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Wear Black in October https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/blackout-october-white-sox-ask-fans-to-dress-in-common-theme-for-playoff-games "The Chicago White Sox became American League Central Division champions for the first time in 13 years, and the team is asking fans to attend October playoff games dressed ready to win. "We are going to be asking all of our fans to wear black," White Sox Chief Marketing Officer Brooks Boyer told NBC 5. "We want to have an atmosphere that is going to really get our guys charged up, so it's going to be a blackout at the ballpark. All October wear black, support your White Sox.""

A RFer instead of Kimbrel was always the right move.

Haha I cannot believe people in here complaining that they are trying to recreate the blackout game or that this is a bad idea. You wont be feeling that way when the camera pans over a rowdy sell out crowd in pure black and chills go down your spine. The blackout is not and should not be a one time thing, nor be perceived as a slight to everyone's precious memories of the 2008 blackout game. All it really is is a really cool thing to do for big games.

Hey Brooks PUT THE DAMNED PLAYOFF TICKETS ON SALE! Sox Fans.

Lol what year is this

I feel significantly better about the postseason than I did 10 minutes ago.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SWOLLEN BALLS KYYLE???

Probably coming after a rough night for him

I'm all for alternating blackout and whiteout games. I generally don't think we make enough use of the "white" color in our color scheme and name. I think whiteouts/all-white jerseys etc. would be a pretty cool departure.

Blackout games are cool

Not every playoff Blackout game has to be a re-creation of the 2008 game. Should Penn State stop doing whiteouts because it won't be as cool as that one time they beat Ohio State?

Too warm to wear black? It's not like it was 95 degrees lol

From Herb Lawrence on Twitter. This is what Astros TV thinks our starting line-up will look like against them. TLR playing 4D Chess with TWO Centerfielders and no one at 3rd! Brilliant!

Only need to be 3 games above .500 in the playoffs.

Meanwhile at DannyWright's House... BUT WHAT ABOUT 2000?!?!?!

The Haters and Losers, of which there are many, are upset

Woohoo! Now let's build some momentum for the playoffs (while keeping our boys rested...a tough balance).

I didn't ignore anything. You're just framing the situation through the lens of the Delta variant. There was plenty of writing in the media that the vaccine is effective against the Delta variant when it first came to the US. Not sure if the media has abandoned that viewpoint though. Regardless, if the vaccine is effective against the delta variant, how to we make sense of the cases increasing in countries that are nearing 2/3 vaccinated rates and higher? I simply posted the actual data of COVID cases and vaccination rates in certain countries with high vaccination rates to substantiate my point. I wasn't trying to apply it to the way you're looking at this whole COVID situation I was simply proving the point that there is no correlation between vaccination rates slowing spread like you claimed. Could you please provide the data that brought you to that opinion? Also, if the vaccine's effectiveness can't be judged on positivity rates because of the variant delta, why isn't there a vaccine being made for the delta variant? If the vaccine doesn't protect against the Delta variant (cases are skyrocketing in majority vaccinated countries), why are we able to do all the things (mostly sports/entertainment/travel related, etc.) that they wouldn't allow last year? On your second paragraph, that's not necessarily a result of the vaccine. In some cases, yes, but not all. Concerts, travel restrictions, sporting events, etc. weren't allowed last year. If they were, many Americans would have gone regardless if they had been vaccinated or not. It was only a subset of people that were declining to go into public situations as a whole until they were vaccinated. Almost everyone, at least in states like Illinois or California, changed the way they lived their life one way or another but that has much more to do with the government's and corporations' response to the virus as opposed to the accessibility to the vaccine.

