Category / Baseball

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20 Years Later

White Sox win the 2005 World Series

Jenks with a deep breath.  He OKs the sign.  From the stretch, with a runner at second.  Here’s the 1-2 pitch to Palmeiro.  A ground ball, past Jenks, up the middle of the infield.  Uribe has it.  He throws.  OUT!  OUT!  A White Sox winner!  And a World Championship!  The White Sox have won the World Series and they’re mobbing each other on the field.

The celebration is on the mound right now at Minute Maid Park in Houston on Wednesday, October 26th, 2005.  The White Sox have won their first World Championship since 1917.  And the players are absolutely going wild on the infield.  Enjoy the celebration, Chicago.  This is long overdue.

John Rooney
10-26-2005

Twenty years ago tonight, the White Sox ended their 88-year title drought, winning their first World Series since 1917.  Sadly, they’ve only returned to the playoffs three times in the twenty seasons since and failing to finish above .500 thirteen of those years.

Much of this year was spent celebrating the championship team, as well it should have been, but hopefully there will be more focus now on winning another.  Hopefully it won’t take another 70+ years.

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2025 Final Pitching Leaders

On Tuesday. we looked at the leaders in the 39 games I attended this year on the offensive side of the ball.  With the League Championship Series in full swing, it’s time to finish up our look back at the 2025 season with the pitching leaders, starting with everyone’s favorite pitching statistic:

Wins

Name Total
Davis Martin 5
Adrian Houser 3
Mike Vasil 2
Cam Booser 2
Sean Burke 2
Daniel Palencia 2
Matthew Boyd 2
Tanner Bibee 2

Losses

Name Total
Jordan Leasure 3
Sean Burke 2
Aaron Civale 2
Yoendrys Gómez 2
30 tied with 1

ERA (> 6 IP)

Name Total
Cade Horton 0.00
Bryce Elder 0.00
Brad Keller 0.00
Garrett Crochet 1.23
Daniel Palencia 1.35

Strikeouts

Name Total
Davis Martin 37
Sean Burke 34
Mike Vasil 24
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2025 Final Batting Leaders

Another season of baseball season is in the books, with the White Sox disappointing their fans with their third straight 100-loss season while the Cubs failed to live up to expectations despite making it back to the postseason for the first time since 20200.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 39 games that I attended this season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Andrew Benintendi 6
Lenyn Sosa 6
Mike Tauchman 5
Colson Montgomery 5
Kyle Manzardo 4

Hits

Name Total
Lenyn Sosa 29
Andrew Benintendi 28
Chase Meidroth 26
Miguel Vargas 25
Luis Robert 19

Runs

Name Total
Chase Meidroth 18
Andrew Benintendi 16
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2025 Final Standings

After fighting back of an 0-2 hole against the Brewers in the NLDS, the Cubs dropped the decisive Game 5 last night, bringing the 2025 Chicago baseball season to a close.  Despite blowing an early season lead in the NL Central, the Cubs held on to take the top Wild Card slot and managed to advance to the second round of the playoffs.  The White Sox managed to improve on their record-setting season from 2024 and managed to not be the worst team in MLB, but still managed to lose 100 games for the third straight year.  Overall, I managed to attend 39 games, tied for my thirteenth highest total.  Along the way, I managed to see 21 of the 30 teams.

2025 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
St. Louis Cardinals 2 0 1.000
Toronto Blue Jays 2 0 1.000
Houston Astros 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 1 0 1.000
Chicago Cubs 8 2 0.800
Cleveland Guardians 3 2 0.600
Miami Marlins 1 1 0.500
Baltimore Orioles 1 1 0.500
Boston Red Sox 1 1 0.500
New York Yankees 1 1 0.500
Kansas City Royals 1 1 0.500
Chicago White Sox 15 18 0.455
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The Robots Are Coming

Major League Baseball announced a huge shift for 2026 with the arrival of a challenge system for balls and strikes as determined by a high-tech camera system.  The so-called robot umpires, officially known as the automated ball-strike (ABS) system, has been used in Triple A since 2022 and was tried out in spring training 2025.  The challenge system will give each team two challenges of the home plate umpire’s strike zone, and they will retain their challenge if the call is overturned.  When a challenge is issued, the umpire will review how the camera system called the pitch and that determination will be final.

Challenges can only be issued by the pitcher, the catcher, or the batter and must be made immediately following the pitch in question.  Players are barred from receiving any help or direction from others in issuing the challenge.

The competition committee, which, per the collective bargaining agreement, is made up of six appointees from MLB, four players, and one umpire, did not have a unanimous vote, with at least one player opposing the rule change.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts the game moving forward.  With limited challenges, will teams implement strategies about when to allow players to challenge?  Will certain players be stopped from challenging altogether?  Time will tell.

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2025 Predictions Revisited

Six months ago, I made my annual predictions as to who would win what in the 2025 MLB season.  With the Division Series round in full swing, it is time to revisit those predictions and see what, if anything, I got right.

American League

East: Red Sox

While the Red Sox returned to the postseason as a wild card, the Blue Jays managed to take home their first division title since 2015.

Central: Guardians

The Tigers held first place for most of the season, but a late September surge by the Guardians gave them the crown.

West: Mariners

Hey, that’s two right now.  After years of falling short, the Mariners finally held off the Astros to take home their first division title since 2001.

Wild Cards: Rays, Twins, Orioles

Not a single correct guess here.  The Twins and Orioles bottomed out, while the Rays hung around the race for most of the season, but couldn’t make a run.  Instead, the Yankees, Red Sox, and Tigers topped the wild card standings.

AL Champion: Guardians

Well, their hot run couldn’t last forever.  Since the Guardians are out, the field looks to be wide open.  What a story it would be for the Mariners to make their first World Series appearance.

Cy Young: Garrett Crochet

While Tiger starter Tarik Skubal looks to be the front-runner, Crochet has a chance to get some support here.

MVP: Julio Rodriguez

It’s going to come down to Rodriguez’s teammate Cal Raleigh or Aaron Judge, who had another monster season.

National League

Continue reading →

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Playoff Pitching Leaders

The Cubs dispatched the Padres yesterday to win their Wild Card series and will be heading to the NLDS against the Brewers this weekend.  While we wait, it’s time to take our updated look at the pitching leaders from the now 33 post-season games I’ve attended since the White Sox won the AL Central in 2000.

Wins

Name Total
Mark Buehrle 2
Jon Lester 2
Jake Arrieta 2
27 tied with 1

Losses

Name Total
Matt Clement 2
31 tied with 1

ERA (> 6 IP)

Name Total
Aroldis Chapman 0.00
Stephen Strasburg 0.00
Kyle Freeland 0.00
Johnny Cueto 1.13
Chad Billingsley 1.35

Strikeouts

Name Total
Jon Lester 25
Jake Arrieta 22
Mark Buehrle 13
Continue reading →
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Playoff Batting Leaders

With their Wild Card Series tied at a game apiece, the Cubs will battle against the Padres this afternoon for the rights to move on and face the Brewers in the NLDS.  With that in mind, it’s time to take an updated look at the offensive leaders from the now 33 post-season games I have attended since 2000.  So, without further ado, we start off with:

Home Runs

Name Total
Kris Bryant 4
Javier Baez 3
Paul Konerko 3
B.J. Upton 3
Dexter Fowler 3
Enrique Hernandez 3

Hits

Name Total
Kris Bryant 11
Javier Baez 11
Dexter Fowler 10
Anthony Rizzo 10
Moises Alou 9
Jason Heyward 9

Runs

Name Total
Dexter Fowler 7
Paul Konerko 6
Daniel Murphy 6
A.J. Pierzynski 5
Kris Bryant 5
Javier Baez 5
Continue reading →
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All Time Playoff Team Records

We’ve made it through 162 games and, for the first time since 2020, the Cubs are in the post-season as the top-seeded Wild Card in the National League.  In a rematch of the 1984 NLCS, they start a best of three series against the Padres at Wrigley Field today.  The winner of that series will advance to the NLDS and face the Brewers starting Saturday.

It’s time to take an updated look at the team records for the now 33 playoff contests I have attended. These contests come from the 2018 Wild Card game, the ALDS in 2000, 2005, 2008, and 2021, the NLDS in 2003, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016, and 2017, the NLCS in 2003, 2015, 2016, and 2017, the ALCS in 2005, and, of course, the 2005 and 2016 World Series.

Post-Season Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Florida Marlins 3 0 1.000
Seattle Mariners 2 0 1.000
New York Mets 2 0 1.000
Colorado Rockies 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 1 0 1.000
Chicago White Sox 6 5 0.545
Los Angeles Dodgers 3 3 0.500
Atlanta Braves 1 1 0.500
Cleveland Indians 1 1 0.500
Los Angeles Angels 1 1 0.500
Washington Nationals 1 1 0.500
Tampa Bay Rays 1 1 0.500
Chicago Cubs 9 13 0.409
Houston Astros 1 2 0.333
San Francisco Giants 0 2 0.000
St. Louis Cardinals 0 1 0.000
Boston Red Sox 0 2 0.000
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Keeping It 100

After dropping last night’s game to the Yankees 8-1, the White Sox notched their 100th loss of the season.  While this is only the seventh time in the 125-year history of the franchise that they have lost 100 games, it is the third consecutive season and the fourth in the last eight.  Over 50% of the franchise’s 100-loss seasons have come in the last decade under the stewardship of Jerry Reinsdorf.

While there are some glimmers of hope heading into 2026, there does not appear to be any urgency to improve this offseason.  GM Chris Getz has already indicated they are hoping that incremental improvements from the young nucleus will be enough to push this team back to the winning side of the ledger.  That plan, on its own, seems unlikely to get the job done, but what else can you expect from a franchise that strives for mediocrity?