Under manager Ozzie Guillén, 2008 was the last time the White Sox were AL Central champions. Nearly 13 years to the day, the White Sox are once again division champions of the American League Central.
On Thursday the 23rd, the Sox were scheduled to play the Cleveland Indians in a double header, the first one slated for 12:10pm and the second at 5:10pm. With the magic number to clinch the division and a subsequent spot in the playoffs being at one, a doubleheader sweep wasn’t necessary. One win would suffice.
The first game of the day promptly began with a leadoff home run from Sox shortstop Tim Anderson. Although that was the only run they would score in the first inning, it certainly wasn’t the last.
The second inning started with back-to-back home runs from Luis Robert and Eloy Jiménez and the scoring just kept on coming for the Sox. Tim Anderson hit his second home run of the day to make it 7-0 after just two innings of play. Though the offense stopped scoring after the second, it was more than what they needed to win the game.
A strong outing from Reynaldo López kept the Indians offense quiet through three and a third innings. Followed up by scoreless appearances by Garrett Crochet, Aaron Bummer, Craig Kimbrel, and Liam Hendriks to wrap up the rest of the game.
Clinching the division was at the front of everyone’s minds from the beginning of the year, especially after the White Sox let the title slip from their hands at the end of the 2020 season. Prior to the game manager Tony La Russa said how meaningful the game was for his team saying, “Today is one of those days that you long for. This is a great day to be a White Sox player”.
It was evident that there was an agenda for the team as they took the field Thursday afternoon, and the Cleveland Indians were in the way of those plans.
Albeit the White Sox winning the division was expected because of the talent on the team, the offseason managerial choice put the amount of success up in limbo. Tony La Russa has a long and complicated history with the White Sox. First managing the team in 1979, until he was famously fired in June of the 1986 season. When La Russa came out of retirement to manage the White Sox in 2021, many thought it was just an effort by owner Jerry Reinsdorf to right a very old wrong and it wasn’t the right managerial choice.
The beginning of the season proved rough for the new skipper, being only three games above .500 going into May. Underwhelming performance to say the least. On top of that there were questions about decisions La Russa was making during games and also surrounding the comradery and relationship he had with his team.
Tony La Russa found it his duty to not only turn around how the team was playing, but prove that he was the right person to manage this team. He did exactly that. As May ended, the White Sox were 12 games above .500 and they never looked back from that point forward.
Though not all the credit can go to Tony and the players, as general manager Rick Hahn said after they clinched, “I can’t say enough” about how wonderful the front office and scouts have been putting together this team.
It’s been a long wait for the organization and it’s fans to reach this moment, and now that the moment is here they don’t want it to leave anytime soon. As the White Sox enter their last week of regular season play, they hope to keep the burners on and end hot going into the playoffs to make a deep run in October. Chicago just officially became a White Sox town.