I barely realized sunday ended much of our minor league seasons since none are in the playoffs. DSL is still playing. Anyway, here are my awards for best minor league years. I'm including guys that may have been called up to majors and succeeded as a factor in this, because that's what the minors are for. I'm not including rehabbing major league players though, but Yas was probably our best catcher. What a nice guy. My All Star Team For Minor Leagues - Name / Level / Age : Notes C - Carlos Perez / AA / 25 : Slashed . .264/.313/.418 in birmingham, finding his best power to date. He has always made great contact with just a 7% strikeout rate. TLR raved about his defense in ST, and I honestly have no idea why Nate Nolan is in AAA over him, but he plays a lot in Birmingham. Other Considerations: Xavier Fernandez, Adam Hackenberg 1B - Gavin Sheets / AAAMLB / 25: We know about gavin sheets. Other Considerations: Harvin Mendoza - just not enough power 2B - Yolbert Sanchez / A+ AA / 24: I struggled with this one since at his age he should have done this, but considering how poorly he hit for power in Cuba and his start to the white sox, his . 343 .369 .469 mark in Birmingham makes him seem like he's still on the way up Other Considerations: Lenyn Sosa SS - TIE Jose Rodriguez and Romy Gonzales : I'm not choosing here. Romy went for 20/20 in the tough power environment of Bham, crushed Charlotte, and is now in the Majors. He's played 5 positions this year. Jose rodriguez as a 20 year old went across 3 leagues, with steady power and unbelievable consistency. Other considerations: Colson Montgomery - good approach to start young career 3b - Jake Burger / AAA MLB / 25: we all know jake burger Other Considerations: Bryan Ramos OF (3) Luis Mieses /A+ A A+ / 21: After an awful start, Mieses went down to A and dominated, and since coming up has been a doubles machine. Finished year with a respectable .270 / .312 /.463 across both levels Yoelque Cespedes / A+ AA / 23: after a hot start in BHam his power slowed. He probably could be in AAA to start the year. I'm not really sold by the package, but boy is our outfield bad. Micker Adolfo / AA AAA / 25: Monster power this year, monster Ks. But I will give him credit, he cut down Ks a bit in AAA. But 24 Home Runs across two levels, and they didn't start until May. SP: Norge Vera - please enjoy the tax money Emilio Vargas / AA / 24: is he a prospect? I unno. Does he deserve to be on here after K'ing 99 in 83 IP, with a 2.9 ERA and our pitching being bad? Yes Kade McClure / AA AAA / 25: He was not very good in AAA, but again, we have no pitching. He k'd 77 in 63 ip in Bham, and he's tall. I think he can be a RP. Burke was good, but it was ACL RP: Theo Denlinger K'd 26 in 14 IP Alec Hansen is intriguing to me again, he came on real strong at the end, and found control and was k'ing people left and right Gil Luna struck out 14/9 and finally gave up an ER a few nights ago. Highlights: Infielders Lowlights: Pitching, pitching, pitching

Terry was just on Dan McNeil's podcast, and he looked and sounded great. McNeil's podcast is so much better than the garbage on 670 now a days. McNeil was yet another unfortunate victim of PC culture.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE BALLS!!!!

Except for the long balls, Hendriks has been unreal this season, He is going to wind up with more than 100 strikeouts than walks for a closer.

Thought last outing was meaningful. Kimbrel still has time boys. Still has time.

Well that ruled

I thought his AB's last night were pretty good. I'm more optimistic about about him showing some life given how well he hit between May-July than I am Sheets, at this point.

Consistent...although consistently way too big!

This ump's zone tonight has been atrocious

I'll worry a week from now.

Can Cesar stay in Cleveland?

Don't really understand why Burr is the choice in a high leverage situation vs Ramirez and Reyes, but I'm glad it worked out

I am not lol

Once again, even if Engel was healthy. They shoulda grabbed a RFer

Someone is a little bitter

The reason the blackout game worked so well the first time was the tickets for game 163 went on sale right as game 162 ended so the entire crowd was actual Sox fans who would actually wear the black. There were no twins fans, and no one there just cause they had tickets from work or something. So it might not look as cool, but I still like them trying it. I also hope we have mostly night games

This is a big game tonight. That's why you see a full lineup in there. Also, Vegas has Sox as favorites here too. Edit: Just out $600 on the Sox at -120 to win 500. Bieber's only going 3, Sox should put up at least 7 tonight.

