What Went Wrong: Socked Out, but Still Positive

324 losses. That's how many defeats that the Chicago White Sox suffered in the three seasons prior to this one. That's an average of 108 losses per season, exactly two-thirds of their season. The White Sox were a total hot mess. But this year, they found the magic stuff. They were in actual real contention to win the American League Central. Granted, they lost out in the division race to the Cleveland Guardians, but they still ended up being part of October baseball after the horrendous seasons plagued them.

Not only were the White Sox postseason bound, they actually won a series; sweeping the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Series. This set up a first-time ever encounter with the Guardians, and not only did the White Sox take Game One, they took Game Two as well. Both games were in Cleveland. The White Sox returned to the South Side up two, with a chance to advance to the ALCS for the first time in 21 years. What happened? The Guardians woke up. Big time.

Games Three and Four were home games for the White Sox, but they were punched in the mouth badly. Nine runs each for the Guardians in both games, and as a result, one last trip to Cleveland was needed. Game Five was the worst. Nothing went right for the White Sox. Not only were they shut out, they were dominated. Out of the 27 outs that the Guardians racked up, twenty-one of them were strike outs. Yeah.

White Sox had a great bounce back from the horrible seasons. They lost 121 games two years prior, yet there they were in the playoffs. Quick rises like that are admirable, and honestly, I would have easily let go of their five-game loss in the ALDS easily... if it wasn't in this fashion. Reverse sweeps in the Division Series have happened quite a bit. This was the first one in the Division Series in nine years, and back then, the Guardians (then known as the Indians) were on the receiving end of it. It's bad enough that the White Sox were reverse swept. It's worse that it happened despite the White Sox winning Games One and Two on the road. The worst of it was Game Five. The team struck out twenty-one times! That's very damning.

Despite it all, the White Sox have a lot to be proud of. No one had the White Sox going anywhere. They and the Colorado Rockies were the two worst teams in baseball for at least two years, if not three. Historically, the White Sox haven't had a lot of luck; they almost never win divisions (even though Divisional Play is almost 60 years old), and in the 125-year history of the American League, the White Sox are among the least successful teams, having only won the World Series three times, while still serving as the little brother to the National League's Cubs in the Windy City.

Regarding this, I see the White Sox building off this. Look at the AL Central. The Tigers appear to be going south, the Royals already are, and the Twins have been snakebit for nearly a quarter-century now. From the looks of it, the Central will be between the Guardians and White Sox for a long time, and the White Sox clearly have staying power. I can see them back in the postseason in 2027, and who knows, maybe they win the Central. With the amount of amazing talent they have, I can definitely see the White Sox being a perennial postseason team for years to come.