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I think when considering the Sox farm system, rankings tell very little of the story. Rankings try to combine two really different things: high-end talent and depth. Of the two I think high-end talent is way more important unless you do a lot of prospect for salary trades like the Yankees do. The Sox have very good (not great) high-end talent. They do not have good depth. Their system would be much more highly rated had they drafted Konnor Griffin as the scouts wanted. But if you look at their 8th and 9th ranked guys, they are better than most systems. They issue is that they're top top guys slightly underperformed this year so instead of 65 at the top, they have like 8 55's and a 50. Those are all potential major league regulars, which is pretty darn good. Add that to the young guys they already have in mlb, you can start to see a corps developing. Now, they are likely to add a Top 5 pick in a deep draft. Also, there are several young players who may rise in the coming year. Fauske could be viewed very differently 12 months from now, for instance. Put all that together and there is definitely reason to be optimistic even if systems like the Brewers have even more reasons to be optimistic.

Quite possibly the greatest fan moment ever?

I think he just did this whole series to tell the twitterverse that his wife is hot

Hoping for a Brewers-Seattle World Series because f*** what MLB wants

And there is no joy in Mudville. Goodbye, Yankees.

When you just end up sober

Did you use an antenna before Xfinity picked em up Off by 1

"The Chicago White Sox also saw substantial year-over-year decline amid another dismal season and a switch from NBC Sports Chicago to Chicago Sports Network, the latter of which was subject to a lengthy carriage dispute with Comcast that kept the network dark for two-thirds of the season. The Sox saw viewership slip by 42% versus last season as a result." https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/tigers-double-viewership-as-largest-decline.html

Everyone with access to CHSN know about. Can see Schiffren even bringing it into random off season conversations.

Didn’t realize he learned to hit and gained some power. Man, that Madrigal pick was so ass.

When he left Getz's oversight lol...this story has been well covered, fwiw.

Kids really don't watch sports anymore. It is an old man's thing.

Thats the vaughn I know

Too many missed opportunities with RISP. Captain obvious, I know.

The Brewers have a bunch of switch hitters. Why let Lockridge give away an out?

Wrigley Field is FAR from the only team in this bucket, though it appears to be the one you chose to focus one. How about Atlanta? How about Boston? How about Arlington? How about St Louis? Have you ever stopped to think that if your theory about the Sox limiting their own fan base to only the favored ethnic groups you pointed out, and limiting themselves only to a certain segment of the city is actually hurting the team by robbing it of revenues that could be used to improve the team on a year to year basis when the bandwagon empties out? Nah. It has plenty of parking, who cares.

Taillon has a ERA in the 1s and a FIP in the low 3s since coming back from the IL in August. He's easily their best starting pitcher right now.

Cubs fan

Brewers really need Woodruff back if they advance.

Turns out Vaughn was the piece holding the Brewers together?

Fan ad taken out in a Cleveland paper:

There's a lot of debate of Getz now vs. Getz when he ran the organization through Hahn and KW. Here's Caden Conner talking about the difference between Getz vs. Machiavellian Getz: add: he also talks some around 10:30 about talking to vets on various teams.

Correct, a top ranked farm system will probably produce more major league stars than the lowest ranked system. No, not shocking, so we should probably stop presenting it like we invented the concept of number "one" being a good rank to have. I don't think we should disregard prospect rankings "because many will bust". I think they should be seen more as a snapshot in time of individual player pedigrees, and not of the system as a whole. We just graduated 3-4 top 100 prospects, which makes the system ranking take a hit. Our top pitcher was injured, another needed work on his mechanics, while a third prospect played across 3 levels and didn't mash at the highest level he attained. That also was a hit to the ranking. 4 other starters just had TJS that delays their careers for 18 months. Another hit. Did our minor league system suddenly become bad? No. Did Schultz, Hagen Smith and B. Monty suddenly drop off and are no longer considered prospects? Of course not. But because of the nature of ranking systems, they need to look at healthy, pedigreed dudes who are dominating their current, age-appropriate level, and declare who has an elite system from that. Is it unfair? I wouldn't say that. We just drafted an elite defense shortstop who could be a stud if suggested hitting tweaks are made. We also plucked an elite high school bat that will also rank once he produces at any level. But their true potential remains to be seen, so that's a drag on the overall ranking. Every other system experiences the same ebb and flow, so a #19 ranking has so many moving parts. Colson was dropping, but he just put up 3.3 bWAR in less than half a season. To paraphrase another poster, here, minor league rankings don't win World Series. Players putting up 6 WAR seasons in the majors do.

