Strong Finish Or Too Little, Too Late?
Spoilers. Who has time for them? Who wants to even play them? Even worse, who wants to be in the position to BE the spoiler? Every year, in every division … some team always plays the role of the spoiler.
The White Sox played the role at the end of the season. In the last week of the season the White Sox trailed the Tigers and Twins. No hope of post-season and no hope of even finishing the season at .500. The Tigers had a three game lead with ONLY four games left….that’s almost a shoe-in right there. When the White Sox came to town for the final weekend of games – the Tigers needed only to win one game to lock up the division.
Thanks to Jake Peavy, the Sox took the first game. Oh and the Twins won their game, gaining ground and making everyone in Detroit nibble away at their fingernails like the Twins were doing in the standings.
Well, the story goes on that the Sox made life in Detroit very hard for the Tigers and the Twins tied them, won the one-game playoff – winning the Central Division and advancing to the playoffs only to get knocked out by the now, American League Champion Yankees. Don’t think for a second the Tigers will forget about the havoc the White Sox created for them when the 2010 campaign starts. Revenge.
Defeating Detroit the final weekend series was just a last ditch effort for the Sox to make some sense of a dismal season where expectations were high, but not met. A season that featured probably the biggest achievement in all of sports in 2009 – Mark Buerhle’s perfect game. For the Sox to beat Detroit, which led to Minnesota winning the division, did in fact give the White Sox some purpose. After all, it was still a division game and I applaud them for going out and competing against the team they trailed for much of the season.
While the 2010 season looks promising, on paper – led by arguably the strongest rotation in the Majors – the ’09 season looms on … with the World Series match-up now set. (See World Series post on here). Look at it this way Sox fans, you still have plenty of reasons to watch the World Series, you get hear Ozzie still talk 2009 baseball, as he was hired on as a pre & post game analyst. This should be interesting.
Watching former Sox players such as Nick Swisher make it to the World Series w/ the Yankees – a trade Kenny Williams highly believed was good for the White Sox, you still hate to see it. (hence, Kyle Orton 6-0 w/ Denver, Cedric Benson torching the Bears for a career high yardage – you get the picture) See how Juan Uribe single-handedly carried the Giants in September until they fell a few games short of playoff glory.
It seems to be a Chicago trait about former players …’ Leave Chicago – Become a Stud ‘. How’s that for a Monday headline for you? That’s an argument for a later time. And how Jim Thome fell a little short in his playoff attempt at a World Series try w/ the Dodgers, although he only got a couple of at-bats.
Sure, the White Sox finished strong and played the ‘Spoiler’ but it still doesn’t hide the fact that they fell short, well .. very short of their potential and goal … defending AL Central Champs.
Let me answer my own question … it was too little, too late.
Dan McGuinness 
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