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Truce. The playoffs are a reality now. The Sox are in it, we all just watched a young, fun team do something none of us could have truly predicted. Let’s bury grudges, arguments, resentment until the playoffs are over. That doesn’t mean don’t argue, that doesn’t mean put on a happy face about everything. That means things that have been going back and forth for 8 months stops until the playoffs are over. Forget what that person said in March, ignore the doom predictions made after the brewers series, and for gods sake let’s keep getz employed for a few more weeks. I’m not calling out anyone in specific, I am certainly guilty of both being incredibly pessimistic and bringing up old s%*#. It doesn’t have to be forever, let’s just enjoy the end of this summer ride into October and try to be a united front. Deal?

they will remain southsiders. it's not that deep.

If Schiff is gone, I'm never standing up again.

Never underestimate how fucking annoying the Guardians are.

Hitting dingers into the Chicago River would be for the tourists. Hitting dingers into the Cal-Sag would be for the Southsiders.

Unfuckingbelievable. These kids do not know any better and I love watching it

Also love this

Entering 2026, the White Sox were given virtually zero chance to make the postseason: just 1.1% on FanGraphs and 0.8% on Baseball Prospectus. In over 20 years of public tracking (PECOTA since 2003, FanGraphs since 2014), no team has ever made the playoffs from a baseline that low. The previous record holders were the 2015 Texas Rangers (3.1%), followed by the 2008 Rays (3.8% on PECOTA), 2021 Giants (4.2% on PECOTA), and 2017 Twins (5.1% on FanGraphs). Coming off three straight 100-loss seasons, including an MLB-record 121 losses in 2024, and backed by an AL-leading 11 walk-off wins, you can certainly argue that this is probably the most miraculous team in modern baseball history.

Now let's get the division and BYE. Go Boston!

We in

While we’re at it, is Bridgeport even south enough? Ishbia move the team to Morgan Park you coward.

The South loop is on the South side of Chicago. This is dumb.

Let's fucking go!!!!

Lovely day to retake 1st place

Let's make it even more crazy over the next month...

The real tragic irony of tray all is that Reinsdorf was the one to initiate the whole push towards the 78 and wanted public funding to build the whole stadium

This is solid work Ron. Based on your history of pronouncing something dead, the Sox should now win like 15 in a row. Way to take one for the team.

Will be in attendance for this one, our tickets are behind home plate. Would love nothing more than to celebrate a sweep and watch all these loser Astros fans sulk home.

I feel like I'm going to wake up in rehab to learn this was just a hallucination.

If only we still had Reese McGuire. BluBaughs would be annihilated.

If the Sox go 5-1 this week they probably win the division. So go do that.

