Ostensibly, the "if somebody told me..." device intends to keep one aware of the big picture. In practice, I often find it lacking. Sometimes it comes off as patronizing, sometimes it comes off as too forgiving.
Loser talk, in other words.
That doesn't count the times it's deployed to startle. For instance, if somebody told me before the season that Gavin Sheets would provide just about all the offense in a postseason game, obviously that would be great news for the individual and a rough outlook for the team, but it presents the good news/bad news whammy effectively.
When it's used to soften the blow, it's not something you always want to hear.
For instance, if somebody told me before the season that the White Sox would win the AL Central by 13 games before exiting the postseason in the ALDS in four games to a high-quality Houston Astros team, I'd probably register it as success, albeit one with a premature ending.
But the spin is less positive when lies of omission are embedded in the grooves. I might picture a White Sox team that simply proved too strong for Minnesota and Cleveland over the course of the summer, but suffered bad breaks right before October. It feels a little cheaper when you learn that no other AL Central team finished over .500. That the lead was eight games at the All-Star break. That it never dropped below that number over the final 2½ months of the season.
As the White Sox entered the second half, they had the luxury of resting players, pacing others, and being very conservative with injuries. They knew a postseason shot was assured at the trade deadline, and could exercise every bit of caution in order to arrange everything just so.
If somebody told me that the pitching staff would still give up 31 runs over four games despite this purported advantage, and no starter would last more than four innings, then I'd wonder how these White Sox would fare when actually challenged for a six-month stretch. There's the feeling that their mettle wasn't really tested, and when they finally got their shot, they didn't look much more composed than the 2020 team whose exit in Oakland led to Rick Renteria's surprise dismissal.
After a drubbing, some of that bitterness might be one's ringing ears talking. White Sox fans can't afford to discriminate when it comes to division titles, and the Sox's 26-man roster quality and stability is still the envy of the AL Central, which is a big part of the job. We'll be reviewing the season once we examine the remains of the postseason, and we'll cover plenty of great moments that happened over the last six months.
But Rick Hahn certainly has some choices ahead of him. There are standard procedures like club options and qualifying offers, but losing the ALDS with such a disparity in the on-field product, it'd be understandable if he wanted to adjust the roster to alter the shape of the team. That Hahn traded Nick Madrigal suggests that other players perceived to be part of the core could be on the block. That Hahn traded Madrigal for Craig Kimbrel suggests that he's still not free from a track record that still requires a lot of work in order to become trustworthy.
That assumes that Hahn will be able to conduct any of those moves, at least when he wants to make them. The collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on Dec. 1, and if Major League Baseball and its Players Association remain oceans apart on a framework for a deal, we could spend a lot of the winter in a work stoppage. When viewed this way, you can kinda credit Jerry Reinsdorf and the other owners for actually seeing this season through to completion, because that hasn't been a given when the Sox have held first place in the not-too-distant past.
While we're lowering the bar, let's acknowledge a few other benefits from even a short postseason run. The White Sox still have a winning record when it comes to blackout games, 3-2. Also, by winning one game, White Sox fans retained the right to make fun of the Minnesota Twins. The AL Central is 2-14 in the postseason over the last three years, and the Sox have both of those wins.
And once the sting fades away, the White Sox should still see a lot of carryover from this season's surge in interest. If the White Sox can make it out of the CBA sturm und drang without getting sore about paying players, there's no reason to think they can't be in the same place at the end of September in 2022. From there, we'll have to cross our fingers that lessons were learned, but some of the moves made in the 10 months prior should also inform our hopes.
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And we'll be covering those moves all winter long. If you're new to Sox Machine, there's no reason to make yourself scarce. We have new stuff every day, starting with the autopsy of the postseason, a review of the regular season, followed by the Offseason Plan Project, which usually shows up right before the World Series. When the offseason starts, our focus shifts to rumors and moves, although I imagine this winter will be heavy on the business-of-baseball stuff that really gets the heart pumping. If that fails to excite, I'm working on other ideas to fill time during a potential lockout.
I'm able to do this because your support has made covering the Sox full-time possible. It was hard to get a real sense of the feasibility during last year's lockdown, but a full, proper season with fan attendance and the ability to hold at least one glorious meetup worked out as tenable for the foreseeable future. I couldn't do it without your past, present and future support, and of course the conversation.
If you'd like to support Sox Machine on Patreon, here's where you do it.
I also couldn't do it without Josh and his tireless work on the Sox Machine Podcast, not to mention that Milwaukee tailgate and everything else he does for the enterprise. Here's hoping the general national situation will improve to host more live events, but just like the White Sox's divisional title, we have to appreciate the immediate progress, however stilted.
Also, thanks to Ted, Patrick and Greg for bringing their ideas to the site, and for pitching in when I go on vacation. Bennett was a big help with his Wake-Up Calls and Sox Machine Live. Thanks to Billy for fulfilling various design requests for the site and for merch, and Carl for his artwork, including his second-to-none scorecards.
Aside from saying farewell to the 2021 White Sox, there's nothing else "goodbye" about this post. Hell, the Arizona Fall League opens today. The baseball is over, yet the baseball also continues, and so do we. You should, too.
(Photo by Matt Marton/USA TODAY Sports)
