Sox Populi - A Chicago White Sox podcast (Sox Populi)

Cole College Kohawks left fielder and South Side Sox writer Luke Smailes hops on for his SSS podcast debut, determined to spend only about 10% of the program talking Tony La Russa. It seems that goal was achieved, as only a wee bitta La Russa is discussed, among a whole lotta Hot Stove: The Eloy Jiménez dilemma Why are the top two free agent availables scarred by scandal? Finding ways to fill out a rotation that’s just two-fifths complete The virtues of Robbie Grossman Looking for rotation relief in Colorado? (or: Andrew Vaughn hitting 8,000 bombs at Coors Field) Why José Quintana won’t become Gio González Luke’s 2021 draft eligibility The majesty that was Garrett Crochet’s 2020 debut Dylan Cease as the fulcrum of next season’s staff pitching success Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spring Training is here! And no one could be more excited about it than us. Well, maybe there is one person. So we asked him to come on our podcast. Our guest, Jim Callis of MLB.com, has been covering the draft and prospects since 1988, and graciously shared his thoughts on the White Sox, and where he sees some of the names we’ve been watching, and what we can expect for the club’s future. In this live-wire of a conversation, we discuss: Andrew Vaughn: Can he jump to the big leagues and offer the expected amount of production in the DH spot with little minor league experience? With Jace Fry starting the season on the injured list, Garrett Crochet has an opportunity to dazzle once again, as he did last year. What’s his ceiling, and long-term starter potential? Michael Kopech is returning, and boy, are we thrilled. We haven’t seen him pitch since last spring, however; what’s his role in a full 162-game season? Find out who Jim thinks is the all-time White Sox prospect bust — and how he may potentially still find success! Jim also identifies his White Sox sleeper prospect, and why we should be talking about this player more. We also briefly discuss the music scene in 1980’s Athens, GA, and the current state of time travel technology to send Sam back to experience it all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, we just had a draft, and it was the BEST ONE EVER! Don't take our word for it, White Sox director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley said so. Anyway, Darren Black and Trevor Lines hopped on with Brett Ballantini to talk about their favorite sleeper picks of the White Sox draft, and we had some fun addressing those and the imminent return of Eloy Jiménez: Jeremy Karll was unavoidably detained by technical difficulties, which is a shame because he deserves more plaudits for SSS's killer coverage of the draft than anyone. Alas, as Eloy is now Earthbound, in Charlotte, Jeremy has ascended into the clouds to occupy his space. Rest in peace, Jeremy Darren likes the massive size and upside of fifth rounder Tanner McDougal, with solid heat and nice breaking stuff as an 18-year-old Trevor opts for the sheer lunacy of demonstrative Liberty University closer Fraser Ellard, and packs a scouting report from his ex-teammates and friends who've faced him Props to Luke Smailes, whose Trackman data extrapolation pointed to Haylen Green as having the second-best stuff in the draft; no, not the second-best stuff among White Sox pitching picks in the draft — the second-best stuff in the ENTIRE draft Brett had his Horned Frog Haylen pick stolen, so he's opting for Taylor Broadway, with very solid closer numbers and one of a few 2021 picks who might plug-and-play in the system Rumors of a Dugout Metrics podcast return Eloy will be back soon. Will he be back in left field on the South Side soon? And, related: Will he make it through the season without getting injured again? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fifth annual White Sox Hall of Fame vote, is ongoing, with still time to determine some of the plaques and choose winners in the bonus categories. Voting ends on Sunday, so don’t dilly-dally like a certain Indianapolis Field Office stalwart. Adrian Serrano, Chrystal O’Keefe and Joe Resis join Brett Ballantini to evaluate the early election returns, and squeeze in a little bitta lockout talk: Five players are on target for election, with one clearly the most surprising Is Wilbur Wood going to enter our Hall with the biggest plurality yet? Who’s the unlucky Cooperstown resident who is still not close to White Sox Hall of Fame election? A quick look at the three-way race to see who remains on the ballot in 2023 Also a peek at the four closest “bonus category” races, and a different idea for the alternate Sunday uniforms With one offer to the MLBPA over the first 70 days of the lockout, is ownership serious about striving for a full season? Four picks for a revised Opening Day 2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chrystal O’Keefe and Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, frankly a little bored and finding so little to do South Side Sox-wise lately, chat it up with Brett Ballantini about where the White Sox stand and what lies ahead for the team. The first half of our intended short show (spoiler: It was not short) was devoted to the bright spots of the season. Chrystal chooses Romy González, Melissa the sturdy starting rotation, and Brett, with reluctance, the mere 4 1⁄2 -game deficit the White Sox face despite being, by all accounts, a lousy baseball team Mid-show we roll out some site news, including South Side Sox intern Sage Bollenbach spearheading our new TikTok (@southsidesox_) channel, Melissa’s efforts on Facebook (@SouthSideSox), ever-entertaining guests for Chrystal on Visiting Dugout (the podcast that never sleeps), and the looming likelihood of a daily history pod And, on to the bad ... Chrystal’s heart breaks a bit in talking about Lance Lynn, Melissa takes down the entire lousy offense, and Brett goes biggest off all, castigating the utter and complete lack of reinforcements at the Double-A or Triple-A levels, at any position Predictions on what happens with Lucas Giolito And yes, Brett defends Rick Hahn. Not gonna tease it any more than that. The position taken is utterly plausible, but the mere notion of defending Rick Hahn in the year of our lord 2023 seems ... wrong Plus, cameos from Freddie Sage-Bollenbach and Willow O’Keefe! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The All-Star Break is over and we’re back to the unfortunate reality — the White Sox still have the second half of the season to play. The trade deadline is looming, no one seems to know who is pitching each day, and everyone is likely playing through some kind of injury. This first series should be fine though. Right? Oh, never mind.  Tommy Barbee, SSS’ Southeast correspondent, is back on the show to break down another team in his backyard — the Atlanta Braves. Atlanta is the best team in baseball and sits comfortably at the top of the NL East, eight games ahead, with a .674 winning percentage. Will the White Sox get swept yet again, or will they do that weird thing where they win against the best teams but barely beat the bottom-dwellers?  Everyone is way behind Atlanta in the National League East  Post-Freddie Freeman era seems to have little to no effect, they’re still good Thoughts on the All-Star break and Atlanta’s franchise record of eight players in the ASG Sean Murphy has been excellent both behind the plate and at bat, and also had a special ASG moment Will Atlanta let anyone get close, or will they still be at least eight games better than everyone in September? Who is the MVP on a team full of MVPs? Who is untouchable for the trading deadline? Twitter Questions, featuring a chat about the ’98 Braves and the whole racism thing Series matchup and pitching breakdowns — and perhaps a hug watch? Fears, threats, and the keys to win the series Around the league with the Orioles, Mariners, and how awesome the Reds are doing The Chicago Blackhawks??? Find Tommy on Twitter and read all the excellent work he does for our site.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan headed off for a cruise in Europe, the White Sox started winning, or at least not losing so much, so he had visions of a team payout for him to stay on the other side of the Atlantic. Alas, before the payoff could come, the Sox returned to their abysmal ways, so a bribe won’t be forthcoming. Instead, this edition of Sharing Sox with the geezer and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, asks (and, of course, answers) many of the usual questions, such as: Is Pedro Grifol trying to get fired to end the humiliation but keep the paycheck? Could Garrett Crochet be on the trading block come deadline time? Is the pitching being 27th or so in key categories a sign it’s much better than the offense, which is dead last in most? Did nobody get the memo about playing good defense? Is the schedule coming up for real, or are they just terrorizing us? As for praise, some goes out — unfortunately, to members of other teams, even one in our very own city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, did you know Sox Populi has become a daily podcast? Me, neither. In fact, it's not. However, with the surprising news that Pedro Grifol had been fired by the White Sox (about a year too late, conservatively speaking), the mothership had to lift off again to discuss the timing, ramifications, and managerial job search. This time, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach and Chrystal O'Keefe joined Brett Ballantini to cover it all, with some input from Willow O'Keefe as well: The move was due for, roughly a year, and Pedro shouldn't have been hired in the first place; reactions to Grifol's dismissal Despite how long we've been waiting for this day, was firing Pedro, right now, a good or bad move? Insight into how the managerial search will transpire this time around (aka How Big a Joke Will it End Up Being?) Quick predictions on the Crosstown series/will we be talking again to commemorate an under-.500 franchise as soon as Saturday? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, two bitter baseball fans chat about their below-average teams. That’s right, we’re talking about the White Sox and Yankees! I also had a headache while recording, so things get a little loosey-goosey. That being said, Asher Dratel from Pitcher List joins to chat about the Yankees, and why everything is so bad right now. Twitter brought a lot of good questions, and as a content warning, we do discuss alcohol abuse and domestic violence in light of recent events involving Domingo Germán.  The lack of a pitching matchup at the time of the recording is also discussed, as both teams face pitching woes. At least the Yankees have Gerrit Cole. We also talk break down our expectations for the series, and move on to teams that are way more fun to watch right now. The White Sox are bad, but the Yankees are, too! What’s going on in the Bronx, anyway? Despite Aaron Judge returning to the lineup, it’s a little too late to mount a comeback The Yankees MVP not named Aaron Judge Will Carlos Rodón get better? How badly did the Yankees fumble the trade deadline?  Old friend alert, though Twitter questions!  Pitching matchups are non-xistent at the moment, and that’s pretty telling Touki Toussaint appreciation break Fears, threats, and the keys to winning the series Around the league  Find Asher on Twitter and over at Pitcher List. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Goodbye, 2020, hello, 2021! This week, South Side Sox duty geezer Leigh Allan and son and west coast correspondent, Will, review a few favorite things about the White Sox in the past year, along with some unfavorite ones (yeah, that means you, Tony), take a moment to ridicule That Other Team in Town for salary dumping, then plunge into predictions for Major League Baseball in general and the White Sox in particular. Any wagering done based on their predictions is strictly at your own risk, and a very ill-advised risk at that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yes, for reasons unknown, SBNation reviewed the dozen hours of tape, watched all footage, and realized that the buddy cop movie otherwise known as South Side Sox on the Farm has been ... renewed for another season! Who is the good cop/bad cop between Darren Black and Brett Ballantini? We’ll let you decide. Have a listen, to an hourlong SEASON PREMIERE: BREAKING: The South Side Sox on the Farm Podcast has been rebranded as the Charlotte Knights Postgame Podcast, effective immediately. Hey, we delayed the start of recording until Yacksel Rios blew through that 23-pitch save, so yeah, we talked some Knights opener What’s different about Charlotte this year, or is it just another AAAA bus depot of sorts? Is Carlos Pérez a legit catching prospect, possibly even seeing time in Chicago soon? What are they feeding the offense in Birmingham? With the juiciest prospects in the system, who are the best bets not only to see Charlotte in 2022, but possibly Chicago? How fast will Oscar Colás move up the ranks? We’ll say it again: Bryan Ramos was every bit as impressive as José Rodríguez in 2021, so what’s in store for 2022? Breaking down the tripod of terror in the Dash rotation: Sean Burke, Matthew Thompson, Drew Dalquist Wilfred Veras, pros and cons Norge Vera will not advance from Kannapolis this year BREAKING: Darren Black, celebrating his fifth season with South Side Sox (yes, he is an O.G. in this regime), has signed on for either five more years, or for his lifetime, depending on who you ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can Major League Baseball be saved from itself? On Tuesday night, Jason Benetti and Steve Stone got into a long conversation about the great need to reverse the trend to all-strikeout-and-home-run-Three-Basic-Outcomes games in order for baseball to once again become exciting and to have its fan base increase instead of dwindle. Wednesday SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son, Will, usually the west coast correspondent but this week the living room correspondent during a visit to Chicago, took what Stoney and Jason were talking about and ran with it, looking at all the possibilities to make pitchers less dominant while also cutting home runs — complete with statistics and the advice to seek help from NASA, the Air Force, or Fermi Labs. After that ranting and raving, the duo take a long and analytical look at Dylan Cease’s toes, and how the angle at which they point in his delivery are a complete indication of whether he’ll have control and/or command of where the ball is going. Of course, there’s also plenty to talk about when it comes to the White Sox’s terrific week and the schedule’s terrific weakness, not to mention how Billy Hamilton’s running mitt means he only needs to fall down from his lead to reach the next base. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, manage to first avoid talking about the White Sox by venturing into playoff land and the many odd things that have happened in both leagues, leading off with opinionating on whether having a week off after the regular season was fatal to the Braves, Dodgers and Orioles. Then there’s the comeuppance of the mighty AL East and its 0-7 playoff record, as well as the oddity that the feeble AL Central produced a champion who managed to go 3-3 before bowing out. But, alas, this being a White Sox blog, the White Sox must be covered, so talk wandered to the question of what the Sox should do about the three players for whom they must make option decisions by five days after the end of the World Series, and whether it would be doing them a favor to let Liam Hendriks and Tim Anderson go. As for Sox-related rumors, they agree that Salvador Perez would be a good acquisition — as a manager instead of the Kansas City failure we have now. And they scoff at the idea that Kim Ng would be willing to come to a team with a micromanaging control freak chairman when she left Miami to avoid being controlled. Then they look at the prospective Sox lineup for next season, and somehow manage to keep from breaking into tears. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Another week, another two series lost to the lockout. The new wink-wink MLB Opening Day is April 14, and if you believe that date, I’ve got an elephant for you to eat. Somehow Kristina Airdo, Delia Ritchie, Tommy Barbee, Jacki Krestel, Zach Hayes and Brett Ballantini found plenty to laugh about, as we whistled past MLB 2022’s grave. It’s gallows humor, with cussing. Enjoy. The wisdom of fans demanding players take a deal when ownership has just begun to bargain in good faith ... 15 minutes earlier Or, as Dr. Jacki breaks it down, don’t fall for the love bomb, players. Friggin’ narcissist owners Who said it? “If billionaires weren’t really good at public relations, we’d have cut their heads off already.” The ugly underbelly of adding an International Draft the players don’t want at the very last minute of talks Who said it? “When people are throwing a tantrum, ignore it.” Zach is looking forward to the free-agent frenzy, once this is all over, even if the offers are for the 10 games of so of season that will be left Tommy warns MLB to make a long deal that’s generous to players now, so they can rake in all that sweet-sweet streaming dough that’s coming, with no player oversight Zach’s cat and Delia’s dog join in the mews of pain and howls of protest Stay tuned for Delia’s pop metaphor for these talks, starring Taylor Swift and a cast of villains Universal sublimation to the maven of labor coverage, Kristina. You are helping us all feel more labor pain than we thought possible, Airdo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the first time ever, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan has missed an episode of Sharing Sox. But his son and west coast correspondent, Will, took to the microphone in what amounted to a The Big Blurt reunion, with Rob Colletti and Bill Meincke. And the timing was pretty good, given they trio talked on the heels of the only good week of baseball we’ve enjoyed with the White Sox this season. Naturally, such sunshine was not quite reflected in the podcast itself. The podcast kicks off with general introductions, plus the traditional singing hello from Rob to Bill Is it better to be historically bad, or to see good performances/wins that will yield improvements to the system and improve the next wave of White Sox talent? As it comes up in the podcast, Rob wrote a very popular piece on South Side Sox last month, addressing the horribleness of the organization Rob, and the rest of the crew, are hyped about ... the Double-A Birmingham Barons A sober assessment of Andrew Vaughn and his future in Chicago Loss predictions for the 2024 season A broader assessment of the MLB season will play out Weighing in on John Schriffen as our new play-by-play guy, and seeing it turn into a rough assessment of Hawk Harrelson Will has the only proper read on generosity toward the Cubs and Cubs fans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox lost the series in Seattle and are heading home to host the first-place Rangers. We’ll see some familiar faces, like Marcus Semien and Dane Dunning, who will likely have the South Side of Chicago a little envious. But envy isn’t the issue Pedro’s Boys should be concerned with — the .620 the Rangers have held on to, the star players, great pitching, and a somewhat functional bullpen should be the main focus. Casey joins the show to discuss the Rangers from top to bottom, and how much we love Jacob deGrom. Happy birthday to my birthday twin Jacob deGrom, by the way! Dabbling back into the American League West What’s going on in Texas? A bullpen reset, and a rookie that might just win all the awards this season Who is the team’s current MVP, and who could be on the trading block? Jacob deGrom’s return next season, and what he’ll be like at 36 with two Tommy John surgeries behind him Questions from Twitter Series matchup and pitching breakdowns Fears, threats, and the keys to win the series Around the league with Casey’s thoughts Find Casey on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second edition of SSS on the Farm was so damn good, we duplicated the scene this week, as Weekly Update writer Darren Black comes back to review the system. He and Brett Ballantini run through most of the streakers and flaggers in the White Sox minors so far this season. Here are some of the highlights of our affiliate tour: OK, so Darren still isn’t wearing his Vox/SBN/SSS-issued “Down on the Farm” wear, but Brett wears his proudly Explanation for the Kanny (1-11) Madness How big an advantage does Matthew Thompson and Drew Dalquist have as 2019 draftees vs. 2020 draftee Jared Kelley? Benyamin Bailey needs to add weight? Benyamin Bailey needs to add weight! Dude might make Eugenix Frank Thomas look small by comparison when he does Get your Kannapolis Second-Half Division Winners gear ready, people Kudos to Dan Metzdorf, who is the first (and perhaps only in 2021) player on two Cold Cats lists — good enough to be promoted from Low- to High-A, but with two bad outings so far What are you hiding from, SSS scouting ace Dan Victor? Birmingham doesn’t just have the solid slugging bats so far this season, but some stellar starting pitching, with Konnor Pilkington possibly turning the corner early this season The good and bad of Blake Rutherford’s stellar week in Charlotte And Jake Burger is thisclose to the majors, who’d a thunk it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, enjoy the week that was, relishing winning five out of six, including two out of three from the Yankees, while, being White Sox fans, wondering why the *%&#$ the Sox absolutely cannot hit pitchers just brought up from the minors, where they had ERAs around seven. They then look at the week ahead, agreeing that it would be cool to see Luis Arráez of the Marlins go 10-for-12 and raise his average even farther past .400, as long as he’s erased in a double play every time. After Miami comes a west coast trip, starting in Dodger Stadium, where Will will get to attend White Sox games without putting any money in Jerry Reinsdorf’s pocket — win, win!! The discussion naturally led to pitching matchups — some next week favorable, some not — and a general despair about much of the Sox starting pitching (the exceptions being Lucas Giolito and, often, Michael Kopech) and general delight with how the bullpen has turned things around from its horrendous performance in April. Will thinks the energy of Liam Hendriks and Keynan Middleton has gotten into the minds of the other relievers as well, to the benefit of all, and both think Garrett Crochet finally having a strong performance in New York is an excellent sign for the future. They discussed the homer barrage in Thursday’s first game, but, alas, forgot to credit Seby Zavala for singlehandedly being the offense on Tuesday. Please accept our apologies, Seby. Which leads to the musical question — how in the world does Rocco Baldelli keep his job? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As much as we didn’t want to do this podcast tonight, we had to address the Chicago White Sox manager enforcing “Major League Baseball” “unwritten rules” on his rookie star. Highlights of our talk about the dumbfuckery of this Tony La Russa/Yermín Mercedes kerfuffle: Why in the world do we have to talk about La Russa’s clown act with the White Sox as the best team in baseball? Is there any aspect of this “controversy” that is acceptable, namely Yermín swinging through a take sign? Brett lets you know what the answer is probably no, as La Russa let another tell leak in his pregame Zoom today Boston runs on Yermín Mercedes when he was pitching earlier in the season and that’s OK ... but swinging the bat during an at-bat isn’t? Welcome Anders Johanson to South Side Sox, and he gets a trial by fire hopping right into this fray — and listen to how spectacularly Brett mispronounces his name, in unique MIDWESTERN fashion! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan is back from spending May on the other side of the Atlantic. So he and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, delve into all the things that have happened with the White Sox in the past month, as they soared from 13 games worse than .500 to, uh, well, er, 12 games worse. Well, at least Liam Hendriks is back and looking healthy. The duo go from the optimism of actually having a winning month, to the pessimism that the record was only 15-14, and only that because of playing 20 games against the fellow dregs of the dreggy AAACentral. Somehow, they managed to do it without ever mentioning Jerry Reinsdorf or Rick Hahn. Meanwhile, there is discussion of the starting pitchers’ woes, the bullpen’s mixed performance, the aggravating inconsistency of the offense, and even more aggravating horrible consistency of the defense. But what about strength of schedule? Yes, that’s in there, too, just to add to all the excitement the White Sox generate on a daily basis. Or weekly basis. Or ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, are actually recording the day after a victory, an event so huge it mandates a change in poet James Russell Lowell’s famed “what is so rare as a day in June” to the more currently appropriate “what is so rare as a day in June with a White Sox win?” The duo cover high points of the Seattle series (yes, there really were some), including pitching performances from Garrett Crochet, Drew Thorpe (Will thinks Thorpe’s a real old school bulldog type) and Jonathan Cannon and long balls hit by Luis Robert Jr. (among his strikeouts). That naturally leads to trade deadline talk, about both Robert and Crochet as well as the many other players expected to shed white socks soon. That in turn leads to long discussion of Leigh’s fantasy of the White Sox getting rid of every veteran, both on and off the field, and fielding an all-rookie team next year in the front office and the dugout and on the field. Will actually likes the idea (how often do sons like their dad’s ideas?) and had some more points to make along the same lines. Heck, he even agreed it would be good idea to go completely outside the lines of professional ball and bring in a successful college coach to manage the very young team. As we said, fantasy. But likely a more successful than reality is going to be. Alas, they find out just before ending the recording that José Abreu was released by the Astros. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

White Sox ace Lucas Giolito did not start the year the way we would have wanted. His strikeouts have fallen, fastball velocity has dropped, and he’s also getting hit hard — a recipe for disaster. He’s had OK starts, and bad starts — he’s also given up nine home runs this year, already well past his eight in 2020’s shortened season. We think that Giolito is a much better pitcher than his 3-4 record and 4.35 ERA implies. Michael Ajeto of PitcherList and our Seattle Mariners sister site, Lookout Landing, agrees, and explains why in this excellent piece written earlier this month. In this in-depth conversation about Giolito’s mechanics, Mikey discusses what small adjustments Giolito needs to make to get himself right again. He may already be on the way to getting back to his old self, as his last start on May 19 he pitched eight innings, holding the Twins to one run off of two hits and striking out 11. We also discuss Mikey’s PitcherList article on Tony La Russa (yeah, yeah, him again) and the problems surrounding his hiring, and the nefarious implications behind the statements he made regarding Yermín Mercedes taking Willians Astudillo of the Twins deep on a 3-0 count last week. We’re always pro-player, always pro-fun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, Julie Brady is back writing with us, after almost two years (with no minors) away! (If you click on her profile, you’ll see Brett made her a “Senior Writer” without having any idea what that entails. Maybe it’s just funny to him. Anyway, with occasional interruptions by Chico Marx, the cat, Julie helps Brett break down the system as we approach the month mark of the season. Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger are going ham in Charlotte Is there any hope offered by the starting pitcher reinforcements for the Knights? What stands out about Micker Adolfo, simply standing for the National Anthem? ROAM-Y or ROM-Y, no matter, the magic of González’s first month, at a new position What happens when Julie encounters the basketball-sized countenance of Lane Ramsey? The irony of the most hyped team in the White Sox system — perhaps in any system — being so darn lousy How many McD’s Dollar Menu runs has Jared Kelley had to treat his impoverished teammates to? There were otherwise no drag racing or train interruptions in this podcast, uncommon for Julie’s downtown environs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So, with our South Side Sox ballot released on Monday, it’s time to talk about the many worthy Hall of Fame candidates who will fall short of election when our results are announced on January 24. Podcast stalwarts Adrian Serrano and Zach Hayes join Brett Ballantini for the roundtable: Changes in the SSS voting process allows for more than 10 votes per ballot, and provides instant updates on where each candidate stands. Has that changed the overall voting patterns of our readers? By Wednesday night’s recording, just four of 30 candidates had reached even 50% support — perhaps just two you’d expect. Do PEDs still loom over this group? Most overrated names on the ballot, relative to their support: David Ortiz and ... Scott Rolen Most underrated: Tim Hudson, Bobby Abreu, Torii Hunter What do Billy Wagner and Devin Hester have in common? With a dreary incoming class of candidates in 2023, will we just be talking about mostly the same group of underachieving candidates a year from now? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

