I know that it’s likely they at least make the playoffs, especially in light of Sunday’s results, but I saw a lot of chatter on socials Friday night about how this team would be a failure this season if they didn’t.

I personally don’t agree, as I think winning 80 games this season was beyond my wildest dreams, and the core we have took huge steps forward. At the beginning of this season I think I predicted 75.

Even if the Sox make the playoffs, I can’t see them going very far, and even if they caught lightening in a bottle and won the AL I think whatever NL team made it would destroy them. Sure, it’s nice to be one of the final 12 teams and get some national attention on some of our emerging players. Realistically are at least 1 year and a couple of pieces away.

What do you all think? Does this team have to make the playoffs to be a success?

i think if they faded out of the division and playoff lead a few weeks ago, and they finished with 81 or 82 wins, then you could definitely consider it a successful season. If, however, they now fade out of the playoffs, to me it's not successful. You sold playoff tickets, and least use some.

It's very likely the Sox are going to exceed expectations of literally everyone on the board. So in that sense it's a "sucessful season".

But as as the season progressed expectations were revised. Especially with where we sit now 3 up in the WC with 6 to play, gotta make the playoffs for me to consider it a "success".

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by DoUEvenShift

I keep landing on if they don’t make the playoffs, they’ll be both a success and a disappointment.

Success: Going by the whole “If you told me in March that this team would be 4 games over .500 and fighting for a playoff spot etc etc etc” thing, it’s clearly a success.

Disappointment: Basically it’s too late to not make the playoffs now. They played too well for too long. It’s sort of like that “accidentally became important at work” meme. They messed around and made themselves a contender and you just can’t collapse and miss the playoffs after all that.

Can they be both a success and a disappointment at the same time? I’m open to someone telling me why this logic is stupid.

Another aspect of this discussion I find interesting is that everyone who follows baseball knows about small sample size, but for people who think playoffs or failure, does small sample size apply to these last 6 games of the year? Because it seems the team must succeed in those 6 or the preceding 156 games are a failure.

1 minute ago, Greg Hibbard said:

Another aspect of this discussion I find interesting is that everyone who follows baseball knows about small sample size, but for people who think playoffs or failure, does small sample size apply to these last 6 games of the year? Because it seems the team must succeed in those 6 or the preceding 156 games are a failure.

It will seem like a failure but in reality most of us at the beginning of the season thought the Sox would win 70-75 games this season so in that respect with the Sox winning only 60 games last year, 2026 has been a damn good season as they will improve by 20+ games, considering we were in 2024 one of the worst teams in the history of MLB what the Sox have accomplished in 2 short years is phenomenal. If we have a season in 2027, I expect Getz to do what needs to be done to make the White Sox true contenders next year and the years beyond. Once Ishbia takes over things should really be interesting.

Success no matter what - no one predicted this. But it will be much better if/when they make the playoffs! There are plenty of things to be excited about given the advancements this year as well as some things to absolutely handwring about.

Yes, but I'm not ready to go there mentally. It's winning time.

Regardless of the end of the season playoff participation, this team has won more games after losing 100 the prior season than anyone else has, and they continue to build on it. I would be massively disappointed if they didn’t make the playoffs but I think sometime in the offseason(which could stretch to the summer or even all year if the owners continue playing dumb) I could once again be happy with the Season results

BUT I, like everyone else, am now greedy and it’s right there. So why not take it

Resounding success no matter what.

A large driver in me thinking that way goes beyond simple wins and losses.

This team blew away all expectations and are on the brink of making the playoffs despite going into the season with a roster that was clearly not built to contend. The starting rotation was a joke and there was very little money thrown at making it whole last offseason. Tried to beef up the pen a bit with Dominguez, but no one looked at that pen full of castaways and thought they'd be worth a damn. There was nothing invested in the line-up. Tristan Peters as a starting OF?! A rookie RF, hoping for Quero to hit to cover for Teel's injury, Mune a complete unknown, moving Sam to LF?

Them getting to .500 with those questions and that roster heading into the season was something no one could have predicted. Then you look at the deadline and the way Getz kinda HAD to handle it. With such a top heavy farm, he could not sacrifice those top prospects to get the types of players we needed to become a true contender. Improve the roster? Sure, but he wasn't going to build a contender. Turns out, the deadline was an abject disaster. So this team, so bad for years and a s%*# roster this season, no midseason help, still ends up .500 or better? That's a win and should make us all excited for the future.

It's a success no matter what. Would only feel disappointing not making it with how well they played. But I still mark it as a success.

