By Woodrow Carroll
Although it was certainly a small sample, fans of the Chicago White Sox had to be pleased with the way things unfolded last weekend.
Playing in Detroit to open the 2022 Major League Baseball season, the Chicago White Sox captured two victories in three games with the Tigers.
In last week’s opener, won by Detroit, 5-4, the Sox grabbed an early 3-0 lead. Even after the Tigers leveled the score at three, the Sox took a 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth inning only to see Detroit score twice in the bottom of the inning to win the season-opener.
Saturday and Sunday’s results were different. A 5-2 White Sox victory Saturday was followed by a 10-1 Sox victory.
Much is expected of the White Sox this year. In the COVID era of the past three seasons, the Sox have played winning baseball, with little to show for it. Some advancement in postseason play this year is needed to keep the faithful quiet..
Two years ago, the Sox finished with a won-loss record of 35-25 in a pandemic-shortened regular season. The downer for the Sox was a 2-8 end of the regular season that left the Sox behind Minnesota in the American League Central. Worse, after beating Oakland to open the playoffs, the Sox lost two straight to the A’s to bow out of the playoffs.
The White Sox played a full 162 games last season. The team’s 93-69 run captured the Central Division championship by 13 games over Cleveland.
The postseason again was rough on the Sox. In four games with Houston, the Astros scored 31 runs to win the series, three games to one. The lone Sox victory was a 12-6 conquest in game three. The Sox, in the other three games produced six runs.
This year, three games with the Seattle Mariners starting Tuesday this week opened the home schedule. Exit Seattle and the Tampa Bay Rays will be in Chicago for three games through Sunday, April 17.
Seattle is searching for its first playoff berth since 2001. The Mariners put up incredible numbers in 2001 to finish the regular season with a 116-46 record and a.716 percentage. The New York Yankees were not impressed and beat Seattle, four games to one, in the American League Championship Series. In spite of solid seasons since 2001, the Mariners have not been in the playoffs.
Last season, the Mariners were 90-72 and in the playoff hunt until the final day, only to miss a postseason berth.
Tampa Bay had no problem making the playoffs last season. With a final record of 100-62, the Rays had the best record in the American League. That stellar record was of no use in the AL Division Series last Fall. The Rays were ousted from the playoffs by Boston, three games to one.
• The Atlanta Braves won the National League East championship last season with a record of 88-73, yet, went on to win the World Series championship. There were 11 Major League Baseball teams, including the White Sox, with better regular-season records than Atlanta last year. Of the six division champions in two leagues, the Braves had the poorest won-loss record.
The Braves beat the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Houston Astros, in series games, mostly on the road to take World Series glory. In the postseason, the Braves eliminated Milwaukee, three games to one, the L.A. Dodgers, four games to two, and, in the World Series, the Astros in six games. Not once did the Braves face a win-or-go home game in the playoffs.