What if No one Acquired To Play the White Sox?

Regardless of notching two wins over their final six video games, the White Sox are flirting with historical past, and never the great sort. As of this morning, Chicago stands 63 video games beneath .500, 42.5 video games again within the AL Central, and on tempo to complete 39-123. Out of compassion, I’ll chorus from reciting the report of the 1962 Mets, however the gamers from that workforce who’re nonetheless with us are seemingly taking this time to get the champagne good and chilled. Onerous as it might be to consider, the aim of this text is to not dunk on the White Sox. As a substitute, as we enter the house stretch of the season, I’d like to think about how they’ve affected the playoff image.

The White Sox have performed 25 of the opposite 29 groups within the league, they usually have distributed to these lucky franchises a web whole of 63 victories in the identical means that an aged man on a park bench distributes bread to the legion of ravenous pigeons jockeying for place at his toes: indiscriminately. For a couple of weeks now, I’ve been questioning whether or not the panorama would look completely different if these 25 groups by no means had the great fortune of enjoying the White Sox. Whom have the White Sox helped or harm essentially the most?

Let’s begin by checking every workforce’s report in opposition to the White Sox. It seems that eight of these 25 groups have swept the South Siders and 10 extra have a successful report in opposition to them. Two groups have fought the Sox to a draw, 5 have a dropping report in opposition to them, and 4 have but to play them. Right here’s a person breakdown.

The plain winners listed below are the Twins and Royals, who’ve each completely annihilated their division rival, including 11 web wins to every of their data. The Mariners have added 5 wins of their very own, and 5 completely different groups have netted 4. These groups would all be harm in a giant means if we have been to out of the blue erase their video games in opposition to the White Sox. Of the 5 groups with a dropping report in opposition to Chicago, two are utterly out of competition, whereas three – the Braves, Cardinals, and Rays – are within the hunt for a Wild Card berth. However these are simply particular person data above. It’s extra revealing to have a look at how the general standings could be completely different if the league had performed with no punching bag this season.

Beginning with divisional races, we will see that the Nationwide League could be largely unaffected, apart from the West, the place the Dodgers would see their 4-game lead over the Padres and Diamondbacks drop to 2 and a couple of.5, respectively. Within the AL West, the Mariners would pay for his or her success in opposition to Chicago, going from 1.5 video games again of the Astros to three.5. Once I began writing this text yesterday, the Yankees trailed the Orioles for the lead within the AL East by half a recreation, and eradicating video games in opposition to the White Sox would have reversed that state of affairs. Nonetheless, Baltimore’s loss yesterday, together with New York’s win over — in fact — the White Sox, pushed the Yankees half a recreation forward anyway. (The Yankees play their remaining recreation in opposition to the White Sox tonight.)

Naturally, the AL Central would see an enormous shift. Not buoyed by their 12-1 data in opposition to the White Sox, the Twins would fall to only 4 video games over .500, whereas the Royals would have a dropping report. Extra importantly, the Guardians, whose 5-5 report in opposition to the White Sox implies that they’ve misplaced extra video games to the South Siders than any workforce in baseball, would see their divisional lead soar from 3.5 to 9 video games, the biggest in baseball by an enormous margin. The dominos would hold falling within the Wild Card races. Right here’s the NL.

Naturally, the NL would change lower than the AL. In truth, erasing all White Sox video games would truly solidify the place of the six groups at present in playoff place. The Padres would soar a half-game forward of the D-backs for the primary Wild Card spot. The Cardinals would keep the place they’re: 3.5 video games out of the final spot. Each the Mets and Giants, who haven’t but had the pleasure of dealing with the South Siders, would fall half a recreation additional away from that final Wild Card spot. In the meantime, the Cubs and Reds, who’ve each swept the White Sox, would fall from fringe contenders to full-on longshots.

Within the AL, there could be greater variations. The Guardians would personal the most effective report in baseball outright and a two-game lead over the Yankees for the most effective report within the AL. The Pink Sox would vault all the way in which into the second Wild Card spot, whereas the Twins would drop from the second spot to the third and see quite a lot of their margin for error eradicated. The Royals would go from possession of the ultimate Wild Card spot to being the third workforce in line for it. The Rays, whose 2-4 report in opposition to the White Sox is the worst in baseball, would out of the blue be tied with the Mariners, 1.5 video games behind the Twins for the ultimate Wild Card spot. That would depart six completely different groups inside 2.5 video games of the video games both means of the ultimate postseason berth, establishing a gloriously chaotic finish to the common season, with the playoff groups and matchups probably altering each day.

In any sport, the final rule is that good groups beat up on the unhealthy groups, then attempt to go a bit higher than .500 in opposition to the opposite good groups. However baseball has extra randomness baked in, and for a workforce just like the Rays, going 2-4 in opposition to the White Sox might be the distinction between making a playoff push and ready for subsequent 12 months. The Twins and Royals should be really chagrined to know that they gained’t face Chicago once more for the remainder of the season. With out these large margins, the AL Wild Card race turns into a delightfully sloppy mess, whereas the Mets, Padres, and Giants can’t wait to lastly get their crack on the South Siders.

The White Sox aren’t simply preventing to remain out of the historical past books. They’ve the prospect to play one of many extra unlikely spoilers the league has ever seen, with sequence in opposition to the Mets, Orioles, Pink Sox, Guardians, Padres, and Giants nonetheless to come back. The saying goes you can solely play the workforce in entrance of you. It’s not the fault of the Twins and Royals that they’ve made essentially the most of their encounters with the White Sox, and we’d must carry out some type of forensic investigation to determine how the Guardians, who’re at present tied with the Dodgers for the most effective report in baseball, managed to drop 5 video games to Chicago. Nonetheless, eradicating the Central’s favourite chew toy would make the complete American League playoff image much more enjoyable.