16 years after the White Sox shocked the world with a World Series sweep against the Houston Astros, the Sox appear to have returned to their past form, taking the AL Central Champs title back to the South Side.

Despite being one of the MLB’s original Eight Charter teams, the White Sox are not the most accomplished team in the history of the league. In their 116 seasons, they have only taken trips to the playoffs 10 of those times. Although the White Sox were knocked out of the playoffs very early last year, making it to the playoffs this year marks the first time in franchise history that the team has qualified for the playoffs in two consecutive seasons. 

Not only do the Sox appear to be getting out of another several year long streak of being a bad team, but it may even be that they’re returning to the same skill set from their 2005 World Series Champions form. In 2005, the key to the White Sox’s success was led by the league-leading talent, skill and numbers in pitching. They were able to throw four consecutive complete games in the postseason, and more importantly, they ended the season with a 3.844 ERA (Earned Run Average) by their starters. In this season, the Sox ended with an ERA of 3.04, leading all of the American League. This will likely be the key to this year’s postseason run as well. The Sox will need to continue their dominance on the mound in order to make up for their underwhelming hitting performance behind the plate. 

A.J. Pierzynski, a former MLB catcher who played for the White Sox during their 2005 World Series run, shared his opinion on this discussion in an NBC article.

“I know it’s a bullpen-heavy game now, but the teams that win still have the best starting pitching… [Teams that pitch better] are the teams who usually win,” Pierzynski said in the article.

Despite some of the powerhouse hitters on the plate, including players like Tim Anderson, Eloy Jiminez and Jose Abreu, the White Sox are ranked 20th in the league in total home runs, with a slightly more impressive seventh in runs per game. This may pose a struggle in the postseason, where at-bats become much more competitive and unforgiving.

As much as these stats may appear to be a good indicator of how the Sox will perform, they mean absolutely nothing once the first pitch of the postseason is thrown. Although this may be the case, it is always a nice sight for Chicago baseball fans, many of whom may have been able to witness the Sox’s 2005 run, and hope to see something of that fashion again in their lifetime.