Only one team wins the World Series every year. Which means 29 teams don’t win the final game of the year which according to Moneyball means their season didn’t fucking matter. When a team gets eliminated from winning the World Series I’ll do a profile of their season.
Today’s Eliminated Team: The Chicago White Sox
How Did They Get Eliminated
Losing 12-1 to the Royals on August 27th sealed their divisional fate. That would be game 2 of a 5 game losing steak. But the White Sox would not go quietly into that dark night and would go on to win 5 straight games. But then fell to the Tigers and combining that with a Mariners win eliminated them from contention.
What Do I Know About This Team Because I Only Follow the Brewers
About 2 months before the deadline the White Sox decided to trade the greatest hitter in the history of the world (sarcasm) Andrew Vaughn to the Milwaukee Brewers for a disgruntled Aaron Civale. Aaron Civale didn’t want to take a role as a long-arm out of the bullpen in Milwaukee so he asked to be traded and then was promptly traded to the bargain bin of baseball, Chicago.
Andrew Vaughn was a third overall pick who got called up essentially the year after he got drafted. He was drafted in 2019, but because of the COVID 2020 season he didn’t get minor league at-bats before making his debut on opening day in 2021. He had decent numbers but didn’t necessarily transcend the spot in which he was drafted.
The year Andrew Vaughn made his debut the White Sox won the division but were bounced from the playoffs by the Astros. They would be .500 the next year, the final year of the Tony LaRussa experiment and ever since have been on a decline to obscruity. Going into this season everyone expected more of the same from the team that won only 41 games in 2024. They have luckily already won more than that this year as of this writing, and if it wasn’t for the Colorado Rockies this would be another season of the worst team of all time, talk.
But let's get back to Andrew Vaughn. The trade the White Sox made seems right on course for what I know about this team from barely following them. Andrew Vaughn a 3rd overall pick, probably struggling because he has to do too much on the team. He played in 146 games in 2024, was for all intents and purposes their best player. At the time they probably thought they could build around him, but when his numbers started to slide they decided to cut bait.
And did they get a bunch of prospects to help rebuild their team? No, they got Aaron Civale. A guy they have already released.
It almost leads to the larger issue that teams like the White Sox have. They have a player they draft very high. They do very okay because the team that’s around them isn’t that great and then a scout or a GM thinks its time to make a move they do and then the person turns into the second coming of Albert Pujos when they reach their new team. (Well, maybe not anymore at the time of re-writing) All of these teams that are in the doldrums are 2 to 3 years away from being in any sort of relevance. But players don’t want to be part of a rebuild like that.
I also read an article saying they want to move closer to downtown Chicago. I’m sure 99% of the people who live in downtown Chicago who barely remember the White Sox exist will be thrilled with the higher taxes they will have to pay to build the stadium.
They have a guy on their team named Tim Elko that used to play in the Northwoods League. He came out on fire but now, upon doing research, looks to have come crashing down to earth.
So Now That I’ve Actually Done Some Research What Happened to this Team
The White Sox went with 42 year old manager Will Venable to lead the team. Now is there a rule you need to get more wins than your age? No. But is it crazy to think that the White Sox last year had the same amount of wins as the age of the manager they hired? Yes! This entire coaching staff is young. His bench coach is in his 30s and they don’t have a coach that is over 50. This would be a perfect example of where having a veteran bench coach who has been around since steroids were rampant could benefit not only a young manager but a young team as well.
The White Sox picked up right where they left off last year by going 7-23 in the first month of the season. They are terrible in 1-run games being 12-30 so it shouldn’t be a surprise that they have the least amount of saves in the majors with 21. PItching has been okay when it comes to a group effort. Shane Smith was their lone All-Star (more on him below)
They have a terrible team slash line in the having the 4th worst batting average, 4th worst slugging and 3rd worst on-base percentage.
They seem to be a team made up of guys that are brand new to majors and have yet to hit their prime and a bunch of guys who have been around forever and are past their prime. They have 12 players over the age of 30 and 20 guys under the age of 25.
The White Sox sure do feel like they are trying to just find a balance of guys who can fill holes with veterans and guys who are up-and-coming trying to get reps so they can be competitive some time in the future.
Also, for some reason their City Connect jerseys look like Bulls jerseys. It’d be one thing if you are trying to follow in the wake of a good team but the Bulls have been just as irrelevant as the White Sox these last 5 years.