I will hate them and berate them throughout the playoffs for not making it and then will appreciate that on 9/21 I still cared about baseball and that is cool

I think the fair thing to ask is after a season of being told how great the team is, how great the training programs are, all of the amazing new uses of technology put into place, how far along all of these individual players are, how all aspects of this organization have been fixed and upgraded, etc do you get to take all of that into account with your expectations for this team? Is it fair after hearing about all of these players who were going to come up from the minors to make this team better this year to hold them accountable for it not happened?

Was this a season a product of something the organization did, therefore it is fair to expect more, or how much do you look at the potential flukes of 2026 coming back into balance here in September, and expect less because they weren't that good all along? Do you dial back expectations because of the collapse of Detroit and a lot of the rest of the AL (such as Houston, Texas, Toronto, etc).

Does the crazy number of walk off wins factor in as luck or as something they Sox did, and should be expected going forward?

Remember even Chris Getz didn't think this team was good enough to go all in with. Should we expect more than the GM?

No, 2026 is not a success without a playoff berth.
Good gracious we only need 84 wins.

Massive improvement from the past three years and probably a couple years ahead of "schedule". That's a very successful season. But with the playoffs well within reach, it would be disappointing if they didn't at least get in via the wild card.

Success should mean you did something successful. Not making the playoffs, after being up 5.5 on the Guardians a month ago is not successful.

Yes, expectations for this season were unanimously lower. Even me, who was basically most correct, had them at like 78 wins. Beating low expectations doesn't equal success, its just less bad.

When you have only had five winning seasons since 2007 and have had three straight years of 100+ losses, getting to 82 wins and guaranteeing a winning season is just fine for me.

Anything they can do over that is gravy.

That being said to be fair when you look at the season if they don't win the division after leading it for over 2 1/2 months would be a disappointment.

So the year overall is kind of a mixed bag to me. But you can't minimize how unexpected it would be for them to go from 102 losses to 82 wins.

In fact that has never happened in MLB before.

44 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I think the fair thing to ask is after a season of being told how great the team is, how great the training programs are, all of the amazing new uses of technology put into place, how far along all of these individual players are, how all aspects of this organization have been fixed and upgraded, etc do you get to take all of that into account with your expectations for this team? Is it fair after hearing about all of these players who were going to come up from the minors to make this team better this year to hold them accountable for it not happened?

Was this a season a product of something the organization did, therefore it is fair to expect more, or how much do you look at the potential flukes of 2026 coming back into balance here in September, and expect less because they weren't that good all along? Do you dial back expectations because of the collapse of Detroit and a lot of the rest of the AL (such as Houston, Texas, Toronto, etc).

Does the crazy number of walk off wins factor in as luck or as something they Sox did, and should be expected going forward?

Remember even Chris Getz didn't think this team was good enough to go all in with. Should we expect more than the GM?

I also left out that having both the 3rd wild card AND the division being able to be taken with something like 80 to 84 wins is unprecedented and gave hope for the playoffs in a season where that record would have left them 5-10 games (at least) out out of those respective playoff spots. Last year the last wild card had 87 wins, and the ALC winner had 88. In 2024 it was 86 and 92 respectively. In 2023 it was 90 and 97. In all but the 86 win wild card scenario, the White Sox would pretty much already be eliminated with a week to go.

If they fail to make the playoffs, it wasn't a successful season. I wouldn't have made that proclamation in March of 2026, but expectations change, and as we sit here on September 21st....this team should make the playoffs, and if they don't, it was a large let down.

Additionally, even if they make the playoffs, I actually feel worse about this team than I did in say July. With the way the 2nd half has gone, there are way more question marks about the future of this team than there was even a few months ago.

C - Teel basically had a lost season and isn't going to see more than 150 AB's this year. On top of it, he's going to end the season batting below .200. Quero spent more time in AAA than MLB and put up a -0.8 WAR when he was in Chicago. The catching situation is not in as good of a spot as I thought when the season started.

1B - Murakami has been one of, if not the worst hitter in MLB during the 2nd half. Fantastic first half story, but we simply don't know who he is at this point. And makes the contract extension talks much more complicated moving forward.

2B - I like Meidroth and think he's got a place on the team moving forward. Ideally he's a super sub that still gets 450-500 AB's all over, but he's fine starting at 2B

SS - Most disappointing player on the team. Colson took a huge step backwards in his development in 2026. I honestly don't know if you can consider him a "core" piece moving forward, especially with Caleb/Carlson/Roch in the system.

