35thstreetswarm

(Reposting in the thread where I intended to post). We have better starting pitching, a better bullpen, and the offenses are a toss-up. I think we are a more complete team on paper. It will just come down to execution. It all starts with stealing one in Houston, which I hope we can do right out of the gate with Giolito on the mound.

We have better starting pitching, a better bullpen, and the offenses are a toss-up. I think we are a more complete team on paper. It will just come down to execution. It all starts with stealing one in Houston, which I hope we can do right out of the gate with Giolito on the mound.

Oh, so you *were* being self-evidently ridiculous in calling a 93-win, division championship season (despite major injury issues) “disappointing.” I forget sometimes that not everyone cares much about credibility. Thanks for clarifying!

You honestly think that’s the part of his post I take issue with, rather than the part where he says this was a “disappointing regular season”?

Don’t bother. “we suk lol” is basically his go-to comment in all situations

Is this a joke?

I get this a lot from casual fans. Sox fandom and Chicago sports media don't do the Sox any favors in this respect. There's a disproportionate amount of doom and gloom about the fine details of the Sox season as compared to acknowledgment of the obvious fact that the Sox are really good. I'm guilty of it myself. It's been a whole lot of "Ugh, Tony LaRussa" and "Ugh, injuries" and "Ugh, Yermin Mercedes is fighting TLR" -- and not as much "the Sox are one of the best teams in the American League." Die-hards take it for granted that the team is super talented and winning ballgames, but if you weren't paying attention you could be forgiven for thinking the Sox were having a disappointing season rather than blowing away their division. It's just something in the character of the organization and fanbase that I've come to accept, and that I vacillate between respecting and loathing depending on my mood. Sometimes I wish we could "keep it in the family" a little more, and be more rah-rah with the rest of the world given the respect deficit we already experience. By comparison (because comparison is inevitable in a two-team town), there's been more happy-go-lucky casual fan energy about the last few middling Cubs seasons--even as it was obvious to knowledgeable fans that their contention window was slamming shut much faster than expected--than there has been about the Sox rebuild taking off with a bullet. I've run into lots of folks who don't even know the Sox are better than the Cubs *this season* (though that did change a lot with the mass departures of the Cubs star players.)

What Phil fails to realize is that attendance is up 1 million + % over 2020, making it the largest year-over-year attendance increase ever!

They’re the douchiest fan base. They think that “owning” their disgraced cheater status will make it go away but it just makes it worse. Man, I’m so getting beat up in Houston

Oops, for some reason I read it as "if the Astros go 1-2" (as in 1 game in final series, i.e. 1 for 3).

ONLY if Astros lose today first. If they win today there is to be a double-sided sweep in teams’ respective final series.

White Sox FOD game every year!!!

not to mention trying to anticipate game times. If Friday in Houston is a day game you can fly out that evening. Night game and it’s a Saturday flight

Man, I hate the Reds uniforms. They look so trashy

This whole thing is dumb and needs to end.

Yes

Yeah I got right up to the end on a bunch of tickets only to get an error message and start all over.

Yeah I suppose locking in ALDS tickets had value. Just didn't anticipate I'd be able to get ALCS tix relatively easily.

Yeah getting the package got me nothing in terms of playoff tickets. Next year though!

codeski?

Got tickets for ALCS games 2, 3, and 4. Better seats than the ones I was "guaranteed" with my season ticket package for game 1. Lesson for today: there was no point to buying a season ticket package for next year if my primary objective was to lock in playoff tickets. I could have just done the presale I would've qualified for anyway (because I've bought tickets on Ticketmaster in the past) and gotten better tickets for all the games I wanted. All I got for buying season tickets was shitty seats for game 1. Oh well, not really complaining as I wanted season tickets anyway and I'm excited to go to playoff games. But interesting nonetheless (to me anyway).

Still waiting for my presale code I was told I'd receive. Ugh

Hell, if Rodon is toast he might be in consideration for the starting rotation in the playoffs.

My ALCS and WS tickets show up in my account but aren't marked game "A" or "B". My ticket rep said the tickets were for the first game of both series--no idea where he got that, though.

I have to say, though, that the feeling at the time -- which I think was justified -- was that our lineup was pretty stacked for the foreseeable future, and that adding yet another bat (in the RF position) was kind of a luxury rather than a need. This was true *particularly* when we assumed we had Engel to fall back on to provide superior defense and an increasingly effective offensive game. His continued injuries have really hurt. Our recent offensive struggles also make it a little harder to remember that the lineup was supposed to be this team's strength, which I still believe it will be. But the old adage "you don't need an all-star at every position" seemed to fit when we were looking at all-star caliber talent at C, 1st, SS, 3rd, LF and CF. The bullpen, which had been imploding nightly at the time of the deadline, seemed like a much greater need.