Lip Man 1

Like I wrote last month it's going to come down to the end. In that respect the Sox may have an advantage Detroit, Kansas City, Colorado the last 10 games. Seven of the 10 are at home. That doesn't discount though what takes place in the 10 days or so before that especially if either the Sox or Cleveland go on a run or fall apart. Another thing that could play a factor is playoff experience. Cleveland has made the post season seven of the last 10 years. I don't know how many of their current roster has been through the wars to get into that position compared to the Sox roster.

You are correct: In January 1965, Chicago White Sox owner Art Allyn met with American Football League (AFL) Commissioner Joe Foss to discuss placing a new professional football franchise in Chicago. [1, 2] The details of their meeting and the surrounding context include: The Meeting Objective: Allyn met with Foss in Chicago to officially pitch securing an AFL expansion franchise that would play its home games at Comiskey Park, the home stadium of the White Sox. Allyn also advocated for a companion expansion team in Milwaukee to foster a natural regional rivalry. [1] The Problem for the AFL: The AFL desperately wanted a sports market presence in Chicago—the "Midwest heartland of football"—but venue options were highly limited. Northwestern's Dyche Stadium was unavailable and Soldier Field was deemed impractical at the time, making Allyn's Comiskey Park the only viable stadium option. [1] The Outcome: Although Foss confirmed he received the formal application from Allyn, the AFL ultimately chose to stand pat with eight teams for the 1965 season to focus on league parity. The league delayed expansion that year, and by 1966, Foss resigned as commissioner. Shortly thereafter, the historic AFL-NFL merger agreement ended the need for a separate AFL team in Chicago. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Hunt did try to get the Cardinals and when he was rebuffed had the idea of forming the AFL. If Hunt did get the Cardinals the thinking was that he was moving them to Dallas and no longer trying to go head to head against the Bears.

Hard to argue with that thought. Cleveland has the pitching and that always is so important down the stretch. Ball is in the Sox court tonight we'll see if they drop it with yet another "bullpen" game. At least Toronto lost and Houston is losing although only by a run.

I question your comment about the AFL wanting to put a team in Chicago. Based on everything I've read about the AFL and I was a fan, I've never seen anything along those lines. If you can provide some links sourcing this I'd appreciate it. I've read that the stadium never got off the ground because then Mayor Daley actually wanted it built literally in Lake Michigan near where Meggs Field was and environmentalists objected plus the Bears said they did not want to share a stadium with anyone.

🤣 Only in the world of the White Sox.

Because being a White Sox fan for 65 seasons I have low standards. I "enjoy" when they have a winning season (win at least 82 games) and at least until 2007 they did that pretty regularly especially of course in the 1950's and 1960's. I absolutely am a cynic, JR's ownership and the incompetence of the organization has only increased that. But as I've stated before the Sox have been a part of my life since I was very young and there's something to be said for loyalty. Plus Ishbia is comin and hopefully I'm still alive to see a better run franchise. Also I'm not miserable at all and you've got some gall making that comment. I've got what I need in life, have a loving wife and family, had a wonderful career in broadcasting and outside of the rotator cuff surgery (still in a sling) have my health. Basically you can kiss my ass.

“You’re going to expose guys to some spots like we did today in the fifth with Kay facing [right-handed-hitting] Jeffers where you’re going to have some trouble you’ve got to be able to work through,” Venable said. *Kay has now failed to complete the fifth his last three times out, and there's a stark divide between the first three innings and what comes after: First 3 innings: 9 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 0 HBP Innings 4-5: 4⅔ IP, 14 H, 13 R, 13 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 2 HBP He rejected the opener earlier in the season, but this kind of performance is crying out for help.

With the state of the starting pitching thinking every game may be 'must win' isn't to far off.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/09/05/justin-ishbia-chicago-white-sox-ballpark/

Six factoids today: September 6, 1903 - Guy “Doc” White of the White Sox hurled a one-hitter in beating Cleveland 1-0 in 10 innings in a game in Chicago. It would be the first of five one-hitters thrown by White between 1903 and 1908. White never threw a no-hitter by the way. Cleveland’s only hit was by third baseman Bill Bradley. It was a double. He also threw one-hitters against the Browns in 1904, the Athletics and Browns in 1906 and the Senators in 1908. In addition to being a great pitcher White was also a dentist, graduating from Georgetown University and an evangelist. And in what had to have been a baseball rarity then and certainly now, while being an active player in 1902 with the Philadelphia Phillies and in 1903 with the White Sox, White actually umpired Major League games! September 6, 1905 - Sox pitcher Frank Smith tossed a no-hitter against Detroit, in Detroit. The Sox won easily 15-0 and swept the twin bill; both by shutouts. In the game he allowed three walks. Smith would throw a second no-hitter in 1908 and also had three one-hitters between 1905 and 1910. The 15-run no-hitter held the record for the most lopsided no-hitter in the modern era until it was broken in 2016. September 6, 1971 - Sox pitcher Steve Kealey belted a three run eighth inning home run at Comiskey Park off the Twins Ray Corbin in the first of a twin bill. It helped the Sox to a 6-3 win. It would be the last time a Sox pitcher homered in a game at home. Kealey also picked up the save in the same game throwing almost three innings. The Sox would split the days contests. September 6, 1981 – It was the beginning of the end for broadcaster Jimmy Piersall in connection with the Sox. Piersall and Harry Caray appeared on the “Mike Royko show” on WLS-TV. Royko asked the duo how they handle baseball wives who disliked the comments they made about their husbands. Caray said, “You know what Mike. I would love to call all the wives together someday and tell them what their husbands say about them across the ballfield.” Piersall’s answer was more controversial to say the least. “First of all, they were horny broads that wanted to get married, and they wanted a little money, a little security and a big strong ballplayer. I traveled; I played. I got a load of those broads too.” September 6, 1999 - In a double header at Texas, manager Jerry Manuel and star DH Frank Thomas got into an argument after Thomas refused to pinch hit in the second game. Manuel was livid and sent Thomas back to Chicago. Thomas had pinch hit in the first game and struck out. It was discovered after examination by team doctors that Thomas saying he was hurt rang true. They found a bone spur the size of a walnut on the outside of his ankle which required surgery and ended his season. September 6, 2008 – The White Sox and Angels battled at U.S. Cellular Field for almost four hours in the middle of a pennant race and played 15 innings to boot. That’s when Jim Thome blasted a monstrous home run deep into the right field bleachers to end the game with a 7-6 White Sox win. The contest set the record for the longest game innings-wise ever played in September by two teams; both in first place at the time. The home run was Thome’s 30th on the season.

