Chicago White Sox 2022 Season Obituary
The Chicago White Sox have tugged at the heartstrings of the Southside faithful for 153 games where they now find themselves with a record of 76 wins and 77 losses and ten games behind the AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians. This is a disappointment of a season for a young team that won the division by 13 games before being ousted in four games by the Houston Astros last season. Coming into the season there were massive expectations for this White Sox team to improve on their 93 wins from last year and win the division for a second straight year. The latter, a first in franchise history, would be the floor according to expectations that projected this team to make more noise in a crowded AL landscape. However, this White Sox team has found themselves mired in mediocrity throughout the season, sporting a .500 record a staggering 25 times so far this season.
A team with such high expectations coming into the season doesn’t just fall off the cliff by chance. We can point to the White Sox being bit by an injury bug only rivaled by the injury bug the New York Yankees experienced after the All-Star Game. Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech, Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez, and Luis Robert highlight the list of White Sox names who were expected to help the team take a step forward from last year but have missed a huge chunk of the season due to injury.
However, the main reason why the team has been a disappointment has been the negligent management from Tony La Russa. The most obvious sign of La Russa’s incompetence was shown when he took medical leave on August 30th and under acting manager Miguel Cairo the team became the team many Sox fans were fantasizing about when the season began. As of September 20th, the team had recorded 13 wins against 7 losses, digging themselves out of a sub .500 hole and winning at a pace (0.650) that would have secured a division win with 96 wins at this point in the season. Since then, the team has gone on to five games in a row and completely give up on the season as the now AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians troll the White Sox on social media.
The highlight of Cairo’s influence came on a September 9th game against the Oakland Athletics where the Sox were being no-hit through the seventh inning where they found themselves down three. La Russa’s Sox probably would’ve quit looking to the next game; however, these are Cairo’s Sox, and they don’t quit, until their team is eliminated from the playoff picture. The team responded by scoring five runs in the ninth inning winning the game 5-3 in an electrifying come-from-behind victory that seemed like a mirage a month before.
It didn’t take a genius to see that this La Russa hiring was a risky one considering the massive age gap between the 77-year-old Hall of Famer and his players whose average age is 29. We got our first glimpse of the damage La Russa can do to developing players through the Yermin Mercedes saga of 2021. Mercedes was one of the best stories on the Chicago White Sox hitting 7 home runs, recording 37 RBI in 68 games, earning the nickname of “Yerminator.” This was the first success Mercedes had seen in the majors, but that all changed during a rout of the Minnesota Twins when Mercedes blasted a home run in a 3-0 count during the ninth inning. In an effort to enforce the unwritten rules that have sucked the fun out of the game for years, La Russa was harsh in his criticism of Mercedes post-game. “Big mistake,” La Russa said, “the fact that he's a rookie, and excited, helps explain why he just was clueless. But now he's got a clue.”
White Sox fans then saw Mercedes fall off a cliff compared to his promising pace before the La Russa comment, ultimately leading him to be sent down to Triple-A and be claimed off waivers by the San Francisco Giants. This situation seems to be the most obvious symptom of a team with the wrong energy leading the locker room. You want to maintain a level of sportsmanship but there’s a balance to be had between sportsmanship and playing the game with fire and passion. I’ve always hated when managers publicly criticize their players for being good at their jobs in favor of upholding a culture of unwritten rules that have led to the game dying. Looking at teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers who celebrate during the game with hand signs when they get on base and dugout celebrations after home runs and comparing that to the Chicago White Sox who haven’t done much of that throughout La Russa’s tenure it’s clear as day that the best teams are the ones that have fun.
This issue is the one I’ve chosen to focus on amongst the many issues White Sox fans have endured throughout this disappointing 2022 season. We can also point to Andrew Vaughn leading the team in home runs with 17, four less than the 21 dingers smacked over the fence by 42-year-old, retiring, future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols. Fans can also point to a pitching staff that aside from Cy Young candidate Dylan Cease has been inconsistent. Additionally, fans can point out the lack of outfielders on the roster that has forced Andrew Vaughn, a natural first baseman to occupy right field for much of the year. White Sox fans expected this team to stack up wins, instead, the team has responded by stacking up losses, and unforced errors on the field and in the front office.
We expected this team to mature from last year with the passion and fire it takes to win in the show. Throughout the season it has become clear that until Miguel Cairo took over as manager, baseball has been a chore for the Chicago White Sox. Baseball teams take on the personalities of their manager and the night and day energy of the White Sox from La Russa to Cairo couldn’t be more apparent. The White Sox have the talent and now it appears they’ve found the right guy to lead them, all they must do is make a decision that everyone on the outside would call a no-brainer, officially fire Tony La Russa. As this season winds down and the White Sox playoff window becomes shut and sealed, it’s time for us to pay our respects for the White Sox 2022 season and look forward to 2023, a season that the team will finally realize their potential.
