The White Sox Should Black Out Sox Park For The Playoffs

Yesterday was a perfect day. The Bears won, the weather could not have been better and the White Sox inched a little closer to clinching their first division title in like 1000 years. Oh, and this happened:

Gerrit Cole was pitching btw. This was also on the heels of losing 11-3 to the same shitty Indians team the day before. Have a weekend yankees fans!!! You greasy scumbags

Anyways, they're dead. Enough of them, they stink. Let's talk about a real team. A team that is FUN to root for and doesn't want to make you gouge your eyes out. Let's talk about the White Sox. Come Wednesday or Thursday at the very latest, they'll have that nice little "X" next to their name in the standings, so let's talk about October:

Yes. Well said. This wasn't a question and the White Sox won't face the yankees in the playoffs because the yankees won't be in the playoffs, but well said nonetheless. It's insane (and embarrassing) that this organization has never seen back to back playoff appearances but it is what it is. This is a new era of White Sox baseball and they're here to stay. Say what you want about their shitty division (the Tigers are going to be a problem in due time) and their 2nd half record, they've been on cruise control. It's 100000% clear that the White Sox have prioritized health over wins in the 2nd half, and that's what they should be doing. They know that come October, a fully healthy White Sox team can win the World Series. 

Simple as that.

Yes. I will make sure of this. I'm of the opinion it should be a blackout for every game of the postseason. I will be in contact with the team to spread the word to fans. Sox Park has been on FIRE this summer. One of the loudest, rowdiest, raunchiest stadiums in the baseball. Add the blackout to playoff games, something that is near and dear to White Sox fans, and it will be HARD to play at sox park. We gotta do our best as fans to give the players the best home field advantage in baseball and a blackout would be one way to do that.

I'll have more on this once seedings/game times/etc. are released. 

I started to ask Hahn in our interview with him a few weeks back about the offseason, and as soon as I asked it I immediately regretted it. Their focus is on winning the 2021 World Series. He wouldn't even answer the question and he shouldn't have. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

That said I'm guessing Keuchel is left off the postseason roster then given a shot early in the year to anchor down the 5th spot in the rotation. If he performs, he keeps his job. If he repeats his 2021 season in 2022, they cut bait. That option ain't vesting though. No shot they let that happen. 

Nice little hypothetical here. The easy part to answer is what to do with pitching - I'd guess they go with Kimbrel in the 8th and Hendriks in the 9th. That said, I'd go with Hendriks until his arm falls off in a situation like this. He's their horse and loves throwing as much as possible, so I would ride him in a do or die scenario. Kimbrel's annoyingly high HR/FB rate since coming to the south side still scares me. His command hasn't been all there. 

With Vaughn? I'm probably pinch hitting Sheets for him right now. He's carrying a 139 wRC+, a .246/.336/.553 slash line with an .889 OPS and .307 ISO vs. RHP. Those are VERY good numbers. Vaughn is the opposite against RHP with a 70 wRC+ against RHP and a sub .700 OPS. Play the numbers. They should platoon those two and play matchups in the postseason 100%. 

If the Sox win it all, I wouldn't be shocked at all if he rides off into the sunset. He'd have 4 rings in 7 appearances and have NOTHING left to prove. That and him and Jerry Reinsdorf would have righted their wrong after Hawk fired TLR in the 80s. Then again this team is going to be awesome for years on end and I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back for me. The guy is a baseball junkie and after a choppy start, he has really settled in nicely. I wouldn't have any issue with him staying as long as he wants to. It's all his call, he's got a lifetime contract I'd imagine.

Agreed with everything you said Eric! Let's win a goddamn World Series. I'm going Lynn-Gio-Los and depending on how the first 3 games go is how I'd ride with Cease. If they're down 2-0, he's first out of the pen for me if Los struggles. If they're up 2-0 or tied 1-1 in the series, he's starting game 4. That's the nice thing about having him as depth. 

Straight up, I'm not sure I'm trading Robert for a single player in baseball. He's slashing .350/.386/.547 with a 155 wRC+ and .933 OPS and as crazy as it sounds, he's done that in a casual manner and it doesn't seem like he's gotten "hot" yet. Outsiders reading this will think I'm an idiot for saying that, but to anyone who's watched him play, they know exactly what I'm talking about. He's a true 5 tool talent and he'll be right there in MVP discussion should he stay healthy in the coming years. 

Also wanted to note that his K rate is an above average 20% now. That's fucking awesome as he was someone who had swing and miss/approach issues as he rose through the system. Now he makes pitchers work in the zone and if they miss a spot, he annihilates the baseball. 

Abreu 100%. I think we see August Abreu in October. He's gutted out a lot of shitbag teams to get to this point and I think he goes HAM. That said Robert and Yaz will do Robert and Yaz things. 

They sure don't scare me. Give the big bastard the ball and let him shove. Also my HS football team would have beaten Huntley by 100 if they wanted to and that's not even an embellishment. 

Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

Let's wrap this shit up. I'll let everyone know about the blackout game. Gonna hit the sox up tonight about it.