As soon as the clock struck 10 p.m., the baseball season came to an end for Chicago Cubs and White Sox fans Oct. 10.
The Sox suffered a 2-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians to fall three games to two in the American League Division Series. The Cubs had their season ended 10 days earlier with a 4-1 loss to San Diego in the NL wild-card round.
It was a memorable summer, from Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 40-40 season (40 home runs and 40 stolen bases) to Alex Bregman’s second half and Seiya Suzuki’s hitting and defense. The regular season went 89-73, and two playoff losses to the Padres followed.
For the Sox, they became the first team to follow consecutive 100-loss seasons by making the wild-card round. There was Munetaka Murkami’s home runs; team leaders Miguel Vargas, also Andrew Benintendi, and pitchers Grant Taylor and Sean Burke assisted in an 84-78 season.
One day in the postseason, a group of White Sox fans gathered at the Village in for a White Sox Fan club dinner, and left celebrating after a 6-3 win over Houston in the first postseason game.
A group of about 30 Chicago White Sox baseball fans, mostly Sun City residents, gathered on a Tuesday late-September evening at a Huntley restaurant to witness a game few thought was possible six months ago.
The club, including many Sun City residents, was formed in 2019 by Glenn Groebli of Sun City and meets monthly, but this gathering was for a special ocassion – a playoff season. The Sox secured the third American League wild-card spot.
“It’s been great,” fan Chip Campbell said of the season. “I didn’t have any expectations for this season.”
But the fans watching the TV at the Village Inn shared highlights of this unlikely MLB Wild-Card season, which led to the series opener Sept. 29 at Houston. They were thrilled with the Sox’s 5-0 lead early, then quieted with a comeback by the Astros. It was pins and needles time when the Sox tried to get the final out, which they did in a 6-3 decision.
“It’s been outstanding, unexpected and I’ve been extremely happy,” Ed Fabro, attending with his wife Nellie, who wore a No.79 jersey, said. “I’ve been a Sox fan all my life. I’ll go with Miguel Vargas as my favorite player.”
Fabro gave a sigh of relief when relief pitcher Grant Taylor got the final out.
“We had to sweat it out the final two innings, but there was clutch hitting and clutch relief pitching,” he said.
“I’ve been a Sox fan for many years,” Don Engersiser, 91-years-young, said.
“I like all the players,” Harlan Tiesman said.
“Wait ’till next year” is an almost annual battle cry (except 2005 for the Sox and 2016 for the Cubs’ latest World Series wins), but labor strife in the MLB may delay that start. But here’s hoping March 25’s opening day occurs as planned.
