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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?

I was trying to decide the magic person to start the game 4 thread, and couldn't help but remembering the best Game Thread starter in Soxtalk history @Heads22 . Obviously he would be the man to step in here and bring us home, so I will do the next best thing and start this thread is his honor. Wherever you are buddy, this one is for you!

wow, fathom. Unbelievable. What did you say?

This is no longer a "magical" season and whatever happens, we're good. I want blood this series. I want to beat the hell out of Cleveland. f*** those guys. Crush'em.

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

Never underestimate how fucking annoying the Guardians are.

The sox now have the full backing of the Pope and Israel. Nothing stops this train.

We are the team of destiny. With our pitching and offense playing better, we are the better team. We can beat up on the Guardians.

And I would like to see him brought back in 2027. That is all.

Boys, it’s do or die time tonight. I went into the home games feeling we had this series locked down, but for many reasons we failed to take advantage of a great opportunity. Attending the two home games, you could feel the momentum quickly shift from us to them. The pitching staff is clearly gassed and the bats are now pressing. The magic feels like it’s starting to wane and as a diehard fan waking up & getting through these past few days has been brutal. You can tell the fan base is starting to lose hope as we head into a game five on the road. But you know what, f*** Cleveland. There is nothing more in this world than I hate than the city of Cleveland and its mouth breathing inhabitants. I went to college in Ohio and was constantly surrounded by these arrogant douches. These assholes have an entitlement that is not even remotely deserved. They also live in the armpit of America. Their river literally burned on fire. Their NFL team jump shipped and went to Baltimore of all places. A recent study had Cleveland as the worst place to raise a family out of 150+ large cities in the US due to general suckiness . Their most famous and adored celebrity is Drew fucking Carrey. How such a shitty place came to be is almost unfathomable. And yet here we are, one game away from losing the ALDS to the scum of the Earth in a place worse than Hell. I refuse to accept that outcome and I know the Sox refuse to accept that outcome. We just went into this shithole and took two on the road…no reason we can’t take one more. Sean Burke is one of the most bad ass motherfuckers around. I sat next to his grandma and several other family members at Fenway when we played the Red Sox earlier this year. It became clear to me during my conversations with them that this dude only cares about one thing and that’s dominating on a fucking mound. He wants the ball in the biggest moments and on the biggest of stages. And there is no bigger stage than a must win game #5 on a Saturday night on primetime TV vs. a much hated divisional rival. If there’s one dude on this team who could give two fucks about momentum and who will win or die trying it’s Sean Burke. I stand with Sean Burke. I stand with the bats who led the AL in runs scored. And I stand with my Soxtalk brethren who are some of the biggest diehards I know. None of us deserve s%*#…we aren’t like those entitled Clevelanders and expect a free handout. But I do know this…no one wants this more than us. And when everything is on the line, it’s the ones who want it more that usually come out victorious. Our boys are going into this game tonight hungrier than ever and aren’t leaving Cleveland without a W…you can book that s%*#. Let’s fucking go!!!

Get that Cubs filth out of here.

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

Gross

It can’t be overstated how big stealing a game Messick started in CLE. Seriously huge advantage in this series. Will has been on fire. Really well managed ballgame. Props to the staff!

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!

Cleveland threw their top two guys at home...and we're going to Chicago up 2-0. Incredible. Cleveland would have maybe 1 run for the series without a couple misplays helping them? Postseason ERA for the Sox is 1.75 through 4 games, .806 WHIP is 3rd lowest behind TBR and NYY. One win away with 2 home games on deck, here's to hoping the next team flight to Cleveland is in 2027

We in

So many threads about negative fire just wanted to yin the yang. BIG step forward this year I'll see y'all in the spring.

I made a bad decision last night and bought tickets and will be on my way to Cleveland tomorrow morning. I don't want this fuckin thing to end.

This series is NOT going back to Cleveland

Let's fucking go!!!!

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.

The Pope has convinced Jerry to convert!

“ WE'RE GONNA GET ON A PLANE AND WE'RE GONNA HEAD TO CLEVELAND, OHIO. SOMEBODY'S POURING ALCOHOL DOWN MY PANTS. AND WHAT WERE GONNA DO IS SHOW UP, PLAY WHITE SOX BASEBALL AND WE'RE GONNA KICK SOME ASS.” - MIKE VASIL

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

I have your posts on ignore because of your utter failure to engage in a discussion in a rational manner even once. I also didn't join Soxtalk to race to the bottom and make petty personal insults to people who disagree with me on any topic. But, I have to make an exception here to stand up for myself. You're a fucking lying idiot who does nothing but launch personal attacks that aren't based on reality. I'm not even going to waste my time responding point by point to your nonsense because what you spout about other people is just total bullshit. A few months ago, you went after me for saying that I took my kids to the Fundamental area. That shows everyone how much of a fucking lowlife you are. Going after my family life because you don't like my opinion about stadiums? Really? FUCKING IMBECILE. You think you're more of a Sox fan than others because of some idiotic idea that your more "South Side" than others? What a sad, warped world view you have. Stop waving your dick about your South Side street cred, nobody give a s%*#....seriously there are zero posters who are impressed by this. In fact, it just make you look pathetic to others reading this thread. Look around. Nobody...and I mean NOBODY here likes your tired schtick. And yet, you continue to come here to take a steaming dump on this thread over and over again because stadium news hurts your feelings and makes you want to lash out at everyone. Fucking crybaby. I'm sure your response to this is just to put a laugh emoji. Sorry to break it to you, but that is not a "sick burn", it just shows how much of a fucking idiotic coward you are. I take great joy in seeing how other posters take you down in epic fashion over and over again. Other posters should (and have) voiced their opinion that they'd rather the Sox stay at Rate Field, or at least at 35th St. That's a legitimate difference of opinion that fans can have. There are pros and cons to each of the stadium options the Sox could take after 2029. Each site has benefits and drawbacks. But you're not interested in any of that. In fact, for other people who want the Sox to stay at 35th St over the South Loop, you're just an embarrassment to their side of the issue who drowns out legitimate concerns about the South Loop option with comically unhinged tantrums. Okay, everyone - carry on. Go Sox and hopefully we can raise some pennant flags before this team moves to Railyards Field in 7 or 8 years.

!!!!!

Should have just gone with Hagen to start the 3rd

Maybe Ja Rule finally made it to town.

SWEEP THESE FUCKERS!!!!!! I've been driving all over the southeastern United States since Friday. Visiting family in different states. Got to Florida today for the next few days with the fam. Had my feet planted in the Gulf of America when Braden laced that 2 run double, watching with phone in hand. Let's goooo!!!!!

Getz getting a starter:

CELIBRATE FOR BURKE! Offense did enough. Sam cannot be in LF late in games.

Get bent Tribe.

Devil Magic Guardians are no match for God's team. Sox in 3.

Mune felt like the first player in forever to pick the white Sox. That love affair will never end. He fucking rules, no matter what happens.

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!