With 60 Games in the Books, the Real Ride Begins
When I attended Sox Fest early this year, the excitement around this team was palpable. Crazy words were being thrown around like “playoffs” and “meaningful baseball in October.” The hype behind this team was like nothing I have ever seen before.
Here we are, more than half a year later, and our boys have a shot to win this thing. Like many of you, I was perturbed by our team seemingly turning back into a pumpkin with 2019 carved into it over these past 10 days. The 60-game sprint came to an end with a whimper. And you know what? That’s O.K. Every team is now 0-0. It doesn’t matter if you’re the Dodgers and won 43 games, or the Brewers winning 29. Each team has an equal shot to win, and crazy things happen in baseball, especially a thre-game series.
A good postseason run is going to start with our two veterans on offense, Tim Anderson and José “better win the MVP” Abreu. They have been on this team for what feels like an eternity now, but they are rookies when it comes to meaningful baseball. These two also have the toughness and grit to withstand the pressure. Tim’s been proving everyone wrong his whole career, and Abreu has faced more adversity just to play baseball in the U.S. than many of us ever will.
These two are very familiar with being written off. Abreu was put out to pasture in the minds of many Sox fans, and all he did was put up career-high numbers and position himself for an MVP. To write a premature postmortem on the 2020 White Sox with these two in the clubhouse is crazy. Anderson is already shushing you as he’s turning third and heading for home.
On the other side of it, the pitching staff has its work cut out for it. Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel need to be flawless in this first round. There is no way around it, Chicago's starting pitching depth is suspect, but the bullpen is solid. I’d like to see the Sox get weird with the other two starts (if needed in the ALDS) by limiting the number of times these guys go through the batting order. If the Sox break away from convention and get creative, there’s at least two frankenstarters on this roster, somewhere.
In all honesty, who knows which White Sox team will show up. I’m just happy to have baseball of consequence for the first time in 12 years. And more importantly, I’m really happy to see José and Tim get a chance to shine on the national stage. Too many people are already looking to 2021, when the Sox are here, right now.
Enjoy this week, Sox fans. It’s been long overdue.
Tom Borowski grew up in Northwest Indiana as a die-hard White Sox fan during the '90s. After watching the White Sox win the World Series in 2005, Tom packed his bags and left for California to study at the Art Center College of Design. (As a side note, the two events were not related.) Since graduating, Tom has been working in animation for more than a decade. His resume includes Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Walt Disney Imagineering, Dreamworks, and Amazon to highlight a few. Working with SI and South Side Hit Pen, Tom will focus on the art of the White Sox — painting and writing about Sox images both current and historical.