The Chicago White Sox have all but exceeded expectations with how poor their performance was this last year. Their recent woes can be attributed to having been in a rebuild since the early 2010s. As of 2020 the White Sox finally started to heat up, having made the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, yet losing to Oakland in the opening Wildcard Series. This marked a turning point for the franchise as White Sox fans started to believe they had a serious contending team for years to come.
Players
With a young core, assisted with seasoned veterans lining this roster, the White Sox started to look like a scary team. There really wasn’t a hole to fill inside this lineup. Having one of the best starting pitching rotations, filled with former and potential future Cy Young winners. Their offense was filled with a ton of power with stars Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Jose Abreau, Tim Anderson, and Yoan Moncada to name a few. Other key players like young and rising star Andrew Vaughan, Gavin Sheets, and Yasmani Grandal were anchor pieces for this lineup as they started to put the southside of Chicago back on the map.
2021 – Things Begin to Look Good
After an unfortunate ending to 2020, the White Sox looked towards 2022 with massive aspirations. Storming through the regular season and winning the division for the first time since 2008 with a record of 93-69, the Sox would play their first home playoff game since that same 2008 series. The Sox started in Houston, going down 2-0 in a best-of-5 series to return home and host the Astros in the “Black Out” game. The entirety of Guaranteed Rate Field was covered in black by the supportive sold-out fan base. After going down 5-1, the White Sox stormed back in the later half of the game to win in an electrifying 12-6 fashion. The Sox would go on to lose the following day to Houston to get knocked out of the playoffs by a series score of 3-1.
2022 – The White Sox Woes Begin
The White Sox fanbase was expecting nothing short of a World Series run in 2022. Having shown they could compete with the best of the best in the league, it was time to go back to the playoffs and show the rest of the American League that Chicago was here to stay for the near future. Unfortunately, that is not what happened and the White Sox completely fell apart during the regular season finishing with an 81-81 record and missing the playoffs. This would result in manager, former player, and Hall of Famer Tony La Russa being released from the team and Chicago would bring on Pedro Grifol from the Kansas City Royals. He would take the reigns for the 2023 season.
2023 – Chicago’s Woes Continue
2023 was a do-or-die year for the White Sox. Many of their famed player’s contracts were expiring and this was the last real chance the White Sox had to take the league by storm and prove that 2022 was simply a fluke. New manager Pedro Grifol had brought around a new mindset to the clubhouse and with various free agent signings to fill some small holes left behind by the couple of free agents the White Sox let go, the Sox were geared up and ready to play the 2023 season. And in Chicago fashion, the White Sox were TERRIBLE in 2023. Having finished with the worst record the club has had since 1981, going 61-101 the White Sox missed the playoffs yet again, and speculation of whether Pedro Grifol was to blame spread through the White Sox fanbase like wildfire. Granted Injuries didn’t help us at all the 2 prior seasons but with the sheer amount of talent the White Sox had on paper, they should’ve played better than they did. We can do nothing but wait and see what the White Sox do in the offseason going into 2024.
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