Best White Sox Team Of All Time

[South Side Hit Men]

When considering all teams with a .600 winning percentage, a few additional teams (1901, 1905, 1915 & 1920) are considered below, including a new #1 team.

Greatest Teams in White Sox History finishing with a 98 + win clip on a 162 game standard (Over .600 winning percentage - Tie Games Counted in Games Played for WAR / 162 Game Adjustment Purposes):

1. 1915 Pants Rowland (93-61 .604 vs. Pythagorean 100-54) 30.0 bWAR + 25.3 pWAR = 55.3 Team WAR Third Place American League (9.5 Games Back) 
2. 1917 Pants Rowland (100-54 .649 vs. Pythagorean 101-53) 24.5 bWAR + 28.1 pWAR = 52.6 Team WAR World Series Champion
3. 1905 Fielder Jones (92-60 .605 vs. Pythagorean 97-55) 33.8 bWAR + 17.6 pWAR = 51.4 Team WAR Second Place American League (2 Games Back)
4. 1901 Clark Griffith (83-53 .610 vs. Pythagorean 84-52) 30.6 bWAR + 18.6 pWAR = 49.2 Team WAR American League Champion (No World Series)
5. 1919 Kid Gleason (88-52 .629 vs. Pythagorean 84-56) 31.8 bWAR + 16.4 pWAR = 48.2 Team WAR American League Champion
6. 1964 Al Lopez (98-64 .605 vs. Pythagorean 99-63) 28.6 bWAR + 18.8 pWAR = 47.4 Team WAR Second Place American League (1 Game Back)
7. 1954 Paul Richards (94-60 .610 vs. Pythagorean 98-56) 28.5 bWAR + 18.8 pWAR = 47.3 Team WAR Third Place American League (17 Games Back)
8. 1920 Kid Gleason (96-58 .623 vs. Pythagorean 89-65) 28.0 bWAR + 18.9 pWAR = 46.9 Team WAR Second Place American League (2 Games Back)
9. 2005 Ozzie Guillen (99-63 .611 vs. Pythagorean 91-71) 20.0 bWAR + 26.1 pWAR = 46.1 Team WAR World Series Champion
10. 1983 Tony La Russa (99-63 .611 vs. Pythagorean 96-66) 26.2 bWAR + 18.0 pWAR = 44.2 Team WAR AL West Division Champion
11. 1959 Al Lopez (94-60 .610 vs. Pythagorean 86-68) 26.0 bWAR + 15.7 pWAR = 41.7 Team WAR American League Champion
12. 1906 Fielder Jones (93-58 .616 vs. Pythagorean 90-61) 24.2 bWAR + 17.3 pWAR = 41.5 Team WAR World Series Champion

Top Three Batters and Pitchers from the .600 + White Sox Winning Percentage Teams (6.0 + WAR Seasons):

1. 1915 Batting: 2B Eddie Collins 9.4; 1B Jack Fournier 5.9; C Ray Schalk 4.2. 1915 Pitching: Jim Scott 6.1; Joe Benz 4.8; Red Faber 4.3.
2. 1917 Batting: LF Joe Jackson 5.8; 2B Eddie Collins 5.0; CF Happy Felsch 4.7. 1917 Pitching: Eddie Cicotte 11.4; Reb Russell 3.6; Red Faber 3.3.
3. 1905 Batting: SS George Davis 7.2; 1B Jiggs Donahue 5.0; CF Fielder Jones 4.9. 1905 Pitching: Nick Altrock 5.1; Doc White 5.0; Frank Owen 3.3.
4. 1901 Batting: OF Dummy Hoy 4.2; 3B Fred Hartman 3.8; OF Fielder Jones 3.7. 1901 Pitching: Clark Griffith 5.7; Jimmy Callahan 4.4; Roy Patterson 3.7.
5. 1919 Batting: LF Joe Jackson 5.8; 2B Eddie Collins 5.1; CF Happy Felsch 3.4. 1919 Pitching: Eddie Cicotte 9.6; Lefty Williams 5.4; Dickey Kerr 3.5.
6. 1964 Batting: SS Ron Hansen 7.7; 3B Pete Ward 6.3; RF Floyd Robinson 4.3. 1964 Pitching: Joe Horlen 5.0; Gary Peters 4.2; Juan Pizzaro 3.6.
7. 1954 Batting: LF Minnie Minoso 8.2; SS Chico Carrasquel 5.5; 2B Nellie Fox 5.2. 1954 Pitching: Virgil Trucks 4.8; Jack Harshman 3.0; Sandy Consuegra 2.5.
8. 1920 Batting: 2B Eddie Collins 7.9; LF Joe Jackson 7.5; CF Happy Felsch 5.5. 1920 Pitching: Red Faber 5.7; Eddie Cicotte 5.1; Lefty Williams & Dickie Kerr 3.5.
9. 2005 Batting: 1B Paul Konerko 4.0; CF Aaron Rowand 3.7; 2B Tadahito Iguchi 2.8. 2005 Pitching: Mark Buehrle 4.8; Jon Garland 4.6; Freddy Garcia 3.6.
10. 1983 Batting: C Carlton Fisk 4.3; SS Scott Fletcher 3.6; CF Rudy Law 3.2. 1983 Pitching: Richard Dotson 5.1; Floyd Bannister 4.0; Dewey LaMarr Hoyt 3.7.
11. 1959 Batting: 2B Nellie Fox 6.1; CF Jim Landis 5.7; C Sherm Lollar 3.4. 1959 Pitching: Bob Shaw 4.8; Early Wynn 2.8; Gerry Staley 2.5.
12. 1906 Batting: SS George Davis 6.4; CF Fielder Jones 4.2; 2B Frank Isbell 3.4. 1906 Pitching: Doc White 5.8; Ed Walsh 4.6; Nick Altrock 2.8.

Dick Allen (1972 8.6); Nellie Fox (1957 7.9); Luke Appling (1943 7.3 & 1936 7.2) & Frank Thomas (1997 7.3) are the other Top Ten WAR Batting seasons not represented above.

Wilbur Wood (1971 11.8 & 1972 10.7); Red Faber (1921 11.4 & 1922 9.6) & Ed Walsh (1912 11.4; 1910 11.1; 1908 10.3 & 1911 9.2) are the other Top Ten WAR Pitching seasons not represented above.

[Dominikk85]

I think this team has to be a chance to be the best team since at least the late 1910s.

The 2005 team was good but this team has a much better offense (only plus hitters 05 where konerko and dye if you don't count the 37 games of Thomas) and while the pitching 05 was really good I think they got very lucky as those pitchers weren't truly at that level. 

 

But they got it done so until the Sox win again they have that. 

[35thstreetswarm]

It sort of begs the age-old question of what makes a team great. If it's just the greatest collection of individual talent there may well have been teams *in 2005* that were better than the 2005 Sox, for example, but I wouldn't call any of them "better teams." I'd put the playoff-rolling October '05 Sox up against any team I've ever watched head-to-head (in fact, they've already beaten them all by one metric, their record against the playoff gauntlet every team has to face).

The '94 team is impossible to measure by that metric, but I'd have a tough time putting them ahead of the '05 Sox.  That 1917 team had a ton of talent and a ring so that's a tough call. I do believe this collection of players has a chance to jump to the front of what is, sadly, a pretty short list.