South Side Sox duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son, Will, join pretty much the entire White Sox world in expressing a trifle bit of dismay about a recent hiring decision you may have heard about today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For one last time in Our Year of the Utterly Hapless 2024, our staff gathered for a mothership podcast. This time around it was Brett Ballantini hosting Chrystal O'Keefe, Joe Resis and Dante Jones. The program runs broad but obvious: Looking back at the horrors of 2024 and ahead to what may be different in 2025. The lowest moments of 2024 Highlights (?!?) of 2024 Just how bad was the White Sox offense? Finally, Brett provides the answer: third-worst in MLB history, sixth-worst in the record-keeping at Baseball-Reference What we're looking forward to in 2025: Will Venable, tall and dominant lefties like Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith, young starters like Drew Thorpe and Nick Nastrini, and the killer kiddie catching corps of Edgar Quero and Ryan Teel Loss predictions for 2025: Brett is sticking with 120, but both Joe and Chrystal see it slightly sunnier, at 109 Sorry, ladies, Joe Resis is taken! Congrats on the engagement, SoxMath champ! Please support our White Sox writing and podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It may be a month to the trading deadline, but SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, are ready to start swapping and get the clearing-out done early, if anybody will go along: Who might want Garrett Crochet sooner rather than later in order to control his workload and have him in prime condition in October? The Sox wanting to put Andrew Vaughn on the market right away to take advantage of his annual June resurgence and maximize value before Vaughn’s annual July swoon The likelihood Luis Robert, Jr. will be playing elsewhere come August (unlikely) And the same for Michael Kopech, John Brebbia, Paul DeJong, Tommy Pham and a host of others (likely) Then they wander into wondering what the team might look like in 2025, which is scary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To keep the Sox Pop on the Farm Podcast canon taut, we went back in time to fill in the phantom podcast 49, and in doing so created a doozy of a look at the jewel of the system, the Birmingham Barons. And in doing so, Brett Ballantini again called on president and GM of the club, Jonathan Nelson, to get us up to date on this promising club: Congratulations to recent Barons grad Jonathan Cannon on his pending MLB debut! Birmingham paying tribute to the Negro Leagues with the No. 42 uniform honors The amazing pitching duo of San Diego acquisitions Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte A peek at a player still finding his footing, starter-to-relief arm Jared Kelley Catcher Edgar Quero: Not only mashing to start the season, but commanding the field with his leadership and game-calling The bittersweet nature of sending players up to Charlotte or Chicago, never to see them again The (somewhat) surprise of Brooks Baldwin’s assignment to Double-A and the energy he brings to the club Extremely different players, but similar three-outcome mashers, Terrell Tatum and Wilfred Veras, and what makes them both so special as prospects The game-changing speed of Duke Ellis, back to health and out the gate hot Impressions of Sergio Santos in his first games managing at Double-A How to deal with an ump show (Or: Making sure the pregame food spread is delicious and fluffing those couch cushions in the umpire’s room) Follow Jonathan Nelson on Twitter @JonathanN_Bham, the Barons @BhamBarons, and find tickets to an upcoming Barons game by clicking this link. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first episode of Ladies' Night for the 2025 season, our newest team member, Hannah Filippo, joins veteran Melissa Sage-Bollenbach to discuss several topics related to our beloved — or despised, depending on the day — South Siders. Whether you're a die-hard White Sox fan or not, there's something for everyone. So, sit back, relax, and grab your favorite beverage because the girls hit a home run conversing about all things baseball, including: Spring Training Reflections: What stood out to us in the preseason? We break down the highs and lows and which players impressed (and which ones disappointed). Prospect Watch: Who are we most excited to see develop this year? We share our top picks and who to keep an eye on in the system. Luis Robert Jr. Speculation: Will the White Sox trade him? If so, when? We weigh in on the options and what might happen with the talented outfielder. 2025 Season Expectations: What are we looking forward to the most in 2025? Is the ballpark food really the best thing we've got going for us? Don't forget to check out the Sox Populi YouTube channel (and please subscribe) or listen on Megaphone below. If you love our White Sox coverage, consider supporting us on Patreon to keep the writing and podcasts going strong! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now, you might think that Brady & Radogno sounds like a legal firm. It is NOT. In fact, the only one on this podcast legally allowed to provide legal advice is the host. But you would not want to follow it. However, Julie Brady and Celeste Radogno have more than just legal studies in common. They are White Sox fans! Also, ace writers with a taste for both the wry and the absurd. If Brett Ballantini was smarter, he’d be studying law with them. Or, maybe just fixing the game snax. Julie was kind enough to pause her relentless Minor League Update writing, and Celeste her move south, to chat with Brett about the White Sox of mid-August 2021, and more: Three laypeople’s takes on Lance Lynn’s belt removal during Wednesday night’s ballgame Given one of the three was currently encircled and perhaps even threatened by corn for miles and miles, how’d we assess the Field of Dreams game last week? As seen dozens of times on Twitter @DestroyBaseball, Julie offers the origin story of Maroon 5: The Menacing Did Celeste really melt the internet with a photo of a footlong hot dog? Do tube steak fundamentalists really exist? Both Julie and Celeste have been to live games, Celeste in four major league parks this season. What were the experiences, given the continuing pandemic? Oh, it’s a leading question, but is it possible that MLB could do a worse job marketing the game to anyone beyond stool bros? There is a unanimous answer to whether these three would remain White Sox fans if a family like the Ricketts controlled the ballclub Pet cameos: Chico Marx yes, Vinny no. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this fantastic episode of The Big Blurt, White Sox Twitter phenom Janice Scurio (SSS writer, and co-host with Sam Sherman of the North Side Sox podcast on the SSS Podcast Network) joins Rob Colletti and Bill Meincke to meet the boys and share her brilliant thoughts on fantasy baseball tips, trade deadline targets, “The ’Los No-No,” Yermín Mercedes’ hot start, Tony La Russa’s silly mistakes, In N Out’s silly french fries, and Steve Stone and Jason Benetti’s impending Broadway debut! Plus, so much more. Dive head-first into The Big Blurt! (And don’t miss the bag like Josh Naylor on a swinging bunt.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, it’s one of them fun Meet the Players podcasts, during which you’ll get the inside scoop on Kristina Airdo’s White Sox fandom. But we’d be remiss if not discussing a breakneck week of labor talks, signifying oh so very little. And who better to discuss those little goings-on than with our de facto labor writer, Kristina herself? Born into one of those “Cubs families” that, if you’re lucky, you assumed was just an urban legend, Kristina escaped that sorry fate. Thanks, grandpa, and thanks, uncle! The delicious dilemma of getting out of school early ... to see a White Sox game Most memorable games, for both Kristina and Brett: World Series Game 1, and one of the Blackout Games Sure, Brett hasn’t seen Kristina’s favorite baseball movie, and pays dearly for it An overview of where labor talks stand, now just a couple of days from officially scrapping the March 31 Opening Day Can we provide any insight as to the utter lack of urgency shown by ownership in these offseason talks? When will we see first games? At the moment, the hope is May 1, the stark reality is late June, and the utter pipe-dream, please-play-on-my-birthday wish is March 4 Is the notion that labor dischord “kills the game” a bit overwrought? Follow Kristina’s White Sox observations on Twitter @Liddle_Ktina, and if you’re lucky, you may catch her on a weather nerd day Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chrystal and Bayleigh are back with a special trade deadline episode. With only a few days left, trade rumors have taken over the internet, but there haven't been any big splashes of excitement. The gals make predictions about possible trades and what makes sense. Here is what they talked about: Will the Tigers hold onto Tarik Skubal — or could Jackson Holliday sway them? The Dodgers will continue to spend all the money Where will Garrett Crochet and Erick Fedde land? If Luis Robert Jr. gets traded, who will the White Sox build a team around? Red Sox needs White Sox pitchers are always better elsewhere Bad ownership and censoring fans The Astros will be buyers How do you score seven runs against the Rockies and still lose? The Orioles have a surplus of good players Cal Quantrill brings up Reese McGuire's "car-jacking" incident and benches clear Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fresh off of a much-needed series win in Cleveland, the White Sox head to Detroit to take on the second-place Tigers. In this episode, Chris Brown from Motor City Metrics and Tigers Minor League Report talks about everything going on up north. The Tigers aren’t even supposed to be good this year A few Korn references because Chrystal and Chris are old Rough starts and hot streaks Miggy’s treasure trove of weird farewell gifts Free agency drama Comerica is not only fun, but it has delicious street tacos and happens to be across from Mom’s Spaghetti The biggest threat, fears, and the keys to winning the series Around the league Find Chris on Twitter and follow along at both Tigers Minor League Report and Motor City Metrics.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Refreshed by the All-Star break, duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, launch into the major topics of the day, from saying hello to Nick Senzel to saying goodbye to Martín Maldonado and Danny Mendick. There are also the draft results to discuss, particularly the hope that 17th-round pick Lyle Miller-Green some day makes it to the majors, because his story is phenomenal — a Siberian-born orphan originally named Oleg adopted by an American couple in his infancy who has come on to become a right fielder for Austin Peay and a professional ballplayer. And not only is his story phenomenal, so is his nickname — the Siberian Sultan of Swat. Then, of course, there’s the question of who might be going where in the next two weeks, and what skeleton of a team will be left ... which, in turn, leads to predictions of whether the White Sox will succeed in achieving the worst record in modern-era major league baseball. Plus, there’s the small matter of the Sox achieving yet another dubious distinction, with an organization that polls readers about TV announcing teams placing the White Sox dead last in that category, as they are in so many others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast corespondent Will once again pretend to know what they’re talking about as they delve into the news of the week, including potential new names for the baseball artists soon to be formerly known as the Indians, the domestic abuse accusations against Omar Vizquel, and the possibility and plausibility of signing Liam Hendricks. They wave bye-bye to two-year South Side catching hero James McCann, take a brief look at the free-agent catcher situation, and get pretty confused about the Steamer and RotoChamp 2021 projections for White Sox starting pitchers — which are pretty doggoned negative when it comes to won-loss records. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Because we reluctantly participate in a capitalist society, what’s more traditionally post-Thanksgiving than a Black Friday sale? In this Small Business Saturday episode of North Side Sox, we abandon the concept of prospect-hugging in the hopes of striking a deal to improve the major league roster.. Also in this episode: Mark Buehrle’s cursed 24-hour salad recipe, which includes raw cauliflower, Miracle Whip, and frozen peas. Should you now leave him off of your Hall of Fame ballot? Thanksgiving is a reminder that food insecurity is still a problem for many families. According to Feeding America, more than 54 million people may experience food insecurity in 2020, including a potential 18 million children, due to the effects of the pandemic. Tim and Bria Anderson continue their philanthropic tradition of supporting families in need, in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and their adopted hometown of Chicago. Our lineup cards are full. We discuss White Sox players as Thanksgiving food items. Who’s your turkey? Our answers ... may surprise you. Or they may not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boy howdy, we’re back, and when not modeling delicious South Side Hit Pen White Sox ware, we’re trying to catch up with the breathless pace of Hot Stove action. Including two big White Sox moves! Ahem. In the second half, we dig into the likely outcomes of the Golden Days Era ballot, announced on Sunday, and debate whether Minnie Miñoso or Dick Allen will make the cut this time. It’s a jam-packed podcast: Did Rick Hahn forge the agreement with Kendall Graveman, then just put his phone on DO NOT DISTURB? Hey, Leury’s back! Indeed, friends, those blood-curdling screams you heard wafting up from down south were Chrystal’s plaintive cries for impact players Slick pivot, Detroit, from the riches of Carlos Correa to the no-look tags of Javy Báez Is it Minnie Miñoso’s time to finally shine by being enshrined? Or will Dick Allen get the call on Sunday? Both? Neither? The utter aggravation of election worthy Hall-of-Famers ... when they’re dead and unable to bask in the glory Rest in peace, LaMarr Hoyt, Winning Ugly ace Bonus round: Wake up to the horrors of domestic violence, MLB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two games down in the books for the 2021 ALDS, and yes, the White Sox are two games down. That said, it’s Blackout Night! And we wear black and Sox Park not to mourn, but to kick some ass. Host Brett Ballantini is joined by Jacki Krestel, who tonight will be one of just a few thousand folks in the park also to have witnessed Blackout Game I back in 2008. That good juju alone should make this a 2-1 series. After an excessive delay, but in a nick of time, this podcast also marks the debut of SSS writer Scott Reichard’s intro music, and if it doesn’t get you fired up for tonight, nothing will. Here’s some of what Brett and Jacki covered in our preview of Game 3: The roll luck — BABIP or otherwise — has played in the series so far The likelihood of that luck reversing with the series now in Chicago Particularly with Dylan Cease announced as Sunday’s starter, the senselessness of leaving Michael Kopech on a cold slab in the bullpen for Games 1 and 2 in Houston The ridiculousness of some social media claims, be they degrading the South Siders as a vastly inferior team to Houston, or that “fans” should not be allowed to criticize the White Sox You will never guess who convinced Jacki to get to the ballgame tonight — a convert from the North Side! Blackout Game memories — and how vastly different this 2021 White Sox team is from the 2008 division champs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re still a day or two away from our logo being ready — and let me tell you, it’s going to be worth the wait. But for entirely “legal” reasons, our podcast is no longer associated with/owned by Vox. (I only — almost — slipped up one time while recording!) On Friday when we recorded, the South Side Sox podcast had dulled itself into Chicago Baseball Podcast on Megaphone/Apple/Spotify et. al. That’s such a goofy, generic name, I figured this should be the one time we use it! Anyhow, we’ll have a post soon describing a little bit more of what the new podcast vision/network/goodies are. But the important thing for you to know is what you have already discovered: Nothing materially changes for you as a listener, viewer, reader, consumer ... the change has already happened, and you hardly noticed, right? It’s Melissa Sage-Bollenbach’s third trip to White Sox Spring Training and, after Sarasota and Tucson, her third ST venue to watch the Sox. This time, she’s brought along the son who has inherited her fervent South Side fandom, Sage. Both mother and son were kind enough to join me to talk about the up close and personal Camelback Ranch experience, and the eye-opener that was the World Baseball Classic. Right off, both Melissa and Sage agree that this White Sox team has a different vibe. Sure, that’s the optimism of March talking ... but only to a degree. As reported in both of Melissa’s stories, the White Sox are drilling (with Pedro very much present and engaged as manager) and prepping in a way we haven’t seen in at least the past couple of years Melissa shares a couple of easy tips for those who still might be planning on making the trek to Arizona, or want to get in on the fun next year On to the World Baseball Classic, and the absolutely unique experience that rooting for your country (the pair caught Team USA vs. Columbia last week), alongside fellow MLB fans of other clubs you’d never be sitting next to and cheering at the same time during the regular season It’s tougher to catch the WBC given it’s not an every-year event, but this tournament comes even more highly recommended from both Bollenbachs than the Camelback Ranch/White Sox experience — it’s that special Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the second episode in what is now titled “South Side Sox Estrogen Power Hour,” an all-White Sox, estrogen-based podcast to focused on the intersection of inclusivity in baseball and sports at large. Occasionally, coverage includes how the White Sox can monetize major life events (primarily funerals). In this episode, tune in as the team discusses: Welcome Janice: A tripod becomes a rickety but free-standing chair, as Janice Scurio joins the Estrogen Power Hour. Lefties, Righties, Bunting — Fact or Myth?: Have you heard that White Sox crush lefties? The team discusses facts and myths about lefties vs. righties. Also, Colleen talks more about bunting, and she is ready for folks to stop trying to explain things to her. Sleeping with The Enemy: Waddle and Silvy of ESPN 1000, the flagship White Sox radio station, think the Chicago Cubs are the feel-good story of the year, but the group rolls unrolls a long sheath of papyrus to reveal a long list of reasons Waddle and Silvy are wrong. Pride in the MLB: White Sox social media shared an image featuring Liam Hendriks to acknowledge and celebrate Pride Month. Although this is a step forward for in terms of primarily male-dominated sports in acknowledging the LGBTIQA+ community, how can organizations and the MLB do better? In Chicago, organizations like Center on Halsted and Howard Brown Health on the North Side and the Brave Space Alliance on the South Side support LGBTIQA+ communities and could use some local love and support. Leave Naomi Osaka Alone: Recently, Naomi Osaka declined media interviews to protect her mental health, which resulted in a $15,000 fine and outrage from, primarily, older white guys. This treatment is a double standard. Surprise! Baseball Players Are Humans: It is no secret that Yermín Mercedes is not having the best month. However, some shock and surprise is undue. The crew discusses why fans should expect slumps and be patient, especially for players with longer contracts. Goodbye, Bad Guys! Mickey Callaway and Marcell Ozuna are off the job, thanks in no part to their abuse of women. How will organizations continue to address abusive coaches and players? How can we expect baseball to truly be “for all” when crimes like these go unchecked? Who Do Sox Fans Want to Dump This Week?: Eaton? Abreu? Grandal? Mercedes? García? Lamb? Mendick? Who stands where in the great debate of dumpage? Keelin Forgets Nomar Mazara’s Last Name: This is more of a correction that no one will probably read. More Death Stuff: Concession embalmments. Faygo embalming fluids. The usual. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

South Side Sox Podcast 19 takes on Cooperstown and the 2021 Hall of Fame contenders. Brett Ballantini and Chrystal O’Keefe discuss the ins and outs of this year’s election, including the possibility that no candidates reach immortality. Topics tackled by the duo: Exactly how identical are Brett’s and Chrystal’s ballots, anyhow? Support for Sammy Sosa Separation between the Barry Bonds/Roger Clemens voting contingent from the Curt Schilling/Omar Vizquel voters Big Hall vs. Small Hall vs. Medium Hall Does Mark Buehrle have a shot (spoiler: With SSS, he seemingly does!) The “pure” candidates on the ballot Should closers be in the Hall of Fame? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we’ve announced the winners in the fifth annual White Sox Hall of Fame vote, and Adrian Serrano, Zach Hayes and Joe Resis joined up with Brett Ballantini to talk about the results, and more: Five players made it to SSS immortality, including players with the second- and third-highest election percentages ever Next year’s favorites How did the two remaining players in Cooperstown who’ve yet to crack our White Sox HOF end up? Which player ended up dropping off of the ballot in 2023? The player race wasn’t too close, in that there were no borderline players in 2022. How about the bonus categories, where at least two races were decided by as few as two votes? A frank discussion of helmet nachos A check-in on the glacial pace of baseball labor talks Who should represent the SSS staff if we’re called on to help broker labor peace? (see below) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and currently next room correspondent, Will, anxiously await the next fascinating intentional walk call by the HOFBP, with Leigh pointing out it takes a while sometimes for old folks such as the HOFBP and himself to remember a name, such as the name of who is at-bat. Or what team you’re playing. Meanwhile, they dig into the value of the strategy of always losing the first two games of a series, then winning what’s left. Is it effective? Is it disarming opponents? Will it catch on, with all teams trying to lose the start of a series? As for players, they agree Eloy’s return is unlikely to prove much benefit, if any, given he’s 3-for-26 since the dramatic home run return game. They see Seby sinking back to reality, but José continuing to be outstanding and a solid extension candidate, and Lucas Giolito and Johnny Cueto showing the rest of the staff that it really is possible to have a start where you don’t average 20 pitches an inning (you paying attention, Dylan?). But, of course, the cast couldn’t end without a discussion — OK, rant — about the Bob Nightengale column on dysfunction and cliques in the White Sox clubhouse, which certainly appeared to be planted by the controlling owner to try to deflect the blame for the team’s total flatness away from his pet HOFBP. The old adage is that when a team is woeful you can’t fire the players, so you fire the manager. But what happens when you can’t fire the manager? (Hint: You’re sunk.) Which, also of course, led to a call for a ticket-buying boycott until said HOFBP is fired. Which, very, very, sadly, won’t happen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our latest “livestream” (to @SouthSideSox on Twitter, Sox Populi on YouTube and South Side Sox on Facebook and, natch, here on the “home page”) featured a review of the 2023 draft and look ahead to the second half of the regular season. Adrian Serrano and Dante Jones joined Brett Ballantini to talk about the best and worst picks and trends of the draft, and what in the world the White Sox are going to do while wheezing through the last 70 games of the regular season. The familiar theme of not having nearly enough starting arms to attack a 162-game regular season — and how that, sadly, was not addressed in an otherwise inspiring draft Melissa Sage-Bollenbach checks in and demands some cussing on the program, after she had to witness Friday night’s debacle in Atlanta in person The front office finally finished reading Moneyball! And the shocking change in tone, with picks who can get on base and don’t whiff Excitement over local prep George Wolkow — and whether his closest draft-steal comp, Jared Kelley, provides hope or horror in the seasons to come Addressing the Chris Sale-Yoán Moncada-Michael Kopech trade, which breaks back full circle into a philosophical look at how to approach a rotation in the 21st Century Cameos from B.B. the Cat! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommy Barbee, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Dante Jones, Chrystal O’Keefe and Brett Ballantini took the lead of a recently-stoked Race to the Bottom series and took it a few measures farther: Impressions of a dastardly season, now one-quarter gone What makes this season different from 2018’s 100-loss season Does Burlington Coat Factory still exist? Of course Burlington Coat Factory still exists! You go in there with $645, you are literally a king Imagining how the next 120 games will play out ... it doesn’t look good for Pedro Is a full teardown/rebuild in the works ... and if so, what conditions need to be met for that to happen? White Sox Pride is now the Scarlett Letter ... W Only one of the five on the panel thinks this season will not end in significant firings/rebuilding  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brett Ballantini invites Melissa Sage-Bollenbach and Malachi Hayes to chat about what is looking to be a chilly Home Opener against the Tigers on Thursday: The upside and downside of Garrett Crochet, Opening Day starter Breaking down the relatively sunny season projections for the White Sox from FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus Why do the relatively similar Opening Day lineups in 2017 and 2024 feel so much worse this year? Zeroing in on what it will take from Eloy Jiménez and Yoán Moncada to force the White Sox to pick up their options for 2025 The best starter in the current White Sox rotation The next great right fielder on the South Side, if not Dominic Fletcher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox head to the Bronx to face off against a good Yankees team. Nick Stellini joined the podcast to discuss the first-place team and the red-hot Aaron Judge. Here’s what we talked about in this episode: What’s new in the Bronx? Does anyone know about Juan Soto? Gerrit Cole’s timeline, and how hilarious he is Grading the offseason How to stay in first place Are Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson freaks of nature? Confidence going into 2024 Pitching matchups, and Carlos Rodón Threats, fears, and keys to winning a series Thoughts for the 2024 season The downfall of the Astros It’s time for Jerry Reinsdorf to pay some therapy bills You can follow Nick on Twitter and check out his work at SportsLine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox continue to be mired in mediocrity as they struggle with a part of the schedule a good Triple-A team could cruise through, but SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and current next-room correspondent, Will, dive into the biggest and worst news of the week: The injury to Tim Anderson that will keep the All-Star shortstop off of the field for most, and possibly all, of the 2022 season. Leigh has an answer: Andrelton Simmons. The multiple-Gold Glove winner is a free agent after being released by the Cubs this week, and the White Sox could sure use some defensive help. True, Simmons can’t hit a lick any more. Also true, his OBP is higher than Leury García’s and his K/BB ratio is less than two to one, so at least he puts the ball in play. Of course, no podcast would be complete without moaning about how poorly the White Sox hit, pitch and field, whilst giving thanks for being in a division where a horrible 82 wins might just win it. Even the professional prognosticators see no more than 85 wins for any of the three contenders, and one even has the White Sox as reaching that illustrious number. Meanwhile, as of the recording, five games were still left in the 19-game trek versus terrible teams, with the Sox 8-6 in it so far. Still, Will sees an incredibly uplifting Disney movie about the White Sox as they overcome adversity and a lout of a manager to win it all through friendship and love and all that really good tear-jerker sports movie stuff. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With PECOTA now giving the White Sox just a 1% chance of winning the hapless AAAL Central, with a predicted 72.6 wins (that last six-tenths of a win is always the hardest), SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, indulge in the Sox fan merriment of the moment and try to guess who might go where by the trade deadline, and in exchange for what. Much of the discussion is on Tim Anderson — where will he go, if anywhere? Will he play second base wherever he goes? Will the change of scenery be good for both TA and the new team? And after all the dust settles, who should play what position(s) for the White Sox the rest of 2023? How about in 2024, which is apt to be a write-off, barring miracles and other hopey stuff? Can 2025 really be a big turnaround year, the one that’s been promised since Richard Daley was mayor? Ah, so many questions, such as how much salary the White Sox would have to eat to get some team to take Yasmani Grandal. And even occasional answers, such as to whether Andrew Vaughn and Eloy Jiménez should be deemed protected from the trading block. Oh, yes, there are also games to be played. Not that most of them matter any more ... except against the Cubs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In what we’ll consider a semi-official Fans First Sports Network and Sox Populi coming-out party, a half-dozen (Chrystal O’Keefe, Tommy Barbee, Malachi Hayes, Dante Jones, Joe Resis, Brett Ballantini) of our 22 prognosticators got together to discuss the differences and similarities we feel about the fortunes of this White Sox team. Representing the 11 of 22 writers who see the White Sox in the playoffs, Malachi, Joe and Dante discuss how such a thing could be possible: Malachi can see Chicago clicking to as many as 95 wins, Joe foresees an unbelievably crazy finish to the season, and Dante feels the AL Central is bad enough that the White Sox claim a wild card Conversely, representing the 11 of 22 writers who think there is something very wrong with those 11 other writers, Chrystal, Tommy and Brett try to stifle their laughter. Although to be fair, Chrystal envisions what is possible an even weirder ALC race than Joe Because Lucas Giolito came up as the choice of a few SSSers as top pitcher for the squad this year, we again play the quick speed round of: Will Lucas re-sign with the White Sox? And in a bit of our bonus time, given that even the sunniest prognosticators on the podcast had to admit this team is a little rough at the moment, we went around the room to discuss what could happen early with the White Sox that would get us excited and revising our low expectations Tomorrow’s podcast and story: MLB predictions, including somewhat Soxy discussion of the AL Central race Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s edition of Sharing Sox, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, delve into the strange and wondrous world of the intentional balk — and the unintentional balk in its many manifestations as well, including manifestations that are clearly illegal but never called any longer. First, though, there’s the question of the massive inefficiency of White Sox starters when it comes to pitches per inning, an inefficiency that puts all of them near the worst — and one of them dead last among qualified pitchers (we’re looking at you, Dylan). How much will that inefficiency impact how worn-out those pitchers are by playoff time, especially given they’ve thrown many more 100+ pitch games than any other team? Only The Shadow knows. Well, maybe The Shadow and The HOFBP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With all the season’s-end awards issued, Sox Pop 163 assembled with Joe Resis, Brian O’Neill, Chrystal O’Keefe, Ryiin, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach and Brett Ballantini to review the good and bad of the 22 SSS prognostications on site before the 2023 season. (Also read our predictions-in-review article to accompany this podcast.) The host takes a victory lap Tip for next year: copy Chrystal Seventh-place finisher Brian quickly outs himself as the worst White Sox predictor of the bunch Random cap-tips and drive-bys for great and terrible picks, among them several picking the Mets as best in the NL (and special dispensation for Tommy Barbee picking them to win the World Series), Allie for both good (Gavin Sheets is terrible, Andrew Vaughn not bad!) and bad (one of many tabbing Lance Lynn as best pitcher) Celebrating the demise of the New York Yankees, and confirming inescapable loserdom of [redacted] and the Cubs A new round of loss predictions for 2024, among them Ryiin saying Pedro gets fired quick (nuh-uh replies Brett), Joe foresees a Soroka resurgence, and Chrystal is on board the losing train by seeing 118 losses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, consider first how incredibly dysfunctional an organization has to be to send an entrant to the Home Run Derby without realizing he has no family to be with him and no teammates who are All-Stars and therefore needs to have someone from the club there cheer him on or commiserate, as the case may be. Unlike every other contestant, poor Luis Robert Jr. had to just stand by himself and look lonely. And to add to it, he got hurt. But that’s the past. It’s time to look ahead to the future and guess how may current White Sox players will still be with the team come August 1. Will Jerry Reinsdorf’s typist, Bob Nightengale of USA Today, be correct and three starting pitchers and three relievers all be traded? How about his 50-50 prediction on Tim Anderson, given TA has almost no value at this point? (We delve into TA’s career hitting vs. good and bad teams. It ain’t pretty.) Or will Jon Heyman of the New York Post be more accurate, when he says the only players who are considered untouchable are Robert, Dylan Cease, Andrew Vaughn and Eloy Jiménez (and, if so, why are Eloy and Vaughn in the same category as Luis and Dylan)? Only The Shadow knows, but the rest of us will find out before the end of July. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a sort of test podcast and video feed, we switched over to a new format for the Sox Populi family of programs, to considerable success in spite of Darren Black losing his camera for a sec and Brett Ballantini not knowing where to look to engage with viewers. But that backstage nonsense aside, Darren and Brett sat down to talk about the hot (?) Charlotte Knights, who have seen some breakout performances early and, let’s face it, simply have an actual pitching rotation this year. Lenyn Sosa mania! Darren tracks the ascendant middle infielder’s early work in 2023, and what he’s done and needs to keep doing to take the step forward into impact major-leaguer After considerable consternation the Brett’s part, the Knights seemingly have five or more starters — not going deep into games, mind you — but not just an assemblage for bullpen games, as in 2022. Darren traces that evolution, and also finds time to talk a bit of Davis Martin, the best of the Charlotte starters so far Lane Ramsey is also making a bullpen impact, taking the opportunity the White Sox have given him and making the most of it despite being outside the 40-man, looking in The curious case of Loidel Chapelli Jr.’s assignment, and why it was absolutely the right move (correction: neither of us, no one, yet has a clue whether it’s the right move) However, Brett is quick to point out that if not the Luis Robert Jr. track, Chapelli’s assignment to High-A could at least end up being an Oscar Colás track to the majors Mostly, we just want some games below the Triple-A level to not be rained out, for a fuller Sox Pop on the Farm experience next week Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ah, The 78! No, that’s not how many games experts think the White Sox will win this year ... even if you include spring training. It is, of course, the proposal unveiled this week for a new Sox stadium on the south edge of the South Loop. SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, delve into the new concept, and then have a good laugh over the possibility Jerry Reinsdorf et al. would actually pay for it with their own money, rather than try to soak the taxpayers of Chicago and Illinois. But, that’s not all! Heck, no. There’s trying to cajole Hall of Fame voters to make sure Mark Buehrle stays on the ballot for another year. There’s reviewing all the incredible moves the White Sox have made this offseason to improve the team for 2024 and beyond (did you miss them?). There’s discussion of the immediate futures of Dylan Cease and Eloy Jiménez. There’s even an apology to the people of Kansas City for badmouthing the Sox for their dependency of the Royals for staff and players. We had previously wondered why the White Sox would want personnel from one of the only teams in MLB worse than themselves, which was totally unfair, because pretty much every prognosticator predicts the Royals will be better than the Sox in 2024. And probably beyond. Well beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our biggest podcast yet — we are going to have to rent a dedicated room in which to fit all of the microphones and beverages — the SSS crew previews Opening Day. Have a listen before the ballgame in Detroit, will ya? The most pleasing aspects of the new season, from Eloy Jiménez remaining alive in left field to Lucas Giolito reclaiming ace status to a legit catching tag-team a la 2020 OK, sure, some worrisome trends, including the improved AL Central, a tattered rotation, an the offseason that didn’t address it, and, well, specifically, Dallas Keuchel Do any of us harbor some secret high hopes/distinct lack of worry regarding Keuchel? Biggest surprises heading into the season, including a massive payroll that still didn’t really manage to address crucial club needs, and Michael Kopech’s (lack of) readiness for the coming season Is there a reliable starter beyond Giolito-Dylan Cease-Lance Lynn (on return)-Kopech? The crew offers a lot of options, but without much conviction A rundown of coverage for the coming season, featuring key contributions from most of the podcast’s guests today Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome the irrepressible SoxOptimist by taking a look at his Meet the Players on site along with this podcast, and learn much, much, much more about him in this de-luxe podcast. A little college hoops, a bit of SoxOptimist White Sox origin story, a touch of 2022 White Sox ... well, just listen, will ya? A brief review of college basketball action, featuring Illinois’ stirring 18-12 win over a team from Tennessee Featured: the only bolo tie featuring a golden horned toad you will likely ever see S.O. crashes a south L.A. men’s baseball league, and thrives in spite of the occasional game time rushing up on a post-punk show hangover? All in a day’s work Yes, the SSS Los Angeles Field Office has grown to three No, a lopsided Crosstown trade late last century did not kill S.O.’s grandmother Should we extol the greatness of Nancy Faust? Why yes, yes we should Sorry, there is additional lamenting of a lost offseason Craig Kimbrel: sleeper agent or legitimate weapon too valuable to pay to leave town? How is the AL Central shaping up for 2022, vs. 2021? Tony La Russa vs. Ricky Renteria And much, much more, in our Longest Podcast Ever Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It wasn’t just the last White Sox playoff victory (and, perhaps, one we’ll have to savor for many more years to come), but the ALDS Game 3 win over Houston in 2021 is important to South Side Sox for another reason: It connected Allie Wesel to Jacki Krestel, and therefore Allie to us at South Side Sox! We review the genesis of the buddy comedy of Jacki and Allie, and much more: We intended a companion podcast featuring many more of our writers at Game 3, but it fell through; I wasn’t hallucinating during this podcast. So next year, we’ll revisit what is sure to be our more recent playoff win once again! Kicking off with a clip from a podcast a year ago, we get additional details on how Jacki and Allie met, and what the game was like together. Yeah, it was a bit lively The atmosphere of the game, including Jacki’s thoughts on Blackout 2008 vs. Blackout 2021, as she attended both The mood pregame, and in the early going as Houston jumped out a bit Top moments of the game, beyond just Leury García’s massive home run A detour, discussing the dirty rotten scoundrel Astros, and examining José Altuve’s Hall of Fame case The what-if aspects of the game/series ... how might the past two seasons be different had the White Sox fought harder, or advanced in this series? Then and now: Walking into or out of Game 3, did either Allie or Jacki think just 61 wins was Chicago’s destiny just two seasons later? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan his son and west coast correspondent, Will, are joined this week by cheesehead correspondent and Brewers fan Jonathan Schroerlucke, to preview the upcoming White Sox series in Milwaukee and the incredible matchups of starting pitchers on tap. Will the series be as it looks on paper and consist entirely of games that are 0-0 until the starters come out, with all runs then scored before the two dominant closers come in? Will former Sox players be the key to the Milwaukee offense? Who knows? But we guess. We also have a whole bunch of guesses and comments about the biggest White Sox news of the week, the announced retirement of April hero Yermín Mercedes. Naturally, it would all have been terribly brilliant except that since we recorded, Yermín decided to unretire, at least for one night, so all the speculation and bad-mouthing of the HOFBP is badly outdated. Not that bad-mouthing the HOFBP is ever out of line, but it doesn’t fit the story so well any more. After the break, it’s all White Sox versus Brewers and great pitchers, which we hope doesn’t get out of date as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sure, the White Sox are playing baseball every day, but it’s impossible to ignore the giant vortex sucking all the air out of the room. So SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, spend plenty of time making wild guesses about what the heck is going on with the HOFBP, whilst, with most of the fan base, wishing him well — but a recovery somewhere besides the dugout. That’s if a recovery is really needed — lots of doubts about what’s really going on, and slams at the front office for being its usual useless self in providing information. (One apology from Leigh — it turns out the Mayo Clinic has actually opened a campus in Arizona.) As for actual baseball, recovering to win the final two games of a week when at least five should have been won didn’t exactly win praise, but it’s agreed sweeping Minnesota would do so ... though both scoff at YouTube announcer Yonder Alonso giving the White Sox a 50% chance to win the AAAL Central, which is five or 10 times the chance computer algorithms give. They also agree that probably no team from the division should be allowed in the playoffs at all, but that’s another story. As for the nature of play, Leigh points out that while the White Sox have been bad at booming homers, they’ve also been really bad at lots of things connected to small, or smaller, ball — last in MLB in triples and stolen bases, next to last in getting runners home who made it to third with fewer than two outs, etc. And then there’s the bizarre nature of continuing injuries that simply shouldn’t happen to professional athletes ... with Will proposing a solution every 10-year old is familiar with. