and the White Sox were already eliminated from contention, who would you choose for the Central?

I will go with the Guardians for a number of reasons: 

1) Better than Sox clearly head to head

2) 27th highest payroll, roughly 1/3rd Sox budget...that's embarrassing

3) Historical franchise ineptitude...no World Series win in many fans' lifetimes

4) Have a former Sox minor league manager in Francona getting best of HoFer LaRussa...also embarrassing the Sox never go after the best managers outside the organization.

5) Sox can still play spoiler against Twins six of last nine games of season.

6) Real-time proof that drafting, development and analytics can work for one of the smallest media markets...can still afford Jose Ramirez who's arguably the best player in the division and a much bigger contract commitment than the Sox have ever made for one of their own or FA.

7) Cinderella/David vs. Goliath team.  Most effort heart determination hustle and emotion expressed by far compared to pretty much any team in baseball other than the M's right now.  Fundamentally sound.

? Emmanuel Clase the best young closer in game...proof you don't need to overspend on the bullpen because of drafting and solid trades.

Edited July 28, 20223 yr by caulfield12

Fuck the Twins. I don't like Cleveland but I can respect them. I hate the Twins and I don't respect them. 

Guardians ownership doesn't deserve to win given how cheap they are. I don't want to see it rewarded. I don't like either team, I actually dislike the Twins more, but I can respect that they're trying to put a competitive team on the field.

Twin's pitching sucks so I'd say Cleveland. 

But honestly neither team is very good so the Sox at .500 would stay in the race pretty late in the season imo.

I really don’t care either way, they will be trounced by whoever they play so it’s not like I’m worried they’ll win the ship. 

I’ll pass. 

Won’t matter since we’re gonna win the division.

Brewers

1 minute ago, CentralChamps21 said:

Brewers

This would be my choice as well.

Guardians
If the Sox had the Guardians' front office, we'd be the Astros/Braves etc.

Contract the whole division.

Even if you combined the Sox Royals and TigerI into a "megateam", you still might not beat the Yankees Astros and Blue Jays when they're hot offensively.

33 minutes ago, Sleepy Harold said:

This would be my choice as well.

Cardinals are hard to love except when they used to play the Cubs.  But you definitely respected their tradition, financial prudence, fan support and teams more often than not.

My only interest would be for the winner to be under .500, to expose the 12 team playoff scheme for the ridiculous farce it is.

I sincerely think with the elimination of the unbalanced division schedule starting in 2023, there is a solid chance over the next decade one or more AL Central Division Champions will finish with an under .500 record.

SoxTalk new threads are just like game threads. The more pissed off you are the longer the game thread. The more upset you are at team performance the more new threads pop up.

If the Sox were rolling along the front page is filled with And That's A  White Sox winner threads. Some times I just don't feel the need to b**** and moan and when I do I usually reserve it for management who sabotage and shorten the "multiple championships" window every damn chance they get.

Some times I think that even if they tried to sabotage the window they couldn't have done this badly. SGS ,Sox Gonna Sox.

Edited July 28, 20223 yr by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Deez Nuts

Fuck the Twins and Fuck the Guardians.

Either team will get swept out of the first round. 

The Las Vegas Green Rays.

21 hours ago, maxjusttyped said:

Guardians ownership doesn't deserve to win given how cheap they are. I don't want to see it rewarded. I don't like either team, I actually dislike the Twins more, but I can respect that they're trying to put a competitive team on the field.

I would be happy if they just gave all their current players a few million dollar raises each.

That's why I don't get all the criticism over Garcia's contract. When the worst player in baseball is earning over $5,000,000 annually it makes sense that every player should be getting more. Last April everyone wanted higher player salaries and competitive teams in smaller markets. 

20 hours ago, South Side Hit Men said:

My only interest would be for the winner to be under .500, to expose the 12 team playoff scheme for the ridiculous farce it is.

I sincerely think with the elimination of the unbalanced division schedule starting in 2023, there is a solid chance over the next decade one or more AL Central Division Champions will finish with an under .500 record.

Damn right. Playoffs are stupid. Just make the season a giant tournament and winner take all. Why play a 162 game season just to determine who you play later? Everyone plays everyone and best record decides. Playoffs just make owners money. 

45 minutes ago, Texsox said:

Damn right. Playoffs are stupid. Just make the season a giant tournament and winner take all. Why play a 162 game season just to determine who you play later? Everyone plays everyone and best record decides. Playoffs just make owners money. 

It's was historically a two team race (best of 10/12 in each league). With expansion to 24 / 26 teams, the Division Era made sense.

Now they are handing out 2-3 "wild cards" in a five team division. Made the season a glorified exhibition consistent with the other three garbage sports. Don't plan on watching the 12 team playoffs even if the Sox make it (not that I could beyond going to a bar, as it's been pulled off the air like the regular season). It's my final season following baseball daily (dropping out of Rotisserie after this season). At least the World Series is on Fox for the 2-3% of America who still watches it, down from 33%.

Playoffs are just fake drama. 162 games are meaningless once you add any type of playoff. What difference does it make if it's two teams or twelve? You just decided a team with a worse record could be the champion. Unless there is a tie there is nothing to playoff. Play a balanced season against every MLB team and the team with the most wins is the champion. 

 

38 minutes ago, Texsox said:

Playoffs are just fake drama. 162 games are meaningless once you add any type of playoff. What difference does it make if it's two teams or twelve? You just decided a team with a worse record could be the champion. Unless there is a tie there is nothing to playoff. Play a balanced season against every MLB team and the team with the most wins is the champion. 

Add relegation to demote tanking teams the following season and you have yourself the first and only legitimate North American Professional Sports League. A Premier League, if you will. Twenty or so teams actually trying to win a championship. Hard to fathom for the typical American fan and socialist/parasitic billionaire team owner.

Edited July 28, 20223 yr by South Side Hit Men

Wouldn't is be great if the best teams were about five games over .500 and the worse teams about five under? Real parity.