We all know Mune has been horrendous for the past month. But I actually wanted to know why. The Slump August 19th, 2026 was Murakami's first MLB game where he didn't generate a single 3 true outcome. No strikeouts, no walks, and no homers. He put a ball in play every AB that day against the Cubs. And that apparently broke him. Because since August 19th, Murakami has only had 9 hits. That's unheard of for someone that plays everyday (and was batting 2nd in the lineup until recently). His slash line during that time: .096/.248/.170 in 113 PA. For comparison, in Drew Romo's last 114 PAs with the Sox, his slash line is: .129/.221/.198. So how did a guy who was hitting .234/.372/.545 in his first 393 PA turn into of one of the worst hitting catchers in baseball history? Let's dive into the theories. The Hamstring Injury I've seen a narrative where the hamstring injury caused the slide. I don't think that's true. Mune had about a 2 week stretch where he needed to get acclimated to major league pitching again after taking 6 weeks off. In his first 10 games back he hit .176/.364/.294 with no homers. From that point on until August 19th, he hit .241/.359/.609 with 9 home runs. He was basically back to what he was doing pre-injury. But let's say something did change. Maybe the injury changed his swing. Maybe the home run derby did. Whatever your theory is, let's set a baseline. Before injury: .240/.378/.560, 94.2 MPH EV, 15 degree launch angle, 73.3 MPH bat speed, 18 degree attack angle, 7.8 feet swing length, 35 degree swing path tilt, 0 degree attack direction. 10 games after injury: .176/.364./294, 91.9 MPH EV, 20 degree launch angle, 74.2 MPH bat speed, 19 degree attack angle, 7.7 feet swing length, 36 degree swing path tilt, 4 degree opp attack direction. After-injury hot streak (7/25-8/18): .241/.359/.609, 94.9 MPH EV, 19 degree launch angle, 70.6 MPH bat speed, 19 degree attack angle, 36 degree swing path tilt, 3 degree opp attack direction. What's interesting here is that he was actually swinging the bat harder during his first 10 games back post injury, but he wasn't hitting the ball anywhere near as hard. That's understandable since he probably had to get his legs under him after 6 week hamstring injury. During his post injury hot streak, what stood out the most was his lower bat speed, yet much higher exit velos. You would expect lower bat speed to generate lower exit velos and less power, but that wasn't the case during this stretch. What may have accounted for this is that his barrels/PA went up about 3.6% over his pre-injury numbers. So he might have made a change to swing less hard in order to get better bat control. When you swing as hard as Mune, you don't need to try to hit it to the moon every time to hit for power. What's notable here is the big increase in launch angle. Over a sample of about 150 PAs, things like that may change, but a 4-5 degree difference is very notable. The 1 degree rise in attack angle and swing tilt meant that he had a more uppercut swing during this stretch, which can attribute to the higher launch angle. But this is not always the case (as you will see later). Another thing to note is the change in attack direction. Attack direction basically determines whether you are late (opp) or early (pull) on a swing. You actually want to be at 0 degrees, which is what Mune was at pre-injury. Post-injury, he was late on his swings, meaning he was hitting the ball deeper in the zone. You don't want this if you're a power hitter like him with an extreme upper cut swing. Because you're basically eliminating the optimal time in the zone with your bat path. So while Mune did get back to his pre-injury production after his hamstring injury, there is a change to his swing profile. It's fairly minor, but the change in launch angle and attack direction are definitely worth noting. I think the fact that he got back to pre-injury production after the injury means that alone is not the reason for his slump. No True Outcomes I'm going to use the 8/19 date as a cut-off because it's kind of fitting that not striking out, walking, or homering for a single game would break a hitter like Mune. But it's also the start of a gigantic cold streak for him, where he would hit .085 with no homers over the next 71 PA. Over that stretch, these were his numbers: .085/.239/.102, 91.8 MPH EV, 16 degree launch angle, 73 MPH bat speed, 21 degree attack angle, 38 degree swing tilt, 1 degree pull attack direction. Now compare this to the 3 week period before it. His launch angle drops while he starts swinging harder. His swing is now at the extreme bound of upper cut for a ML hitter. A 2-3 degree change in swing tilt mid-season is almost unheard of. The rise in attack angle is also pretty significant for an in-season change. He is also swinging earlier, perhaps opening up too much to try and catch up to velocity inside. This would leave him more vulnerable to outside pitches though. Just from an anecdotal standpoint, I remember watching him during this time and thinking that he was simply popping up too many fly balls with extremely high launch angles. Homers he'd hit before were now deep fly balls that died at the warning track because they were simply hit too high. However, the data is telling us that he actually lowered his launch angle. That might have to do with him potentially rolling over on pitches from swinging early. On September 5th, Murakami finally hit his 30th homer on a towering fly ball with a near 50 degree launch angle that barely made it over the left field wall. So slump over, right? Nope, the next 2 weeks would be more or less the same. Except his launch angle has somehow dropped even lower. 