, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, was July 31 to Aug. 15, 2002. When the great Randy Johnson did it.

The Unit faced 129 hitters over those four starts. They didn't fare well.

He got the Expos to whiff 30 times in the first start.

He caused the Mets to miss 20 times in the next start.

He inspired the Marlins to miss 24 times in the third start.

He piled up 23 more empty hacks against the Reds in the fourth start.

And nobody has done that since. Even in an age in which the strikeout rate seems to grow every year and everybody on every team seems to throw 95 miles per hour, no one has had four starts in a row of 20-plus swings and misses.

Until now. Possibly.

And Sale would seem to be just the man for this moment.

For one thing, he's often compared with (who else?) Johnson. For another, he's already had five starts this season in which he induced at least 20 swings and misses. And no other active starter has had more than five starts like that in an entire season.

So Sale -- my astute preseason American League Cy Young pick, by the way -- looks as if he's headed for something special this year, as he rises to the top of Baseball's most unhittable pitchers list. But first, he has Carlos Correa and the Astros to deal with.

The forecast: Clear, with a low of 62 degrees -- and a steady breeze emanating from the general vicinity of home plate.