I’ll be in row 169 with the Khalil Mack jersey. Come say hi or tell me to fuck off lol. Either works.

I felt disappointed Kopech will likely not hit 80-100 innings, but felt the team managed him (and Crochet) well. Hoped the Kimbrel trade would allow Kopech to pitch 2-3 inning outings in August, and possibly 3-5 innings in September / October (weekly), but that did not come to fruition. That said, as long as he is healthy at year-end, I'll be satisfied. While I want the Sox to succeed, I rather lose the playoffs this year than end up injuring a pitcher for going over a reasonable threshold (same with pulling Crochet last year), or even a pending FA like Rodon. The Cubs may have been "smart" to burn Chapman in 2016, but it's not the "right" thing to do, whether the player is high profile like Chapman, or an end of the bench guy like Cordero last season. With Katz here, and Tony appearing to heed his guidance, I feel the Sox have managed their staff as best as possible during this unprecedented season. The one area they could have sought to improve was to add one or two long or short guys in July, not high priced / cost guys like Kimbrel, but additional insurance. They really needed to do that last year, but they ended up with no approved budget to do anything beyond Jarrod Dyson at the ML minimum.

I respectfully disagree. There is a big difference between commenting on what's happening in a game and what occurs behind the scenes. We all as fans are able to watch the games and at least have partial information to form an advised opinion on that. In regards to something like how Kopech is being handled by the organization you are flying in the dark trying to figure that out unless you have inside information. We know nothing about discussion the organization has had with doctors, with Kopech himself, etc.. Just a ton of information missing so not sure how anyone can confidently state how things should have been done with him and how the White Sox got it wrong.

Yeah, well you can put this in the "let's shut down the whole board, then" file. You can say that about every aspect of team decision-making, and if you believe fans have no basis to discuss or form opinions about the direction of the team you're probably in the wrong place.

I don't know if the White Sox are mismanaging Kopech and/or Crochet. I DO know that no one on a fan message board knows either. It is laughable reading the comments from the experts on here lol.

Any time I see someone say how mismanaged pitchers have been I just shake my head. No one can state this for fact. What exactly were the White Sox supposed to do, leave Kopech and Crochet in the minors stretching them out to throw 5+ innings ? How many innings thrown in the minors would that have taken to accomplish and how are those innings managed to still keep him available for the postseason ? Would those guys rather pitch in the minors for peanuts or get a big league salary and contribute to the White Sox and their playoffs run ? Are Kopech and Crochet as concerned about their chances to be starting pitchers as the disgruntled fans are or do they trust the White Sox to do what they can to keep them healthy and ready to pitch in October and in the future as starters ? Until a fan can answer those questions I don't see how anyone can say they were mishandled.

Its conditioning. Just like anything, if you want to do it at the highest of levels, there is work you need to do to be ready to do it. If you want to run a marathon, you don't get there by walking around the block a few times. You get there by scaling up your mileage over time so that you are peaking at 26.2 miles. Starting is the same way. If you want to make is through the slog of a 180 to 200 innings, you need to work your arm up to that. You don't go from 50 innings to 180. Rodon is running into the same problems.

Surely you’re not asking anyone to disseminate said DVDs without express written permission?

Woo HOOO Go out and have a night boys...in.....cleveland...oh Probably for the best.

Second team in baseball to clinch a birth, 1st to clinch their division.

I am indeed intrigued that Alec Hansen might still be an option for the major league pen down the road. What a roller coaster ride his minor league career has been on.

Did that hurt your feelings or something? These kids literally have their own signing system which differentiates them from every one else. By and large they were some of our most successful kids, especially at the lower levels.

Yeah we should be picking up any and all people who deal with the Padres farm system if we can.