9/5-9/15: .114/.286/.161, 93.1 MPH EV, 9 degree launch angle, 70 MPH bat speed, 19 degree attack angle, 37 degree swing tilt, 6 degree opp attack direction. So we've got a case of a power hitter trying to lift the ball more with a more upper cut swing, but it's actually resulting in a lower launch angle. He's also seemingly slowing down his swing more in recent weeks. I think the somewhat small sample could be the reason why you see the variance in bat speed, but it could also just be him tinkering with his swing to try and get right. The complete change in attack direction also means that he is now hitting the ball much deeper in the zone than before. If he looks late on outside fastballs, it's because he's got no chance to hit them with how late he is swinging. What can we conclude from this so far? I think ever since his cold streak started, Mune has been tinkering with his swing, mostly trying to gain more loft to lift the ball. In the process, it seems like it broke his swing. He's now uppercutting more than ever, but is somehow hitting the ball at a lower launch angle. You usually wouldn't expect that combination. He's also consistently changing his swing to cover up for one weakness or another. The pull attack angle indicates he wanted to try and cover velocity while the opposite attack angle more recently suggests he wants to cover the low and outside breaking stuff. League Adjustment Another popular theory about Mune's demise is that the league has figured him out. This one may actually have some legs. Prior to 8/18, this is how the league pitched Mune: By pitch type: 28.8% 4FB, 5.8% cutter, 2.9% split, 14.7% sinker, 26.2% slider, 7.7% curveball, 2.6% knuckle curve, 11.2% change up. Since then, this is how they're pitching him: By pitch type: 25.7% 4FB, 9.1% cutter, 3.4% split, 10.5% sinker, 37.3% slider, 2.5% curveball, 11.2 % change up. The general trend is that they've stopped throwing him high in the zone and have moved more to low and outside. They're throwing him less fastballs and way more stuff that moves. The jump in slider % is probably the most drastic one, with the cutter increase being 2nd. I'm thinking that's righties throwing more cutters inside to him as well as low and in sliders. I've also seen quite a few try to backdoor him with a slider/cutter/split/change low and outside, which is exactly where the hottest part of the heatmap is. So there's an approach change for sure by the opposition and it seems like it has worked. But is this because they're attacking Mune's weaknesses or is this because of his swing change? Here's Mune's zone profile by wOBA prior to 8/18: He was more or less dangerous anywhere in the zone unless you threw him high and in. Also look at his numbers in the outside and low zone, it's actually one of his hotter zones. I don't think that opponents would have gotten away with the outside and low approach to Mune prior to his slump and swing change. If you want a laugh, here is his zone profile since 8/18: It's no wonder the advanced scouting caught up and they throw the ball low and outside to him now. But then again, his entire strike zone is cold unless you throw middle/low. What Broke Mune? I'm not a hitting coach. I don't have a great grasp on swing physics or swing paths. So in reality, I don't actually know. But I think from digging around on Statcast for a few hours a few things became clear. 1. The injury may have not directly caused his slump, but the time off made him alter his swing and timing. Murakami eventually adjusted to the new swing and timing to still produce like he did pre-injury. 2. Sometime around mid August, he drastically altered his swing to be more uppercut while also swinging earlier. This would cause him to go into a huge slump. 3. Around this same time, teams adjust and start throwing him low and away off-speed pitches. 4. Mune is now stuck in a cycle of tinkering where he's either trying to cover velocity or the low and slow stuff that pitchers are now spamming. No adjustment has worked thus far. I think the good news that I got out of this is that I don't think Mune is incapable of getting out of this slump. The physical characteristics are all still there. He can still swing hard. He's still capable of hitting the ball hard. His swing and timing are just so jacked up that he can't do it right now. The way that pitchers are pitching him is because of the adjustments he made to his swing in August. I think his zone profile prior to the slump kind of proves that he can handle pitches in the strike zone when he's going right. But, because he's so out of it right now, pitchers will keep spamming what works until he proves he can hit it again. I just wouldn't expect that to happen anytime this season.

