On Saturday the White Sox season mercifully ended with a 9-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers. It only took the White Sox 162 games to claim their second road series win of the year.
Enyel De Los Santos, who was claimed off waivers from the Yankees, induced a hard ground ball hit towards third baseman Miguel Vargas, who the White Sox added during a three-team deal at the trade deadline, who quickly scooped it up and threw it to shortstop Jacob Amaya, who the White Sox claimed off waivers from the Astros, who threw it to Andrew Vaughn to complete the 5-6-3 double play. It was a fitting end to a season in which the White Sox used a franchise record of 63 different players.
The win marked the White Sox 41st of the season and second in a row. The White Sox, who days earlier set the modern-day single-season record for losses, finished the season 5-5 in their last ten games after winning five of the last six. Their .253 winnings percentage on the year was just enough to avoid the worst winning percentage in baseball history.
Earlier in the week a handful of fans flocked to Guaranteed Rate Field hoping to see history. The team was sitting at 120 losses, and with three games remaining in the season at home, it seemed almost certain they would break the record. On September 24th 17,606 people paid to watch the White Sox play the Angles. After chanting “sell the team” throughout the game the vast majority of fans erupted into boos when the White Sox secured the final out of the game to earn a rare home win. The display did not sit well with the players.
“I don’t love it. That’s all I’m going to say,” Garrett Crochet told CHGO’s Vinnie Duber.
The White Sox seemed to take the fan’s displeasure personally and rattled off a series sweep of the Angels, capped off with a gem by Chris Flexen in his final start. The fans wearing paper bags and holding up signs begging Jerry Reinsdorf to sell the team suddenly changed their tune as Flexen walked off the mound to a standing ovation.
“It was awesome, especially after the last couple of nights,” Flexen told the media after the game. “Hearing some boos after winning a game has been tough. But to have a real ovation there was pretty special. It was awesome.”
It’s hard to blame fans for expressing their frustration. But it’s also easy to forget that the players are human. Many of the players that have taken the field have been developing at the major league level and learning on the job. Not exactly a recipe for success. On September 27 reality set in. The White Sox had officially lost their 121st game despite starting their best pitcher Garrett Crochet.
“Winning three in a row, maybe we could do something special and ride it out and win six in a row and you start to believe in that and think maybe it’s not going to happen,” Gavin Sheets said after White Sox 4-1 loss on Friday. “And all of a sudden on the last out, you realize you’re part of the wrong side of history. It was a little more frustrating and it hurt more than I expected.”
It would have been easy for the White Sox to mail it in. But they didn’t. The team has had little to play for all season.
Before the year PECTOCA projections gave them a zero percent chance of making the playoffs. During the season they became the quickest team to be mathematically eliminated from the postseason. But the players continued to remain positive. By all accounts the White Sox locker room, while frustrated with the results, still showed up to the ballpark with the intention of winning that night. Despite becoming the laughingstock of the baseball world the players never stopped competing and for that, they can be commended.