Did Anything Go Right For This Team
Not really. The greatest thing that happened is they played a sold out game at Coors Field on 4th of a July. Literally nothing comes to mind of a cool moment for this team. Usually, if a team does something really cool I will get a video in my YouTube feed from MLB that showcases the cool thing that happened. Like the full inning of a big comeback or an immaculate inning. The only YouTube video that featured the White Sox I got was when the Brewers played the White Sox and it was a generic recap video.
They swept the Twins to stave off elimination, but that was a Triple A game being played in an MLB park. Which is the opposite of what is happening in Tampa and Sacramento.
The greatest thing that might happen on the field for the White Sox was when a wedding was held in between innings.
Are They Going to Get Good Anytime Soon?
They are 29th in payroll and because most of their players are under team control they will more than likely be on the low side of salary again next year. Their farm system is in the middle of the pack and have brought up a lot of players already. Some of their top prospects are a few years away though.
Their top prospect Brayden Montgomery has been flying through their farm system and can be the pillar outfielder they could build around. Their top pitching prospect Noah Shultz is the number 1 left hand pitching prospect but hasn’t pitched since July 3rd, but it doesn’t seem that serious. He’s going to play in the Arizona fall league which should help make up some innings for his development. They also have Hagen Smith who is the number 3 left handed pitching prospect. So they could have a formidable rotation in the future anchored by two left handed pitchers.
But given what the White Sox have been in the last 2 seasons, who is going to want to come to White Sox? You have a super young manager who is trying to figure things out and its going to be a young team for a while. This team is a lot of pieces away from contention and they have to compete with not only the Tigers in the division, but with an American League that feels like it could be wide open for anyone to compete in, but not that wide open for the WHite Sox.
Just one postseason award
Let’s throw a Rookie of the Year vote towards Shane Smith. He made his debut this year and was an All-Star. Smith was drafted by the Brewers in 2021 but was a Rule 5 pickup by the White Sox. He’s started 22 games but has a high ERA. He could be a guy who benefits from having the veteran prescene of Civale in the rotation.
Hey Grok, in 100 words summarize the 2025 White Sox. Please don't be racist.
The 2025 Chicago White Sox endured a tough season, finishing 43-76, last in the AL Central. The offense struggled, averaging 3.5 runs per game, with a team batting average of .239. Pitching faltered, allowing 4.4 runs per game. Key players included Lenyn Sosa (.276 BA, 13 HR), Andrew Benintendi (.226 BA, 14 HR), and rookie Edgar Quero (.271 BA). Sean Burke impressed on the mound, posting a 3.88 ERA. Prospects Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith showed promise in the minors. Highlights included a thrilling 6-4 victory over the Guardians and Burke’s Opening Day gem, though rebuilding challenges persisted.
Probably not great if your top moment was an opening day win.
Did the Savannah Bananas Play at their Field?
YES! Mark Buherle and AJ Pierzynski made guest appearances in front of 40k plus at Rate Field. Chance the Rapper also showed up.
It seems like the reviews for the game and experience from the Chicago press was mostly positive which is a nice change of pace for that sports market. I can only imagine some Chicago fan getting mad because their shortstop made an error after trying to bounce a grounder between their legs before throwing a fastpitch softball riseball to the first basemen.
Is there a movie featuring this team that has some weird baseball logic I need to complain about?
Eight Men Out, but i’ve never seen this movie. I know its about the White Sox scandal of 1919 but that’s about it. So I’ll save my judgement on weird baseball logic.
But let’s pivot a moment and talk about a weird trend that happened in 90s baseball movies. The White Sox being kind of the pseudo evil team that our scrappy underdog team needs to overcome to get a happy ending. Angels in the Outfield the White Sox are the final team the Angels play to win the division. In Major League 2 it's the White Sox. I don’t know if the Yankees weren’t quite to the point of evil empire villains, but it just seems weird seeing these two baseball movies and of all the teams it was the White Sox.
How Will Your Team Do Next Year?
This is a young team from the field to their coaching staff. But if you have a lot of young guys a few veterans sprinkled in there might be improvement, but probably not a ton. Probably another 100 loss season for the team on the South Side but to be more optimistic lets go 63-99.
Who is on the Chopping Block Next?
Looks like we are heading to DC as the Nationals could be eliminated as soon as today.