Newcomb + Burke vs. Williams on the mound. The Sox enter the series just a 1/2 game up on the Guardians. Winning at least one game is absolutely essential. If we go 1-2, we’ll be tied in the loss column, but will have secured the season tie-breaker. While the Guardians would technically be up 1/2 a game on us, we’d effectively be up 1/2 game like we are today due to the tie breaker. At minimum, we can’t leave Cleveland without at least securing one W. If we can somehow leave the series with at least one W, we do have an easier schedule to end the season. Both teams play three games against KC on the road. Both teams play bottom three teams at home with us getting the Rockies and the Guardians getting the A’s. The big difference is we have four games against the Tigers at home while the Guardians have three in Boston. Obviously you still have to play the games and Sox aren’t playing well right now, but every little edge matters at this point. Finally, we really need to come out focused tonight. This is the game we have the best shot of winning IMO. Burke has had two stinkers in his three starts and appears to be wearing down, but remains our most talented SP and the guy I’d put out there in a win or die moment. Williams is obviously very good, but the Sox face two lefties who have dominated us this season the next two games. It really feels like if you don’t win tonight, then you’ll be facing an uphill battle the rest of the series. Venable must do everything in his power to win the game tonight. Let’s fucking go!

It also completely missed the point. Ishbia is invested HERE, and is doing big time work to make sure the Sox have an ideal home. Jerry lives in Arizona, and already almost moved the team once, settling for the cheapest possible stadium he could get. The dude owning a nine figure house here just tells me the odds of his leaving are way less than someone who isn't invested here. Hell if he was looking to go cheap for a quick buck, he could have taken the discount on Minnesota because of their debt, and looked to move them. But he didn't. Dude is undergoing a crazy Rube Goldberg of work with different federal and private agencies to get the Sox an idealistic long term home that will actually benefit the franchise going forward. If that is evil behavior, well horns up for me.

In hindsight it wasn't so bad losing the division and getting the Wild Card series. It got the Sox engines revved up and gave them confidence.

I was a junior in college and my long term GF broke up with me a week after the World Series was over. Hope my wife doesn’t leave me now!

Let's get that W, folks

Raise your hand if you were nervous seeing Taylor for inning 3

Your Chicago White Sox take a 1-0 lead in the ALWC. They put the leadoff man aboard in 6 of 9 innings, and scored against 5 of 8 Astros arms. Smith and the offense set the tone early, Grant Taylor with an incredible 7 outs to slam the door late. An impressively mature playoff debut for so many of our young guys on both sides of the ball. No indication at all that the moment was too big for them, kudos to Will and staff for having them prepared. Let's win another and then go settle a score in Cleveland.

Veneble was absolutely justified to do what he did. Game one win puts the pressure on brown to throw a masterpiece as they have no bullpen. This was worst case scenario for them IMO

Hagen is a dog. Ride and die with your guys. He goes 2 scoreless and we win. Book it.

I actually think a "cookie cutter" PBP guy would be an upgrade over a non-baseball guy like Schriff at least

I can’t believe there are people that think McKnight is good. I get not liking Schriffen, but McKnight has just as many warts.

I was going to post an animated gif of Cartman from South Park saying “FU Kyle” but I thought better of it and will instead agree to your terms.

Colson tried to poor beer on Sandlin but he whiffed…kidding

Just got off the phone with a good friend of his. Don died of a heart attack. His friend said he lived life to the end still with a beer in his hand and a chew in his mouth. His friend had known him literally since they were kids.

Vargas is such a damn spark of a player. No matter what happens this final week and half, seeing him turn into a very good player has been so cool.

A lot of people in this world have gotten way too comfortable.

Doesn't seem like it's because he didn't take your pet draft pick

This is absolutely game changing information if true. Thank you for bringing it to light. Does anyone else know if this is indeed correct?

For some reason this argument that the new stadium will be bad because it is catering to corporations + tourists and not the atmosphere of die hard and affordability keeps getting served to me. You know why the stadium has been whittled to die hards and prices low? Because we’ve been terrible. And if you think we have uniquely strong spirit at our games, you also believe you are the most beautiful boy in the world when your momma strokes your cheek. as fun as it was going to 18k attendance games but still waiting in line for 2 innings to get a polish because they closed most of the stadium, I think I’ll deal with going to a stadium full of people and teaching them the Sox traditions like “watching the game” and, for some reason now, “doing the wave in the 7th or 8th inning”

I can picture an over-exuberant Schriffen wearing an old-timey striped railroad engineer cap and bellowing “TOOT TOOT!” and ringing a bell like mad after every home run.

The idea that the Sox belong only to the segment of the Chicagoland market that is south of, say, I-55 is absurd and short-sighted. That would mean the Sox truly are a small market team within the 3rd largest US market. Moving them to Arlington Heights or Rosemont would be stupid. I'd also agree that moving them to DuPage would mean they're no longer South Siders....even though Jerry and Eddie wanted to do it in 1986. But I doubt many fans are going to say that moving 2.5 miles due north of the current ballpark and yet still south of Roosevelt means they're no longer the South Side team.

Looked to see how pissed off Tray would be and it didn't disappoint.

I’ve been quiet on this for the most part, but as a Sox fan, there are only two things I care about with the stadium: Will it keep the team in Chicagoland area Will it help raise payroll to make team more competitive