35thstreetswarm

Yes, I for one would be outraged if the White Sox went to the World Series, and I’m sure most on this White Sox fan board would agree.

These stats are heartwarming and all but we’re talking about a small pool of teams to start with. I think only 13 teams total, and only four in the modern era.

I sometimes watch Sox offensive half innings only to lower my blood pressure

Straight through the ALCS baby

I don't know - that's an awful lot of runs to use up for just one win. They need to be reasonable

Yes - DHs are a tough assignment when you're trying to stack wins.

Good post. I still think it's primarily the mental strain of his first MLB season. Hopefully last night sparks the big turnaround.

It would be so huge to see another good effort from Sandlin to turn over our rotation, as Burke and Martin have been looking much better of late. (Now let's allow them to be starting pitchers, please, and not try to get cute.)

Nope 😆

I do too. That second game was just so crushing, though. Bottom line is we're tied in the loss column with the tiebreaker, so we really do control our own destiny. The next three series will show whether we're just in a temporary slump or irreparably gassed/choking.

I'll say this: this is really putting the "we just need one in Cleveland" crowd's resolve to the test. There were quite a few who felt that way going in. Of course, the real-time experience of "one in Cleveland" is quite different than the abstract idea of it.

The awesome branding/merch opportunities would have been limitless. What a total whiff on their part. "Guardians" is so generic I can hardly believe that was the choice.

Me too, the Murphy decision (among other things) kept me up last night. But also trying to remember that the mentality coming into the series was need to win one (done) and winning two would really put us in the driver's seat. A single loss in this series is not a catastrophe - let's win today and secure a series win.

But it's low-hanging fruit that doesn't move the needle ;)

Don't feed the troll

As one unmanly and repeatedly self-beclowning poster ominously put it when we were headed in to play them in Detroit, “the Tigers are on the prowl”!

A team that has been predicted to collapse against "this NEXT stretch" over and over and never done so? A team that's avoided major slumps? A team that's dominated its AL Central foes, and held their own in tough series against top opponents? A team that's held onto first place for months? Playing .500ish baseball and getting at least one game in Cleveland, which would match past results, probably gets them the division. Obviously if they go into their first extended swoon/collapse then it's over no matter what happens with this series, but that's not been the character of this team so far.

If they play like the team we've seen all season I expect this series will go just fine (hopefully 2/3) and we'll win the division.

It's hardly a surprise that many who grew up in Bridgeport with the White Sox as a defining part of their neighborhood will be sad to see them go (and sad to see the Tray effect clearly tainting any and all critical discussion of the move.) I do feel for the neighborhood and will be nostalgic myself when the eventually leave, just as I was nostalgic when they tore down Old Comiskey. But the notion that their leaving will turn Bridgeport into a "ghost town" is way overblown for the reasons folks have mentioned. It will turn Bridgeport into...a neighborhood without a ballpark, like all but one of the other Chicago neighborhoods. Albeit a neighborhood with a big physical hole to fill.

I'll take our schedule over Cleveland's any day.

I would agree that it's Western, but only south of North Avenue and North of, say, 18th street.

Someone give me a reason to stay mad, quick, I'm coming down

Team success and related ticket demand are definitely a huge part of the story here. But not the only part—there is a spectrum of possible approaches to this project ranging from valuing affordability and family accessibility to assure the long-term success of the team on one side, to extracting every possible cent from each attending fan on the other. I wouldn’t be too quick to totally dismiss affordability and accessibility as valid concerns. I hope those leading the charge don’t, even if I’m pessimistic that they will.

…and it’s only five minutes further if you live south of 35th street, which thousands of Sox fans do not. It’s much more convenient for me from home, and infinitely more convenient if I come from work in the Loop, which I do for every weeknight game.

The Ishbia skeptics need a new spokesman.