With Cleveland losing I assume the magic number is down to:

Sox caught a break with Cleveland and Houston losing but it's going to be a rough three weeks unless their get their stuff together. You simply can't lose games at home to mediocre teams. 2-5 in the last seven games. They just don't have the talent to put a good run together, to many holes. And the comments about the manager's decisions are valid.

It's going to be a stressful last three weeks that's for sure.

The design looks terrific, hope he can get it done.

Awful AnnouncingCardinals announcers torch umpire over ridiculous power tripUmpire Doug Eddings stole the show during the Cardinals-Rockies game on Friday night, and not in a good way.

Me too! This will end all of the moving to Nashville talk right? 😆

Also a story on some bad decisions (and they don't even mention the Castillo deal!): South Side SoxThree blind decisions: Chris Getz’s biggest mistakes this...Bringing Tommy Pham to Chicago calls for an assessment of the team’s roster decisions this year

From the Saturday Sun-Times. Getz on Castillo: The Castillo questionThrough six starts, Luis Castillo has a 7.52 ERA, a 1.709 WHIP and given up at least four runs in five outings. Castillo, who will get $22.75 million from the Sox next year before a 2028 vesting option, also isn’t giving the Sox any length as only one of his starts has lasted more than five innings. General manager Chris Getz wondered whether Castillo is trying too hard to impress in his new surroundings. He also said the Sox are making tweaks with Castillo’s mechanics, and they saw progress with his lower half Thursday in Houston. “He’s not exactly where we want him to be or showing what he’s capable of doing, but that doesn’t mean we don’t continue to work,” Getz said. “That’s kind of the beauty of what we do and what we’ve done. We’ll continue to do so, find ways to solve for problems and issues and make adjustments.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2026/09/05/new-sox-park-future-owner-announces-proposal-for-riverside-stadium-at-the-railyards

I was trying to be courteous but that appears to be wasted on you. You continue to post about Castillo needing more time, defending these deadline deals et al. You painted yourself into a corner and now you can live with it. This isn't knee-jerk, people were saying literally most if not all of Getz's deadline deals were stupid and actually hurt the club. And they were saying it immediately after it happened. You defended them which is fine, no problem with that. But it seems others knew what they were talking about more than you in this case. Again no problem with that. You thought wrong, it happens to all of us. Now stop digging a deeper hole. Castillo is terrible. He was terrible with Seattle, he's terrible with the Sox and Getz f@#$E%^ up big time. Admit it.

EVERYBODY hopes that somehow Castillo can turn things around but the facts are facts, he hasn't looked good all season for either Seattle or the Sox. It probably isn't going to happen and Getz is going to have to live with this. The only question is how much damage is this deal going to do in the long run?

I hope you are right.

Four factoids today: September 5, 1983 - A magical season continued, as the White Sox broke the all-time Chicago city record for season attendance: 43,014 fans showed up to watch the South Siders dismantle Oakland, 11-1. The Labor Day crowd pushed the season total to 1,714,163. By season’s end, the 99-63 White Sox had drawn 2,132,821 fans — a city record that would be re-set in 1984. September 5, 1993 - In a game at Detroit, Sox star slugger Frank Thomas belted his 40th home run of the year. It marked the first time a Sox player ever hit that many in a season. Thomas’s shot came off Mike Moore in the first inning of the Sox 5-3 win. September 5, 2011 – In the back half of a day/night double header in Minnesota, Sox pitcher Zach Stewart fired a one-hitter beating the Twins 4-0. Stewart, acquired earlier in the season from Toronto, was making only his eighth career Major League start. Stewart retired the first 21 batters before Danny Valencia hit an opposite field double to right to end Stewart's perfect game bid. Zach would end the game with eight strikeouts. The Sox would also win the first game 2-1 behind the strong pitching of Phil Humber. September 5, 2019 – After getting knocked out of the game in the first inning a few days previously, Reynaldo Lopez rebounded to throw one of the best games in his career as he one-hit the Indians winning 7-1 in Cleveland. The right-hander struck out 11 and walked three, in going the distance. Kevin Plawecki delivered the lone hit off Lopez, recording a two-out double in the second that right-fielder Ryan Goins had a play on. A more experienced right fielder might have had a better chance at what was a tough play. The drive scored Jake Bauers from first. Otherwise, Lopez was unhittable, retiring the last 16 batters he faced.

And generally with Sox pitching hitting three solo home runs a game are nice but probably won't be enough to consistently win. I've never been an advocate for the 'home run or nothing' philosophy from hitters and the Sox 'big three' are falling into that trap in my opinion. As others have stated especially with two strikes, shorten up the swing and try going the other way, put the ball in play.