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hard to delve into White Soxery with a straight face after the 21-5 debacle on Thursday, but SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and current next room correspondent, Will, give it a try. First up, of course, the Houston series, with its decent 2-2 split and indecent finish, leading to the big question of what can be so wrong with Lucas Giolito. The duo wonders whether Gio bulked up too much over the offseason and lost the flexibility in his delivery that made him an elite pitcher. On the elite pitcher front, can Dylan Cease really be one when he throws so many, many pitches per inning and thus seldom goes deep into a game? A debate takes place. And, of course, there’s Elvis. Will new shortstop replacement Elvis Andrus do it his way so well Sox fans Can’t Help Falling In Love, or will we be sent to Heartbreak Hotel? Finally, pitching matchups in Cleveland. Unfortunately, it turns out the Bieber they’ll be throwing Saturday is Shane, since they apparently DFAed Justin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time for a new Sox Populi feature, one that will show up on our YouTube channel and on our podcast list: TIME OUT, with Di Billick. It's a quick-hit format for those of you unable to find the precious 20 minutes necessary to listen to a podcast or watch YouTube. Or, if alarm bells ring in your brain when you have to think about the White Sox for more than five minutes, TIME OUT is for you! Short, to the point, profane, with cameos by exquisite English toy spaniels Lucius and Harry. This started as Five Managers I Would Like to See With the White Sox but turned on a dime into Five Things I'd Rather Do Instead of Watching the White Sox. See if you agree with her. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just like we wrote it up, the White Sox romped over the Angels on Opening Day, 8-1, so naturally Brett Ballantini gathered some of his closest pals (Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Brian O'Neill and Joe Resis) to comb back over every luscious detail of a shocking start to the 2025 season: Sean Burke, facing adversity in the first and hard contact in the second, bristled up to deliver this Opening Day win with six shutout innings Where has this offense been all our lives? Favorite moments/standouts of Opening Day Playoff-bound? Can the White Sox now sweep this opening series? Essay #1: Do you give Burke the ball to start the seventh inning? Essay #2 Do you boo Yoán Moncada, one of the Top 50 hitters in White Sox history, on his return to the only ballpark he's ever known? Please support our White Sox writing and podcasts.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Accompanying our SSS Hall of Fame ballot on site comes our traditional, accompanying podcast discussing the candidates and sometimes arguing about Billy Wagner. In on the discussion are Malachi Hayes, Dante Jones, Joe Resis and Brett Ballantini: The understated, and should be understood, greatness of Adrián Beltré Joe Mauer support seemed to have come out of nowhere; how big a surprise is his likely first-year election? Apparently, Todd Helton’s time has finally come Three cusp candidates (Andruw Jones, Billy Wagner, Gary Sheffield), controversial in their own ways The ongoing Hall debate over steroids and cheating Mark Buerhle and his disappointing and apparent slide off of the Hall of Fame ballot What gives: Andy Pettitte v Buehrle? What gives: Bobby Abreu v Scott Rolen v Carlos Beltrán? How much stock do you put into WAR? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Podcast 69, nice. The companion article that Joe Resis, Zach Hayes and Brett Ballantini address in the podcast was, again, the brainchild of Tommy Barbee. All three writers submitted entries for their top beef of the season, but we also cover the other six grievances as well. Here are some highlights: Zach spins a detailed yarn about his Feat of Strength, biblical in nature, with gore, bat racks, and a potentially peaceful overthrow of La Russa Adrian Serrano could not participate in the podcast, but wants to make it clear he did not kill Southpaw Seriously, could a clydesdale (Leigh Allan’s suggestion) manager better than at least the worst of White Sox managers? Affirmative Would Robby the Recapper be a better manager than La Russa? At least one of us says yes Joe is the only one of us to suggest a player-manager, and it’s a winner Brett explains his choice of a reunion for and redemption of Ricky Renteria Hamster selects the elefante in the room, Ozzie Guillén Brett laughs himself to tears, left so verklempt the tape runs out on him at the end fo the podcast There is more Soxivus to come, so tune in next week Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a sweep, punctuated by a resounding 13-0 smackdown that applied first aid to Chicago’s woeful run differential if nothing else, this SSS mothership podcast crew of Brett Ballantini, Chrystal O’Keefe, Adrian Serrano, Joe Resis, Dante Jones and Zach Hayes peered into the future to find out whether this was a sign of good fortune ahead: Round-table time: Are the White Sox real, or is a sweep in Motown a mirage? Can the Power of Positive Thinking push this team to greatness? Listen closely for Brett’s dis of Lance Lynn; as Adrian mentions, he does have the same number of White Sox playoff wins as Dallas Keuchel It should help that the schedule is about to get a LOT easier. However, that ease of schedule isn’t quite here yet, there are still rough games to weather The White Sox now project (per run diff) to a 71-91 season, the best projection in weeks! What is going on with White Sox injury management (no, not the volume of injuries, but making sure there are 26 healthy players available each game)? Let’s play the Ozzie Game: Is exit velo somehow a bad or empty achievement? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SB Nation welcomes you to it’s coverage of the 2021 MLB All-Star Week, powered by T-Mobile! On today’s episode, Sam Wilson, John Stolnis, and Brady Klopfer break down the rosters, set the state of the league, discuss trade rumors PLUS Talking Chop's Demetrius Bell joins the show to talk about the move from Georgia to Colorado! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox barely avoided a sweep from the Royals in time to head over to Detroit to face the third-place Tigers. Brandon Day of Bless You Boys joins the show to chat about all things Tigers and helps preview what will likely be an uneventful series.  The pitching matchups are slightly up in the air, as Michael Kopech and Matt Manning have question marks looming over their heads. The Tigers also play poorly at home. As I’ve said before, this might be a mid-off, and certainly doesn’t matter now that both teams aren’t postseason-bound. But hey, it was a fun chat! What kept the Tigers out of contention?  We all love Austin Meadows Brandon’s biggest takeaway from the season Who is the MVP for the season? On the other end, who is the White Sox leader? What happened to Andrew Vaughn? Or Yasmani Grandal? More questions from Brandon All the AJ Hinch discourse your ears can handle That one time the White Sox had Hinch’s signature on a picture of Tony La Russa Off-season targets The post-Miggy era A mid-life crisis break Why do bad things happen to good players? How much money has Chrystal donated this year to domestic violence organizations? Pitching matchups and a series preview Fears, threats, and the keys to winning the series Around the league  Find Brandon on Twitter and over at our sister site, Bless You Boys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darren Black's recent writings on the Astros scandal took several players to task, as well as drilled deep into the paralyzing effects that Houston's cheating had on opponents. Black also is a lead analyst on both the White Sox majors and minors, so we delved deep into the early risers and fallers in February's White Sox Cactus League play. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After an extended hiatus — Brett Ballantini was unavoidably detained from minors talk — he and Darren Black hook up for a truly terrific Farm edition, featuring some stellar analysis from the latter and more awkward jokes from the former: Darren dismantles Brett’s theory that Davis Martin in the bigs is simply another product of Tony La Russa’s stubbornness Given Martin’s stellar debut, what are his prospects going forward, overall and on the Stiever-o-Meter? Seriously, are the Johnny Cueto and Martin debuts a true achievement given the mid-AAA offense that Kansas City brings to the diamond? Is it time to panic over José Rodríguez, or is his hitting the wall something he can bounce right back off of? Darren explains why Oscar Colás isn’t yet in Birmingham, and it has nothing to do with his play on the field Analyzing where Colás stands vis-a-vis 2023 on the South Side vs. Yoelqui Céspedes, who a month or two ago was the no-brainer pick for the Opening Day outfield Has any of the young arms trio in A-ball (Matthew Thompson, Drew Dalquist, Jared Kelley) distinguished themselves — and is it time to severely adjust expectations on any? For the first time this season, ink in back-to-back weeks On the Farm; see ya early next week for No. 28, folks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second part of the Crosstown Classic has arrived, this time on the South Side. Both teams are having terrible years, and the White Sox are way worse, but still. While I'm sure fans of both teams will flock to the park for the rivalry, it doesn't seem like people are as excited as usual. I talked to Sara Sanchez about both teams, and how we're feeling about the series and the rest of the season. Here is what we discussed: What's new with the Cubs The Cubs probably won't make it to the postseason The National League is silly Trade deadline thoughts The final player from the 2016 team, Kyle Hendricks won't be a Cub next year Pitching breakdowns Keys to winning, threats, and fears You can find Sara on Twitter and our sister site Bleed Cubbie Blue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan again joins his son, Will, as a west coast correspondent, and they take a look at the latest tough two-week segment of the White Sox schedule. Well, OK, the only tough two-week segment of the White Sox schedule. The two have spoken often as to how this stretch would show just how good (or not) the Sox are, and guess what! It showed pretty much nothing, at least on a team level. That’s in part because a 7-7 split doesn’t demonstrate much, but also because all four of the series in question had oddities. The White Sox were missing Yasmani Grandal the whole time, Carlos Rodón much of the time and Tim Anderson for a few games; the Yankees were missing pretty much their entire team; the Sox nearly killed the A’s best pitcher in the second inning of the second game, leading to a devastated opponent; the Rays handed the White Sox one game with uncharacteristically horrible defense and then first Dallas Keuchel and then the entire Sox staff decided to return the kindness doubly; and the Toronto series was more boom-and-bust than a gold rush. Which brings us to That Other Team in Town. Will it be a sweep for the White Sox? Will it merely be two out of three? Will the Sox fulfill Will’s prediction of one game with a five-dinger barrage? Of course, there’s still time to talk about the wonderfulness of the starting pitchers (mostly), the horribleness of the relievers (mostly), and to celebrate not only the return of Yasmani Grandal, but the fact it means we won’t have to watch Zack Collins try to play baseball any more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Heh, yeah, so what if it’s been two months since our last episode? (The plans are for another one out within the week!) Dugout Metrics, which features South Side Sox college ballplayers/metrics mavens Trevor Lines and Luke Smailes breaking down the news of the day, is back, and as the SSS Top 100 Prospects list enters its final 50, we’re talking prospects, baby! We set this up as a sort of “draft” of prospects, highlighting some of the differences in ranking between Trevor’s and Luke’s lists. Brett was there to insert jokes and offer his far less valuable opinions on prospect rankings. The eternal question: Is youth and upside more important than professional achievement? Werefore art thou, Hunter Schryver? What role should injury (e.g. Jake Burger) play in how a prospect is ranked? Good luck charm challenge: Will Luke’s labor supplying bats to DJ Gladney this offseason outpace Trevor’s major league debut-inducing interview of Zack Burdi last year? Is James Beard just sporting a great-looking NFL halfback look, or can he increase his contact to fulfill his fourth round choice promise? Will Trevor have lived in all 50 states by Episode 50? Luke and his two-win Kohawks throw down the gauntlet and challenge the one-win White Sox to start getting their spring training asses in gear Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just below the Phillies sit two teams, vying for second place in the league. The Yankees and Orioles are often tied, but other times it feels like two siblings fighting to be the favorite child. While the Orioles have young talent and will be good for a while, there are two things they don't have: Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. I had the pleasure of chatting with Emily Nyman again this season about her Yankees. For two teams who happen to be polar opposites, we had a wonderful time. Here is what we talked about: What's going on in the Bronx? A sibling rivalry with the O's Visiting Yankee Stadium in 2023 Trade deadline thoughts Carlos Rodón's year and Gerrit Cole's late start Speaking of pitchers, Garrett Crochet and his controversial requests Pitching previews Threats, keys to win, and fears heading into the series Oh yeah, Pedro Grifol is outta here A whole lot of Aaron Judge and his tiny family Follow