What if Nobody Got To Play the White Sox?

Regardless of notching two wins over their final six video games, the White Sox are flirting with history, and never the nice type. 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 document of the 1962 Mets, however the gamers from that group who’re nonetheless with us are possible taking this time to get the champagne good and chilled. Arduous as it might be to consider, the purpose of this text is to not dunk on the White Sox. As an alternative, 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, and so they have distributed to these lucky franchises a internet whole of 63 victories in the identical approach that an aged man on a park bench distributes bread to the legion of ravenous pigeons jockeying for place at his ft: 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 nice fortune of taking part in the White Sox. Whom have the White Sox helped or damage essentially the most?

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

The apparent winners listed below are the Twins and Royals, who’ve each completely annihilated their division rival, including 11 internet wins to every of their information. The Mariners have added 5 wins of their very own, and 5 completely different groups have netted 4. These groups would all be damage in a giant approach if we have been to instantly erase their video games in opposition to the White Sox. Of the 5 groups with a dropping document in opposition to Chicago, two are fully 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 information above. It’s extra revealing to take a look at how the general standings can be completely different if the league had performed with out a punching bag this season.

Beginning with divisional races, we will see that the Nationwide League can be largely unaffected, other than 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. After 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. Nevertheless, 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 last recreation in opposition to the White Sox tonight.)

Naturally, the AL Central would see an enormous shift. Not buoyed by their 12-1 information in opposition to the White Sox, the Twins would fall to only 4 video games over .500, whereas the Royals would have a dropping document. Extra importantly, the Guardians, whose 5-5 document in opposition to the White Sox signifies that they’ve misplaced extra video games to the South Siders than any group in baseball, would see their divisional lead leap from 3.5 to 9 video games, the biggest in baseball by an enormous margin. The dominos would maintain 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 presently in playoff place. The Padres would leap 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 can be larger variations. The Guardians would personal the perfect document in baseball and a two-game lead over the Yankees for the perfect document within the AL. The Crimson 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 a number of their margin for error eradicated. The Royals would go from possession of the ultimate Wild Card spot to being the third group in line for it. The Rays, whose 2-4 document in opposition to the White Sox is the worst in baseball, would instantly be tied with the Mariners, 1.5 video games behind the Twins for the ultimate Wild Card spot. That would go away six completely different groups inside 2.5 video games of the video games both approach of the ultimate postseason berth, organising 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 dangerous 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 group 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 yr. The Twins and Royals have to 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, Crimson Sox, Guardians, Padres, and Giants nonetheless to come back. The saying goes you can solely play the group 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 would have to carry out some type of forensic investigation to determine how the Guardians, who’re presently tied with the Dodgers for the perfect document in baseball, managed to drop 5 video games to Chicago. Nonetheless, eradicating the Central’s favourite chew toy would make your entire American League playoff image much more enjoyable.