Wednesday’s night White Sox game against the Minnesota Twins will be the biggest for the organization since September 30th, 2008. That night was the last time that the team won the American League Central Division and made the playoffs. It has been 12 long and frustrating years for the White Sox, but more importantly, their dedicated fanbase, which is why Wednesday night is so important.
𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗜𝗖 𝗡𝗨𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗥: 2️⃣ pic.twitter.com/8SOxk0MroU
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 16, 2020
For 12 years, the White Sox faithful have waited for a playoff-clinching night as the last possible chance of it came back in 2012, which was the team’s last winning season until this year. From 2013 to 2016, Chicago strived to be a playoff team by signing and trading for veteran talent, but to no avail. Following the 2016 season, general manager Rick Hahn began a rebuild to revitalize one of the worst minor league farm systems at the time as the team was one of the worst teams in all of baseball from 2017 to 2019.
Over the last four years, Hahn has traded for top-tier prospects, drafted high-end collegiate talent, and signed the best international player in recent memory. Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, Luis Robert, Lucas Giolito, Eloy Jimenez, Nick Madrigal, Dane Dunning, Dylan Cease make up a core that has World Series potential this season.
BREAKING: Chicago White Sox trade P Chris Sale to Boston Red Sox for IF Yoan Moncada, P Michael Kopech & 2 prospects. (via Fox Sports) pic.twitter.com/2xrwgHRYS0
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 6, 2016
Fans stood by the team through terrible free-agent signings and trades for veteran players, including Jeff Keppinger, Jeff Samardzija, Bret Lawrie, Jimmy Rollins, Mark Teahan, Adam LaRoche, and JB Shuck. Fans also waited on the development of the core players while supporting short-term players such as Yolmer Sanchez, Tyler Saladino, Wellington Castillo, James Shields, and others that moved by the team once the young prospects were ready.
My White Sox past their prime team:
Jimmy Rollins SS
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Ken Griffey Jr RF
Manny Ramirez LF
Justin Morneau 1B
Andruw Jones CF
Adam LaRoche DH
Geovany Soto C
Omar Vizquel 2BJames Shields SP
Ervin Santana SP
Mat Latos SP
Francisco Liriano SP
Jeff Samardzija SP— Mike (@ChiSoxFanMike) February 22, 2019
Unfortunately, the team is having its first taste of success during a time when no fans are allowed at games due to the ongoing pandemic. Attendance this season would have been at an all-time high given the team’s performance and the exiting talent level of their players. Wednesday night’s game would be in front of a sell-out crowd, which would probably wear all-black attire to recreate the night when the White Sox won the division against the Twins back in 2008. If Chicago were to clinch a playoff spot either Wednesday or Thursday with a home crowd in attendance, it would have set off a massive celebration.
Fans will have to settle for watching the game at home with anticipation of when the White Sox finally clinch a playoff spot along with a division title later. White Sox Twitter will be a frenzy of funny and celebratory tweets from Sox loyalists who have waited so long for this exact moment. Sox Twitter will finally get to experience the long talked about Soxtober and be able to tweet about playoff baseball.
Even if Wednesday night isn’t the clinching night, it will be the first night of anticipation for whenever the moment finally comes, whether on Thursday afternoon at home or Friday night in Cincinnati. The White Sox organization, and more importantly, its loyal fan base deserves the joyous celebration that will follow once the first playoff spot 12 years is finally clinched.
