By Woodrow Carroll
Playing host to the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday of last week, the Chicago White Sox were cruising along with a 7-2 lead. The two teams were in a battle for the best record in Major League Baseball. Tampa Bay had entered the game one-half game better than the Sox. With a five-run lead in midpoint of the game, the Sox were clearly in the driver’s seat.
The Sox won that game with the Rays, but, victory did not come easily! The Rays rallied to tie the score at seven before the Sox pulled out a 8-7 victory in 10 innings. With that victory over Tampa Bay, the Sox took the best overall record, 43-25, in Major League Baseball (MLB).
Something must have happened to the White Sox mojo midway through the game with the Rays. What followed last weekend in Houston was an unmitigated disaster in the form of a four-game sweep by the Astros over the visiting White Sox.
If you care to look at some very negative statistics applied to the Sox, we have them. The Sox were out-scored, 5-1, after being ahead 7-2 in the finale of their three-game series with Tampa Bay. Yes, a victory is a victory! That is what the Sox managed with a run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Four games in Houston ending over the weekend were not pretty. Not only did the Sox drop all four games with the Astros, only a 2-1 loss in game two could be viewed as competitive.
From midpoint of the final game with Tampa Bay through Sunday’s 8-2 loss to Houston, the Sox were out-scored 32-9. The Sox were on the short end of 10-2, 2-1, 7-3, and 8-2 scores at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
By Sunday evening, the Sox had the fifth-best record in the MLB. The club that was 18 games over .500 on arrival in Houston left the Lone Star State 14 games over .500 with a 43-29 record.
The Astros had a three-game winning streak when the Sox arrived in Houston. Tack on the four victories over the Sox and the Astros stood 43-28 (.606) and shared the top spot in the American League West with Oakland.
• Can a franchise be too good too soon? The Arizona Diamondbacks’ story is an interesting one.
The Diamondbacks joined the Major League Baseball fraternity in 1998. The Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay were MLB’s newest members.
In the franchise’s second season, 1999, Arizona made the playoffs with an astounding 100-62 record. The Diamondbacks ran away with the National League West championship to finish 14 games ahead of second-place San Francisco. The playoffs proved less satisfying, however, when the New York Mets took out Arizona three games to one in the playoffs.
In 2001, the Diamondbacks hit the jackpot. Arizona first bounced the St. Louis Cardinals, then the Atlanta Braves in the playoffs to reach the World Series. Against the New York Yankees, the Diamondbacks held service at home by winning all four games at Bank One Ball Park while suffering three defeats in New York City.
Spoiled fans in the Grand Canyon State? In the franchise’s first seven seasons, 1998-2004, the Diamondbacks were ninth or better in attendance among National League teams. The Diamondbacks start-up campaign in 1998 found Arizona second in attendance among National League operations.
Then, after the team’s World Series championship in 2001, the bandwagon effect pushed Diamondbacks’ attendance into the second spot in 2002. Beginning in 2005, the best Arizona did at the gate was a ninth-place finish in 2018.
Don’t look for massive crowds at Diamondbacks’ home games this season. Fans may be hungry for baseball following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, however, the Diamondbacks’ record was the worst at the start of the week with a 17-game losing streak.