I felt like everyone intuitively felt that Judge homer was incoming lol. He was due.

I think relying on Shitler is a recipe for disaster. He's just a rookie, he could be touched up at a moment's notice. I'd think the same thing about Yesavage whose unique delivery probably flustered the Yankees the first time out without much scouting info on him. Can he do it again? The Blue Jays will have Gausman in either one of these games to come though. On the other hand, one wonders if the Blue Jays can keep up their offensive performance and it's hard to bet against the Yankees consistent offensive firepower. I'd still probably take the Yanks in this series even with the deficit they have to overcome. I'd hate to see another Dodgers/Yankees World Series, but I think the odds are in both teams' favor, particularly the Dodgers. It's harder for a team like the Jays to win a 5 game series if they have to score 10 runs every game. The Yankees pitching leaves some to be desired, but their offense is rock solid and I might think Varsho et al might come back to Earth. Also, quoting this post but moving it to the DS thread so as not to bring the Slam Dunk Champ's uncle's thread off topic. An interesting thread but not necessarily related to the current MLB postseason.

I did predict that the Jays would need 4 more runs to win the game right before Judge hit the tying homer...and it was true. Sometimes I wish I do bet on baseball.

Good thing I have never bet on baseball. Although I can take partial credit for reverse jinxing Judge into a standout game at least.

Yankees not out yet. For those of us hoping for a Milwaukee/Seattle World Series, it's also very possible that we'll see a rematch of last year's WS between the two richest franchises.

he's so tiny

Absolutely correct. White Sox fans have shown over the years they will not support garbage and expect ownership to make a solid good faith effort to at least be competitive. If ownership doesn't, the fan base basically says 'the hell with them...' As they should in my opinion.

Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2026 - MLB Trade Rumors White Sox have some work in front of them: White Sox (2) Mike Tauchman (5.143): $3.4MM Steven Wilson (3.166): $1.5MM

What about Vargas?

Geography no longer matters does it? I remember reading in the mid-80's a story in TV Guide talking about a Japanese company that said they were going to start producing satellite dishes the size of large pizzas and thinking 'no way' that's because the only satellite dishes we had at the TV station were huge, one was literally the size of a small house. Yea...times have certainly changed.

It also is just totally different than when we grew up, and doesn't really matter if you're 40 years old today, or 70. Today, you could be living in Chicago as a 16 year old but have just as much access to the Padres as you do the White Sox. Doesn't really matter where you live. And as we've seen with other sports, kids are attracted to the stars, not always the team. I think it's less about being "born" into a fandom and more about watching what excites you, and that's certainly not happening on the South Side. Defalco has talked about this on ESPN 1000 before, his 13 year old, who plays baseball...they went to the Sox-Reds series specifically to see Elly, because his son likes watching him. And in 2025, it's just as easy to access Reds highlights as it is to see White Sox highlights, even if you live in Chicago. Different world.

It's like literally 20 blocks, but the access to people is completely different, being on the edge of the financial district and in one of the fastest growing residential areas of the city.

Regardless of how people feel, some sort of change is almost certainly coming. The ballpark lease is up in 2029, the current owner turns 90 in less than 6 months, and he's set up a framework for handing over the team to a new owner as soon as 2029. That could mean building a new stadium at the 78 or it could mean major changes to the ballpark experience at 35th St. But with all you describe, I just have a hard time believing that the next 30 years under a new ownership is just going to be a continuation of the same old, same old "it's not as bad as people think" and "the parking is great" ballpark experience. Chicago just had a record-setting year for tourism. That shows that there is a market for people who want to experience some of the great things the city has to offer in the summer. So yeah, the same 1960s and 70s model of relying on people who just drive up to the stadium, see the game, do nothing else, and drive back home is outdated.

Haven't seen a game on tv in a couple years. Some say you can with an antenna. I certainly am not paying additional money. Wild concept for the brand, and I can not see how this is a long term monetary success.

Jerry killed a generation or two of Sox fandom, that’s for sure.

What kid watches free tv anyways? There are far more ways to consume a product than what kids had when the Cubs were broadcast OTA on WGN.

Are these kids watching games? Cubs aren't on free tv these days.

That and the Turang at bat sold the inning for them