the delightful Emily Nyman on Twitter and listen to her over at Breaking Balls Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sure, we’re running a victory lap over Darren getting GM Rick Hahn to dump Dallas Keuchel, why shouldn’t we? OK, there were other things to talk about, as well: How big a drag is it to have covered this lousy system for five seasons now? Darren offers hope, though: diamonds in the rough Yolbert Sánchez is still not in the majors; is Darren getting impatient? Lenyn Sosa is still not in Triple-A; is Darren getting impatient? Terrell Tatum’s odd profile, in a small sample size The majesty and mastery of Kohl Simas’ first two pro seasons Is Simas already considered a legit prospect, or does he need to succeed in High-A first? Eagerly awaiting (?) the start (?) of the Arizona Complex League Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The South Side on the Farm podcast focuses on the highest ceilings in the system, with our update maven weighing in on at least two players per affiliate who we should be keeping tabs on as future White Sox. So, let’s raise the ceiling: It is, in fact, the last hippie podcast for Brett, who is due to lose some locks on Tuesday José Rodríguez epitomizes this exercise, so there’s a lot of talk about our current player of the year in the system, with bonus speculation on what his eventual position will be in the majors All the prime beef in in Kannapolis, but Darren surprises a bit with his second pick Winston-Salem is a challenge, as evidenced by Darren’s first pick: Caleb Freeman Luke Shilling lives the dream — making the SSS on the Farm podcast When will Micker Adolfo reach Triple-A — or is he being showcased and unable to move from a roster where he is MASHING? As for Charlotte, Darren sticks with Gavin Sheets, and his second pick is a reliever — and a bit of a shocker Brett’s mispronunciation streak continues, as this podcast he isunable to pronounce the word “palpable” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A bit of a crushing loss in extras for the White Sox, after a Lucas Giolito-Shane Bieber classic. Brett Ballantini and North Side Sox Podcast co-host Sam Sherman debuted a postgame show that drilled down a bit into the White Sox loss, and took a short look around the league as well. Highlights: Yes, that Roberto Perez GWRBI in the 10th had an expected batting average of .040. Over/under on Yasmani Grandal’s catcher’s interference calls this season? Tonight’s in the 10th was a .110 WPA play in favor of Cleveland. The White Sox “offense” (three hits, no runs) broke the Win Probability Added box score The Cubs had six hits in a comeback win tonight ... call the authorities Oakland es en fuego Top commenter in tonight’s gamethread: AnoHito, with 27 comments at recording time obnoxious american with the top-rec’d comment tonight. Yes, I read it Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join the Killer Bs to welcome special guest Max Bay in Episode 9. While Max is part of Dodgers Nation, he has become embraced by some in the Chicago White Sox community and beyond for his baseball modeling and statistical analysis. He has contributed to FanGraphs and recently developed the Stuff+ model with Eno Sarris. Tune into this episode, as Max and the Bs discuss a few of the latest hot topics for the Chicago White Sox, and baseball at large: Yasmani Grandal is playing poker: Max talks about Grandal’s frustrating time as a Dodger and the enigma of Yasmani Grandal’s splits. Yaz is getting fewer pitches in the zone, but it does not contribute to a massive walk rate that is probably not sustainable. Max contemplates that Grandal might be approaching at-bats with a no-swing mentality that’s tricking pitchers. Listen in for the entire conversation. Dodgers fans are just like us: Max shares the recent ups and downs with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, including season starts with high expectations and love-hate relationships with managers. MLB’s recent obsession with sticky stuff and juiced balls: Two months into the 2021 season, MLB has decided to focus on sticky substance usage. Max chats with the Bs about why this is an oversimplification of the issue, and why the timing is less than ideal. Additionally, this topic harks of the steroid witch hunt detailed in the Mitchell Report. Will this sticky substance conversation complicate players’ legacies? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We joined forces with Elizabeth Gonzales at exactly the right time, after her road trip to Cleveland and now, onto Seattle and Oakland. Lucky us, she’s reporting on the White Sox action on-site, and will be writing up a de facto ballpark review/guide for both. It’s been just a few days since she checked in from Seattle, so now it’s time to talk about the smoking-hot team she’s watched take five of six on the road trip so far. It’s not a cut-and-paste, but once again Lance Lynn and Elvis Andrus were the stars of Saturday’s win What has gotten into these hitters?!? And is Elizabeth the lucky charm? We’ve all witnessed what’s gotten into this team on the road trip, but Elizabeth shares what she’s seen on the field pregame, in batting practice, in the dugout that seem hallmarks of the Sox resurgence Can the White Sox survive the return of Tony La Russa? Impressions of the Oakland ballpark experience: Hardcore baseball, no frills, but more fun than you’d imagine Meeting the Vaughns and Oakland P.A. announcer Amelia Schimmel, high-fiving La Pantera, and helping a family in need, the Irvins Is this the end of the ballpark tour for 2022? (Are you kidding?) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darren Black and Brett Ballantini are back with the Farm podcast, talking over the September call-ups, catching depth, and the utter lack of starting pitchers in the system. Sound fun? Have a listen: Another take on the incredible Romy González, stressing the significant jump he took and the challenge of his defensive positioning That said, if Tim Anderson doesn’t get hurt, does Romy get the call-up? Darren says that the loss of Luis González wasn’t so bad, even if the White Sox ended up DFAing Jake Lamb a month later Has Seby moved ahead of Zack Collins on the permanent catching depth chart? Darren has a specific tell that indicates the answer on the White Sox end is yes Taylor Varnell retired, and we bid farewell, and note that there isn’t really a starter of significance as you move down the entire system ... until Norge Vera in the DSL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We joined forces with Elizabeth Gonzales at exactly the right time, in-between road trips to Cleveland and now, onto Seattle and Oakland. Lucky us, she’s reporting on the White Sox action on-site, and will be writing up a de facto ballpark review/guide for both. Bonus! Postgame reaction to a Lance Lynn masterpiece, and Elvis Andrus contributing all over the field Getting the first game on this road trip makes it seem like the White Sox are already playing with house money White Sox fan presence showed up in Seattle, and perhaps put jaded M’s fans on their heels! Have fortunes for the White Sox changed from dour to delicious in less than a week? Initial impressions of T-Mobile from Elizabeth: massive, and impressive The key element of a great fan experience? It might not be what you think, and Seattle impressed immediately Does a pop quiz catch Elizabeth on her heels? Coming up: Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We run a full five-pack of SSS writers at you, talking White Sox Opening Day! Aside from crafty Sun-Times and Vanilla Coke product placements from Chrystal, here’s what went down, as the minutes tick toward opening pitch: Is the Central Division’s improvement going to pose a problem for the White Sox? Tommy wins the best Opening Day gear battle, with a rocking ~1917 throwback The left field dilemma — or will Andrew Vaughn forever destroy the arbitration cases of left fielders by playing passable, even good, left-field defense? Yes, Eloy in left is addressed Chrystal wins the well-cropped studio background battle — and reveals her key to putting BillyOK to shame when it comes to her devotion to the South Siders Bask in the awesomeness of the White Sox bullpen Tim Anderson’s mouth — unsung MVP of the White Sox “Outfit man” Joe Resis explains his support for Luis Robert for Sox MVP, possibly even without threats from his Las Vegas sources Are we out of danger when it comes to playing a full, healthy season as a pandemic still rages more than whimpers? Which of our Eastern Time Zoners will make it until game’s end for our postgame podcast? (Answer: ALL OF THEM!) Yes, there will be a postgame podcast And, of course, predictions for tonight’s game! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, wonder where all those starting pitchers have disappeared to instead of being in games so far this spring, whilst also wondering about the rant of Lance Lynn, one of the starters who did pitch this week and barely managed at one stretch to keep a bunch of his pitches in easy driving distance of the plate. From pitching, we wander into the hitters who are and the hitters who aren’t so far, which naturally leads to the still-missing Yasmani Grandal and the plethora of backup catcher candidates, which in turns leads to the philosophy of catching on one knee and why it’s scary to think of Zack Collins trying that with men on base. Which, just for snicks, brings us to two questions about Nicks. First, just how are you really supposed to pronounce Nick Madrigal’s last name? No announcers seem to be able to agree, which leaves the rest of us at a loss as to whether the accent is on the first or last syllable, or maybe not there at all. Second, could Nick Williams be the best choice for 26th man? Williams has only had five at-bats so far, but hitting .600 with a double sure would seem like a reason to give him more spring shots against actual major league pitchers to see if he might be the pleasant surprise of the spring and the left-handed bench bat the Sox need. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, a weird first “official” week of the offseason yielded some trippy topics, and Adrian Serrano, Zach Hayes, Leigh Allan and Chrystal O’Keefe showed up to chat with Brett Ballantini about some of the most notable: In the words of Zach channeling DJ Khaled, to the White Sox: “Congratulations, you played yourself.” While of course Scott Boras now says Carlos Rodón would have rejected the QO if made, is it less realistic to think that in a world where Andrew Heaney gets almost $10 million that Rodón doesn’t, as GM Rick Hahn is apparently gambling? And as for the “White Sox have a secret injury dossier” fans, well, beyond the 100 mph Rodón threw while on life support in the ALDS, Brett points out that Bob Nightengale would have sent out four tweets from a dying Rodón’s bedside validating Los’ injury if so, given the egg on the South Siders’ faces for this one As Zach also points out, Craig Kimbrel is probably worth $16 million — Jerry Reinsdorf just doesn’t want to have to pay him $16 million and still spend to correct roster weaknesses. Seeya, CK. On to Zack Collins. Anything else to say here? He is what he is, and that ain’t a major league catcher Adrian is not buying the whole “rotation is full,” line parroted by so much media (and perhaps Hahn himself), which Michael Kopech champion Chrystal O’Keefe still wonders how he alone will make up a need for like 400 innings in the current rotation Leigh breaks the news that few outside FA experts see the White Sox as a major player — like, any major players, this winter It’s not all deep sighs and wry cackles, though, as Brett previews coming attractions such as Deep Dive, SSS poetry, an exclusive interview with Hahn, and a batch of Meet the Players podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dream is back on the podcast to preview the upcoming series with the Orioles, who sit just behind the first-place Yankees. The Orioles have plenty of young talent and a tough pitching rotation, the White Sox will need to bring their A-game to come away with even a single win in the series, especially while dealing with Corbin Burnes and the great defensive shortstop, Gunnar Henderson. Here’s what we talked about in this episode: What’s new in Baltimore Grading the offseason Jackson Holliday How to beat the Yankees Confidence going into 2024 The O’s have a new owner Pitching matchups Threats, fears, and keys to winning the series The AL Central Tommy Pham Royal rejects and terrible ownership If you don’t trust someone to pick you up from the airport, they shouldn’t be president (or running day-to-day baseball operations You can follow Dream on Twitter and find great betting content at FTN Betting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MLB great John Kruk joins Sam Wilson, John Stolnis, Brady Klopfer and a host of community guests from around SB Nation to watch the 2021 MLB Home Run Derby! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