3B - If this is the real Vargas, think the Sox are fine at 3B for the next few years.

LF - Good rookie year from Antonacci, especially playing out of his natural position, but want to see more overall production from the LF spot. Not his fault, but they need more from that position

CF - Pretty remarkable season from Peters, came out of nowhere, but can we expect it again next season? Big unknown, but we're all rooting for him to succeed.

RF - Again, we all want him to be successful, but not a good rookie campaign from Braden. Going to need drastic improvement from him moving forward.

I'm not going to go through all the starters, but they have a collection of No. 3/4 starters on this team, and no one misses bats. Burke is on the borderline of being a No. 2, but need to see more. Hagen and Taylor were both great out of the pen, but long term hope has to be one, if not both of them getting a starting opportunity. Schultz had an incredibly disappointing 2026, as did pretty much every pitching prospect in the Sox system.

tldr: Teel, Murakami, Colson, Branden all had high hopes for 2026, and don't know if we feel better about any of them as the season ends. If those guys aren't producing for the Sox over the next 2-3 years, this thing goes nowhere fast.

The 1987 World Champion Twins won 85 games. The 2006 World Champion Cardinals won 83 games. the White Sox, if they make the playoffs, have nothing to apologize for.

Success and a disappointment in the end would both be accurate imo.

22 minutes ago, Tony said:

2B - I like Meidroth and think he's got a place on the team moving forward. Ideally he's a super sub that still gets 450-500 AB's all over, but he's fine starting at 2B

#1 second baseman in the AL in fwar (2nd in bwar), 4th in MLB 2b war....."super sub"....."he's fine".

Dude gets zero respect for what he's done.

Edited 14 minutes ago14 min by mmmmmbeeer

1 minute ago, mmmmmbeeer said:

#1 second baseman in the AL in fwar, 4th in MLB....."super sub"....."he's fine".

Dude gets zero respect for what he's done.

Probably because it's easy to overlook defense at 2B. Plus Chase alternates between looking really good and terrible at the plate a lot. It all adds up to being a really good player, but it certainly doesn't feel like it at times.

30 minutes ago, Tony said:

If they fail to make the playoffs, it wasn't a successful season. I wouldn't have made that proclamation in March of 2026, but expectations change, and as we sit here on September 21st....this team should make the playoffs, and if they don't, it was a large let down.

Additionally, even if they make the playoffs, I actually feel worse about this team than I did in say July. With the way the 2nd half has gone, there are way more question marks about the future of this team than there was even a few months ago.

C - Teel basically had a lost season and isn't going to see more than 150 AB's this year. On top of it, he's going to end the season batting below .200. Quero spent more time in AAA than MLB and put up a -0.8 WAR when he was in Chicago. The catching situation is not in as good of a spot as I thought when the season started.

1B - Murakami has been one of, if not the worst hitter in MLB during the 2nd half. Fantastic first half story, but we simply don't know who he is at this point. And makes the contract extension talks much more complicated moving forward.

2B - I like Meidroth and think he's got a place on the team moving forward. Ideally he's a super sub that still gets 450-500 AB's all over, but he's fine starting at 2B

SS - Most disappointing player on the team. Colson took a huge step backwards in his development in 2026. I honestly don't know if you can consider him a "core" piece moving forward, especially with Caleb/Carlson/Roch in the system.

3B - If this is the real Vargas, think the Sox are fine at 3B for the next few years.

LF - Good rookie year from Antonacci, especially playing out of his natural position, but want to see more overall production from the LF spot. Not his fault, but they need more from that position

CF - Pretty remarkable season from Peters, came out of nowhere, but can we expect it again next season? Big unknown, but we're all rooting for him to succeed.

RF - Again, we all want him to be successful, but not a good rookie campaign from Braden. Going to need drastic improvement from him moving forward.

I'm not going to go through all the starters, but they have a collection of No. 3/4 starters on this team, and no one misses bats. Burke is on the borderline of being a No. 2, but need to see more. Hagen and Taylor were both great out of the pen, but long term hope has to be one, if not both of them getting a starting opportunity. Schultz had an incredibly disappointing 2026, as did pretty much every pitching prospect in the Sox system.

tldr: Teel, Murakami, Colson, Branden all had high hopes for 2026, and don't know if we feel better about any of them as the season ends. If those guys aren't producing for the Sox over the next 2-3 years, this thing goes nowhere fast.

Yeah, the 2nd half of this season has not been good to optimism going forward.

Quick explanation: This team is a success.

Long explanation: This team is a success and will get better.