Let it be written. Let it be known. On September 23rd, 2021 at approximately 4:00 PM local time in Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox won the American League Central Division title and ensured themselves a playoff spot for the second consecutive year. This marks the first time in their history the Sox have managed to make the playoffs two years in a row. It's been a LONG time coming but for those of us who witnessed today it was worth the wait.

It hasn't been an easy slog, though the division title has been a foregone conclusion for several weeks now. Cleveland traded Cesar Hernandez to the Sox at the trade deadline pretty much surrendering and admitting they weren't going to catch our Boyz this year. However the Sox promptly took that surrender and sat on it, playing .500 ball over the remainder of the year while fighting niggling injuries and roller coaster offensive output while trying their best to walk the fine line between resting players and locking up the division. Mission accomplished at last. Well at least in part. There's still another week+ to go and then come the playoffs themselves. Right now that's a big mountain, but at least the team appears to be finally getting healthy with only Ryan Tepera currently still unavailable from the expected playoff roster.

The game itself was never in doubt. Tim Anderson led things off with a solo shot and then tacked on another 3-run blast in the second after both Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez added solo shots of their own. By the time the smoke had cleared the Sox were up 7-0 after 1.5. The offense didn't add anymore, but the pitching was solid and Tony LaRussa wasn't playing games. He yanked starting pitcher, Reynaldo Lopez in the 4th when he started struggling with control and gave up his second solo shot to close the lead to 5. The Sox brought in Garret Crochet who gave up a single but then got a double play grounder to end the inning. After that, it was bring in the late inning...

Sox fans have been waiting twelve years for today - twelve long frustrating years. Along the way we've seen our share of bad baseball. We've had to endure so many bad players, partial rebuilds and finally a full tear down to start from scratch with a bunch of kids. Last year we started to see some of the fruits as young players came on to show promise and help give a glimpse of the future and then everything got put on hold. The whole world got put on hold and all we could do is scratch our heads and say, "what now?" As Bill Veeck once quipped ""If there is any justice in this world, to be a White Sox fan frees a man from any other form of penance."

But the season finally got going in late July and after a slow start and a lot of hand wringing and questions, much of it brought on by our nemesis from Minnesota in the first week of the season, the Sox took off. The young kids started hitting and the defense looked solid and they had not one but two or even three MVP candidates at various times. Entering these final two weeks against much tougher competition the Sox were the #1 team in the American League, but standing in our way was that very same Twinkies team. Some were convinced this would be the moment the Sox proved to be pretenders, getting fat on weak competition and now the butchers bill was due. Monday they won a squeaker. Tuesday was easier as rookie Pitcher Dane Dunning in only his 5th start rose up and led the team to victory. Wednesday our ace let us down a bit and the offense couldn't get anything going and the Sox took a painful loss, more so with the match-up coming Thursday day with Minnesota sending an ace to the mound as the Sox went with Renaldo "Mr. Wishy-Washy" Lopez. ...

The No No Song
(For Lucas Giolito 8-25-2020)
By Voodoochile
With apologies to Ringo Starr

A Pitcher that I know from South Chicago
Smiled because no one understands
Then He threw his first pitch and we said ho ho
And we knew he was the best in all the land

And I said:
No no no no, the Bucs can’t hit it no more
They tried but they just bounced them off the floor
Yeah they’re all, stiffs, who had lots of whiffs
And Lucas showed them all right to the door

A Player that I know from Pittsburgh town
Frowned because he did not understand.
Then he checked his swing, but the ump said gone
He knows Lucas is the best in all the land

And I said:
No no no no, the Bucs can’t hit it no more
They tried but they just bounced them off the floor
Yeah they’re all, stiffs, who had lots of whiffs
And Lucas showed them all right to the door

A bunch of Sox fans let out a big scream
We smile because now you understand
Lucas and McCann and the White Sox team
Simply are the best in all the land

And I said:
No no no no, the Bucs can’t hit it no more
They tried but they just bounced them off the floor
Yeah they’re all, stiffs, who had lots of whiffs
And Lucas showed them all right to the door...

Welcome to the new WSI Forums. Sadly, due to the passing of FarWestChicago we had to let the old site fade away. Honestly this is fitting. West was the driving force behind the old site and with his passing, his work should go with him. We were unable to transfer the old content due to major tweaks that were made to the code on the old site that would have led to a lot of broken code and no functionality if we had tried. Some of the moderators remain and we ask that you continue to treat them with the respect you have in the past.

While the content is lost, the spirit lives on. You will find this site very similar to the old one in functionality and BONUS! the smilies work again. We were even able to rescue most of the old tags and smilies from the old forums so hopefully it will feel like home. Yes the language filters still exist and we still ask you not to try to evade them. We want to be a home for anyone, even younger members who want to talk Sox Baseball. Politics is still not allowed other than in the special hidden forum you have to ask to join. ...