South Side Sox duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, manage to take a moment off from this week’s White Sox weirdness to agree wholeheartedly with an article in The Athletic bemoaning the fact official scorers are terrified of ruling errors any more, to the point any routine booting of a grounder or drop of a fly is deemed a hit, and only throws into at least row Q will be scored with a big E.  That example of players not being held responsible for their actions then just naturally led to the White Sox Week That Was, full of a bizarre boxarama (spoiler alert: We politely suggest some mental health help for a certain member of the Sox who has appeared very troubled this year) followed by accusations of a deceased culture in the Sox clubhouse, reinforcement of that accusation, denial of that accusation, and then a whole bunch more accusations of lax effort or attitude on the part of certain players. Whew! And if that wasn’t enough, there was Rick Hahn, holder of law and business degrees giving the business in a way no lawyer would ever advise to all the players who were traded at the deadline by saying they got rid of the problem people.  Who did he mean? The pitiful Chicago media forgot to ask, so all six of those traded except Keynan Middleton, who got a separate blast from the pitiful GM, are open for speculation. None seem likely culprits, but maybe there was a six-player conspiracy. Got a favorite? Feel free to take a guess in the comments.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If a tree falls in a forest of deals at the Winter Meetings, but no one from the White Sox was there to hear it, did it really make a sound? To wrap up the year, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, delve into the biggest White Sox free agent contract ever, as the team strives mightily once again to attract all the COVID it can, by following up the Mike Clevinger signing with that of Andrew Benintendi. The duo agree that, if nothing else, the newest member of the team will provide fans with their biggest bang for the buck in jersey lettering thanks to his 10-letter last name, which may well be the longest on the Sox until Colson Montgomery makes the bigs. As for baseball, they agree it’s a nice signing, if a tad expensive, but just a small step on the way to putting the more than 50 million bucks saved via players no longer on the payroll to useful work. What more is needed, you ask? How about a cheap, good defensive outfielder to fill in until Oscar Colás is ready for the majors later in the season, one who could play center during the inevitable Luis Robert injury stints, one available on a one-year contract and familiar with the GuRF? (Hint: One with the initials AE fits that description, although the apparently-preferred BH could also do the trick.) As for the rather huge gap at second base, they recommend a trade with San Diego, sending Liam Hendriks west because you don’t need a closer if you’re never ahead late, throwing in another player or two, and getting one of the Padres’ many extra middle infielders. Will likes some guy named Tatís, but Leigh suggests Jake Cronenworth, even though his 11-letter monicker would knock Benintendi back to second in last name length. Most of all. in the spirit of the season, they never mention Rick Hahn, Ken Williams, or Jerry Reinsdorf, so there is absolutely no swearing at all. Otherwise, Happy Holidays to all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This was a rough game to revisit, but a promise is a promise, and Zach Hayes, Adrian Serrano and Brett Ballantini got together postgame fulfill our playoff mission: a postgame podcast after every game. So, here’s how this one broke down: It was shaping up as a classic game ... until about two-thirds the way through At what point will we see Hall of Fame Baseball Person, Tony La Russa? Pick your favorite mishap of Game 2 Has La Russa given the Astros a huge gift with his bullpen management in Houston? Did Michael Kopech make the postseason roster? Picks for Game 3 starter among Dylan Cease, Carlos Rodón and Kopech Hey, Zach is heading to the Game 3 Blackout, Adrian Game 4 if played, so we take a quick measurement of how awesome that experience is going to be Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, breathe a sigh of relief that their joint prediction that the White Sox would go 3-3 vs. Houston and Toronto came true, and give a special thanks to Tuesday night plate umpire Dave Eddings’ incredibly badly-called game for making that possible — what with the stats showing he handed the Sox more than two runs in a one-run game. No thanks, however, go to the HOFBP and the organization’s coaches at all levels, who apparently teach no baseball fundamentals whatsoever, leading to the constant onslaught of not just botched plays and generally horrible defense, but collisions such as the one Wednesday that resulted in Danny Mendick being helped off the field with a torn ACL. Sure, other teams have the rare collision, but most ballplayers are taught about calling for a ball back around the age of eight, so why the White Sox can’t learn the trick is a mystery. Well, it would be a mystery if we didn’t know who the manager is. On a related front, father and son are also at a loss to understand why the White Sox, alone among not just major league teams but hundreds of thousands of pro and amateur baseball and softball players at all skill and age levels, can’t run, or even jog, to first base without pulling up lame. Something is rotten in Denmark, or would be if Denmark was at 35th and Shields. As for pitching, the mystery is, of course, Lucas Giolito. Well, Lucas and why the rest of the starters, even when having a very good game, can’t seem to get through an inning in fewer than 20 pitches. The White Sox were the least efficient staff in baseball last year, and this season seems no different. Ah, well — the Orioles next. So thanks are to be given for that. We hope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well now, this is more like it. An impossibly happy podcast, on the heels of a White Sox doubleheader sweep in the Bronx, brings the best out of Chrystal O’Keefe, Jacki Krestel, Joe Resis, Sam Sherman, Zach Hayes and Brett Ballantini. Or does it? Round table vibe check? Solid The outright heroism of Tim Anderson and Michael Kopech But really, dig how good the entire pitching staff has been, more or less. Wow! Some real talk on any progress being made to avoid, or at least properly punish, behavior like we witnessed in- and postgame on Saturday from Josh Donaldson Did Tony La Russa finally make it obvious there’s a bond between him and his team (oh, and watch the Freudian slip from a certain host who will remain nameless) Is this doubleheader/road trip what the White Sox need to kick-start a run, belated or no, at the top of the AL Central The ongoing travails of Lowered Expectations What number podcast is this, anyway Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the great American philosopher Pogo once put it: Spring has sprung, the grass has riz, I wonder where the flowers is. Pogo was referring not to the one-time White Sox catcher who remains unwanted by any team this spring, but by the giddiness about all things blooming, a giddiness present in any all statements by White Sox players, coaches, managers, front officers and, no doubt, batboys and clubhouse crew. Not to be outdone, pretty much everyone covering the Sox has gone ultra-giddy, no doubt from the joy of warm Arizona weather. In Sharing Sox this week, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and son and west coast correspondent, Will, do their bit and wax effusive over all kinds of things, then delve into the great philosophical question of whether spring training performances mean anything. Oddly enough, they even have an answer to that. Plus. of course, an evaluation of Yoán Moncada’s hit single fo the musical variety. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alert the reply guys! Estrogen Power Hour, an all-White Sox, estrogen-based podcast focused on the intersection of inclusivity in baseball and sports at large, is back. Listen in to episode 2.75 “We’re Just Here So We Don’t Get Fined” as Janice, Keelin, Colleen, and Chrystal discuss topics such as: If You’re Reading This, You Probably Have Estrogen Some folks felt the use of “estrogen” in the podcast title was not inclusive. So, unfortunately, this episode has a brief science lesson at the beginning, for the slackers that hang out in the comments. Janice Does Pittsburgh Janice went to the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Chicago White Sox series in Pittsburgh; ate a delicious, pierogi-topped sandwich; made new friends; and will be on some Pirates archival footage somewhere. Sports Expertise Barriers for Women and How You Can Help The burden of proof is higher for women (and especially women of color) when it comes to fandom and sports knowledge, and sometimes these conversations turn nasty, especially on social media. Learn how you can be an ally and support the women in your life. Janice gives a shout out to UK baseball fans, including Bat Flips and Nerds. Baseball’s Problematic Full Monty Moment As the MLB vs. Sticky Stuff saga continues, pants have come down, but at what cost? Early on, the sticky ban has been chaotic and promises to leave the MLB with an even messier legacy. However, bets are placed on who will moon the umps first or add some drama to the substance-check process. Pride Month Continues The White Sox “put their money where their mouth is,” as Liam and Kristi Hendriks are hosting a benefit for the Center on Halsted, an organization mentioned in Episode 2 of Estrogen Power Hour. Additionally, the crew discusses Carl Nassib’s coming out, how other MLB teams do Pride, and expanding the idea of Pride to everyone. Hey Guaranteed Rate Field! We Need Our Bags Back! Guaranteed Rate Field issued a policy to minimize bag size during the pandemic. However, as the stadium returns to full capacity, the 9´´x 5´´ bag size remains the same. The crew talks medicine, menstrual products, and other items that, uh, people kind of need to have with them and do not need to broadcast. It is time to update the bag policy. AND MORE! Do you like snakes? Exploding Snakes? Snakes heads on stakes? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A four-game losing streak? Podcast! Chrystal O’Keefe, Joe Resis, Tommy Barbee, Darren Black and Brett Ballantini gathered post-sweep to discuss the panic level (very low) and prospects for bringing in help to bolster the club (also, very low). Aside from Brett forgetting Chrystal’s name, here are some chat highlights: Another stirring Joe Resis introduction! We figured out that “the money will be spent” truly does translate into “the money has been spent (on rehabbing players we already have)” Chrystal/Cheryl gets an Edible Arrangement from Rick Hahn? True confessions of personalized jerseys: Do I hear a Dayan Viciedo from Darren? Innovative trade idea: Adam Eaton for a ham sandwich Speed round: Will the White Sox acquire more substantial infield help, or outfield help? (none of the above was not an option) Ruminations on the cornpone tones of Gordon Beckham Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sure, Brett Ballantini can’t seem to remember what year it is, but still and all, the South Side Sox mothership podcast is back for another year, after a month or so away. And it’s a Meet the Players podcast, starring our five-tool player, Adrian Serrano! Get to know him a bit through his Meet the Players article up on site today, and listen to our podcast together: Re-live the 2005 run, and the majesty of the Scott Podsednik walk-off One of these things is not like the other: Robin Ventura, Eloy Jiménez, Juan Uribe, Ron Karkovice A surprising pick for next White Sox statue (hint: It will be a loud statue) What folks don’t get about The Natural, the best baseball movie choice by both on this podcast Trying to put a positive spin on the pre-lockout White Sox offseason Will the labor dispute take game away from the season? Oh, and hey, back to a non-baseball note: Check out Adrian’s band, The Burst and Bloom. They’re really good. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chrystal O’Keefe sits down with Michael Waterloo of The Athletic and Fantasy Pros to discuss the upcoming series in Toronto. The Blue Jays are sitting in third place in a tough division — but were the first team to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays. How will the White Sox fare against the team up north? Give a listen below, and find out. A rundown on the Blue Jays Where will the Blue Jays sit throughout the season Poutine hot dogs and ballpark updates Series preview The biggest threat, and the keys to winning the series Around the league How the season might just go Find Michael on Twitter and follow along on The Athletic and FantasyPros. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may be familiar with new SSS writer Jeremy Karll via Meet the Players, or possibly through his considerable writing on site already. But as an early favorite for Best Newcomer in 2021, it was past time to sit down and have a podcast chat together. However, no cameos from Sadie, Jeremy’s dog ... yet. Highlights of our talk together: Jeremy’s route to the White Sox — and South Side Sox The talk Mr. Karll had to have when young Jeremy came home from school one day deciding he needed to change allegiance from White Sox to Cubs Confirmation that, yes, South Dakota does actually exist A Bummer of a disappointment for Jeremy in the early going Acknowledgement that Adam Eaton has been a net positive so far Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the final stretch of the season, and SSS duty geezer and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, lean into lyrics from The Fantastiks to ponder the month ahead for the White Sox and how best to set up for the playoffs (spoiler: It involves staying healthy). With the Sox just a half-game behind the Astros for the second seed and home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs (yes, we are assuming the playoffs — short of all the players with Cuban connections deciding to fly off to Havana for the month, that’s going to happen), the talk goes to the nice fact that the Astros have a much tougher schedule going forward, including a trip to San Diego this weekend. Pitching draws a lot of the conversation, from the strange but nice resurgence of Reynaldo López to resting starters to getting the bullpen in shape. Also, the two express wonderment that the Pirates were kind enough to throw high fastballs to Gavin Sheets Tuesday night, which may help show why, even beyond payroll, Pittsburgh is perpetually mired in last place in the NL Central. And, also on the wonderment front, they talk about the strong play of Leury García lately, and the bizarre disdain José Abreu and Yoán Moncada get from large segments of the Twitterverse. With all that, they somehow failed to mention Yasmani Grandal at all. And they decided to cancel the October series against the Tigers and end the season in September. Which would be a good idea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was shaping up to be a bloodbath, but just two Field of Dreams naysayers has the guts to show up for this podcast and attempt to convince Brett Ballantini that the film is trash. Colleen Sullivan and Jacki Krestel wax acidic on the film; in the end, no one shifted their stances. Here's a corny taste of this episode: Zoe Krestel the Wonder Dog makes an appearance, and Brett is convinced the canine is on Team FoD with him What is the excitement level over this very odd, midseason game? Is there concern over how Carlos Rodón is able to finish out 2021, given his heavy workload/Cy Young-caliber start? In a world where every other movie release is a superhero yarn, why is it so hard to suspend disbelief for a sports fantasy movie? The It's a Wonderful Life comp Colleen's synopsis of the movie is brutal, but not entirely inaccurate Colleen and Jacki both seem fixated on Moonlight Graham attending to the choking child vs. calling the paramedics — as if an ambulance is on-call to fish hot dog bits out of someone's throat in rural Iowa We agree that the end of the film, including "have a catch" (cringe) and car traffic, is pretty cool overall Seriously, why was Ray Liotta so important to this film that he not only is shoehorned in as Joe Jackson (!) but allowed to bat right-handed? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices