Tag / Tigers

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Falling Apart

The White Sox were 307-2 at home in the 21st Century when leading by six or more runs coming into yesterday’s game.  Sadly, they are now 307-3.  Blowing an 8-2 lead, the White Sox lost 11-8 to the Tigers last night, which, combined with a Guardians victory over the A’s earlier in the evening, pushed them back down to second place.

That leaves the White Sox with a tenuous single game lead over the Rangers for the third Wild Card spot as they struggle to become the first team to ever make the post-season after two straight 100-loss seasons.

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Back To First

After falling out of first place on Wednesday for the first time since early July, the White Sox rebounded yesterday, defeating the Tigers 3-1 and moving back into a tie for the AL Central lead with the Guardians.  Since they won the season series, the White Sox do hold the tiebreaker.  The White Sox continue their series with the Tigers tonight as the Guardians open a three-game tilt with the A’s in Cleveland.  With just over a week to go in the regular season, things are coming down to the wire.

The 2026 White Sox sit with 78 wins, the most in MLB history for a team coming off of at least three straight 100-loss seasons.  They are looking to become the first team to ever make the post-season after two straight 100-loss seasons.

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Falling Out Of First

After holding, at least, a share of the AL Central lead since July 4, the White Sox lost the division lead yesterday, losing to the Guardians 6-3 and falling a half game behind.  On the plus side, they are still tied in the loss column and do hold the tiebreaker with the Guardians, so it is not completely bleak.  With just ten games remaining in the regular season, they will look to turn around a losing trend that has lasted over a month now, going 19-24 since the start of August.  They start a four-game series at home against the Tigers tonight, while the Guardians start a three-game set at home against the A’s on Friday.

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18 To Go

Despite losing to the Twins last night, the White Sox saw their magic number to clinch the AL Central division drop to 18 thanks to the Tigers holding on against the Guardians, winning 6-0.  With the loss, the Guardians fall out of the final Wild Card spot.

The 2026 White Sox sit with 74 wins, the most in MLB history for a team coming off of at least three straight 100-loss seasons.  They are looking to become the first team to ever make the post-season after two straight 100-loss seasons.

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Ending The Streak

With their 9-5 victory over the Tigers last night, the White Sox won their 63rd game of the season, ensuring that their franchise-worst streak of three-straight 100-loss seasons would come to an end.  Less than two years removed from having the most losses in MLB history, the White Sox find themselves in first place in the middle of August, with a 3.5 game lead over their closest competitor with just 41 games to go.

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Playoffs Part The First

With about seven weeks remaining in the 2026 season, it appears that both Chicago teams may be heading to the postseason for the first time since 2008.  The Cubs, the team with a more secure hold on making the playoffs despite currently sitting in second place, got the ticketing process started.

Sitting five and a half games behind the Brewers for the NL Central crown but holding a six-game lead for the first Wild Card slot, the Cubs sent out post-season invoices to their season ticket holders last week for the second straight year.  Thanks to a randomly selected combination assignment, I would end up with tickets to two games in each potential round.  I would maintain my normal seats through the NLCS but would end up relocated to the right field side should the team advance to the World Series.

Barring a complete collapse over the next seven weeks, the Cubs seem to be a lock to make the postseason.  Getting out of that Wild Card round, where they would face the Phillies if the season ended today, might be more difficult.

On the other side of town, the White Sox currently sit atop the AL Central, holding a three and a half game lead over the Tigers, but have yet to release any postseason ticketing plans.

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Looking Ahead To 2027

Returning to their traditional day after the All-Star Game release, Major League Baseball released their tentative 2027 earlier this week, one which hopefully will not be impacted by a prolonged work stoppage.  For the fifth year in a row, MLB is keeping with a balanced schedule, playing 52 games against division opponents, 64 games against non-division opponents in the same league, and 46 interleague games, with series against every team in the opposite league.  With both Chicago teams heading into the second half in line for a postseason appearance for the first time since 2008 and the All-Star Game coming to Wrigley Field in July, the 2027 season looks like it could be an interesting one on both sides of town.  So, for one day, at least, let’s turn our attention to next summer for both teams.

The White Sox open their season on the road in the Midwest on March 25, scheduled to be the earliest North American start in league history, facing the Tigers followed by a series against the Royals.  They open up their home schedule against the Brewers on April 1.

Aside from the Brewers, the interleague schedule sees the White Sox staying home to face the Marlins, Phillies, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, and Padres, while travelling to see the Pirates, Reds, Dodgers, Braves, Mets, Rockies, and Nationals.  The rivalry with their north side foes continues with a three-game weekend series at Wrigley Field coming out of the All-Star break in mid-July followed by three games at Rate Field the first weekend of August.

The White Sox wrap up the 2027 season in September at home, with a final series against the Tigers before ending the year with three against the Padres.

On the north side, the Cubs kick off their season at home against the Guardians and Cardinals before heading out on the road in early April.  Aside from the Guardians, the Cubs will host the Mariners, Orioles, Red Sox, and Royals while travelling to battle the Angels, Twins, A’s, Yankees, Blue Jays, and Tigers.

The Cubs open September with eleven straight against their NL Central rivals, but finish the month, and the season, on the road to face the Phillies and the Mets.

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2026 All Star Break Standings

As we reach the metaphorical, if not quite exact, midpoint of the 2026 baseball season, the Midsummer Classic lands in Philadelphia for the fifth time in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  If you would have told me back in April that not only would the White Sox head into the break with a winning record, but they would be tied for first place in the AL Central and that both Chicago teams are in position for a post-season appearance for the first time since 2008, I would have called you a crazy person.  Yet here we are.

As the stars of the baseball world gather at Citizens Bank Park for tonight’s showdown, it’s time to take a look at the team records for the 24 games, featuring 50% of the teams in the league, that I attended in the first half of the baseball season.

2026 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Washington Nationals 2 0 1.000
Milwaukee Brewers 2 0 1.000
Los Angeles Dodgers 1 0 1.000
Chicago White Sox 10 6 0.625
Chicago Cubs 6 5 0.545
Seattle Mariners 1 1 0.500
Kansas City Royals 1 1 0.500
Sacramento Athletics 1 2 0.333
San Diego Padres 0 1 0.000
New York Mets 0 1 0.000
Minnesota Twins 0 1 0.000
Los Angeles Angels 0 1 0.000
Detroit Tigers 0 1 0.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 0 1 0.000
Toronto Blue Jays 0 3 0.000
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Historic Games Part Four

Last summer, the White Sox fell victim to Clayton Kershaw’s 3000th career strikeout and I decided to take a look back at the historic games I’ve attended over the years.  Here is part four, featuring another six games where an individual hit a career plateau or a team clinched a pennant.

October 19, 2017 – Dodgers 11, Cubs 1

With a decisive Game 5 victory over the Cubs in the NLCS, the Dodgers win the NL Pennant, avenging their loss from the year prior.  Kiké Hernández became just the fourth Dodger to hit a post-season grand slam and Chris Taylor and Justin Turner were named co-MVPs for the NLCS.  It was the third straight year the NL champion was crowned at Wrigley Field.

June 18, 2019 – White Sox 3, Cubs 1

With a 1-2 pitch that caught Ivan Nova looking in the top of the third inning at Wrigley Field, Cole Hamels became just the tenth left-hander to notch 2500 career strikeouts and the 38th overall.  He finished the day with eight strikeouts over seven innings, getting a no-decision as the crosstown rivals proved victorious.

May 25, 2021 – White Sox 8, Cardinals 3

With a socially distanced crowd in attendance, Joe West worked the 5,376th regular-season game of his umpiring career, eclipsing Bill Klem’s record that stood for 80 years.  Working behind the plate, West’s feat became official after the top of the fifth inning with the White Sox out to an early lead and, following the fifth inning, he was greeted by the San Diego Chicken, who presented West with a bouquet of multi-colored roses.  West retired at the end of the year, ending his 43-year career with 5,460 games umpired.

August 16, 2021 – White Sox 5, A’s 2

In the top of the 8th inning with a full count, Craig Kimbrel enticed Matt Chapman to chase a slider that ended up three feet outside of the zone to record his 1,000th career strikeout.  He finished the night with 1,001 strikeouts, all coming in relief.

September 3, 2023 – Tigers 3, White Sox 2

In his 875th game, Tim Anderson led off against Tarik Skubal and the Tigers, lacing the first pitch into the gap in left center field for his 1000th career hit.  He became just the 1343rd player in MLB history to reach that milestone and was the fifth quickest in White Sox history, trailing Bibb Falk, Magglio Ordonez, Frank Thomas, and Jose Abreu.

June 3, 2026 – A’s 5, Cubs 4

In the fourth inning of last night’s game against the homeless Athletics, Ian Happ doubled for his 1000th career hit.  He is just the 37th player to have 1000 hits as a Cub and the 1415th player in MLB history to reach the plateau.

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The First Time

Previously, we’ve looked at the most recent time I’ve seen each of the 30 major league baseball teams play.  Three weeks into the 2026 season, I thought it would be worth going into the wayback machine and see when the first time was that I saw each team live and in person, to the best of my knowledge.  My records only go back to 1984, so anything before that is as yet unidentified.

Breaking it down by decade, we have twelve teams I saw originally during the 80s, eleven in the 90s, and the remaining seven came in the 2000s.  For franchises that have moved, I have lumped them all together.

Earliest Game

Team Name Year
Texas Rangers 8/14/1984
Chicago White Sox 8/14/1984
Toronto Blue Jays 8/30/1984
Boston Red Sox 4/19/1985
San Diego Padres 7/8/1985
Chicago Cubs 7/8/1985
Baltimore Orioles 7/26/1985
New York Mets 8/4/1985
Kansas City Royals 8/20/1985
Cleveland Indians/Guardians 7/16/1987
Seattle Mariners 9/18/1987
California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels 7/28/1988
Detroit Tigers 4/20/1991
Milwaukee Brewers 7/18/1993
Pittsburgh Pirates 8/2/1993
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