JUSTgottaBELIEVE

Who needs Eloy when you have the Yerminator?

But they cAn’T HiT RiGhTiEs

Yermin!

Boom

Pretty good start for Lynn...

.749 was slightly above league average OPS last season. So slightly above average against righties and top 2 against lefties sounds like enough offense “to contend” if the pitching is as good as anticipated.

.749 was slightly above league average OPS last season. So slightly above average against righties and top 2 against lefties sounds like enough offense “to contend” if the pitching is as good as anticipated.

Brad Keller, today

Sample size of 4 and 3 games, respectively. Do you also think Jose is going to hit .207 or Yermin is going to hit .565 this season?

I know fathom cares about the cubs very much so I included that in jest. But in all seriousness, who cares if they’re average against righties if they still have a top 10 offense in MLB? I believe this pitching staff will be top 10 by year end. How many other teams do you expect to have a top 10 offense and pitching staff? Only teams with World Series aspirations.

How about 3-4 hits a game like the Cubs? I can only imagine the uproar around here. It’ll be fine. This is still a very good lineup. Should be top 10 in MLB even with the slap hitters included. A top 10 offense combined with a top 10 pitching staff is certainly good enough to contend. Yes, their outings have been short but I’m very encouraged by the starting staff. Best staff since 2005 imo.

Despite all the weakness, Sox position players are collectively 4th in MLB in fWAR and 7th in wRC+ through the first week of the season. That’s certainly enough to contend this season if the pitching is as good as advertised. by the way, they’re ahead of the darling Padres and Yankees in both categories. The offenses that everyone gushes about.

Why do you keep saying that?

I’d say he’s already there

Just because a team has more talent on paper doesn’t mean it translates to wins on the field. Happens all the time. I just listed 5/10 of the World Series champs in the 2010s. None of those 5 teams were even top 5 in betting odds to win the World Series before the season started. In fact, most of those five teams had very similar preseason odds as the 2005 White Sox. You’re framing the 2005 White Sox as some type of anomaly but they weren’t. Those types of teams win the World Series on a regular basis in the modern era.

Thankfully that all changes today against old friend Brad Keller! Too bad TA is out

Anything short of a World Series title is a failure. But that also means 29 other teams fail every season. Thankfully, we’re only 4.3% of the way finished with this regular season so there’s still a LONG way to go before we find out if this season is a success or if it is a failure for the 2021 Chicago White Sox.

So we’re giving champs more credit for looking good on paper before the season starts? Might as well crown the Dodgers now then. Why even bother playing the games? And define “rare”. Were the 2019 Nationals, 2015 Royals, and 2010/2012/2014 Giants also “rare”? Because, on paper, no one expected them to win the World Series in those seasons. This isn’t the NBA. Unexpected teams win the World Series often.

By “getting away” you mean possibly down 0-2 in the series. Certainly not a great position to be in but many more teams have come back from 0-2 deficits than say 1-3 deficits. That shows just how dominant they were in the playoffs in 2005 that you have to point to the middle of game 2 of a 7 game series as their most vulnerable position.

Cubs winning the World Series in 2016 was an anomaly. How many teams trailing 3-1 in the World Series have won it? They had no business winning it at that point but baseball is full of anomalies. The 2005 White Sox were about the surest thing you can find start to finish in baseball. First place all season long and never faced a win or go home game in the playoffs (not even close to one). That’s called dominance over 162 + 12 games.

Now you’re comparing the 83 win Cardinals to the 2005 White Sox? Lol. Ok, think we’re done here.

Doesn’t mean the 2005 team wasn’t great. Can’t argue with the results. Best regular season record in the AL and tied for the best postseason run in modern playoff format history.

No, I don’t know it. The White Sox were the best team in baseball that year. They absolutely deserved to win the World Series.

Every team that wins a World Series requires some luck along the way. They won 99 games (best record in AL, 1 win shy of best in MLB) and then went 11-1 in the playoffs. Doesn’t seem lucky to me, seems dominant.

They were 6-7 in Oakland, Anaheim, and Seattle during the 2005 regular season. 99 wins and a world championship later, I’d say that was a truly great team.