The Reign of Terror Is Over

The Chicago White Sox' reign as world champions officially ended last night with a thud, as they lost 14-1 to Cleveland while Minnesota clinched a playoff spot in front of a crowd of just over 14,000 - which means you won't see anything like that picture to the right this season. Unless Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau come out of the closet between now and the World Series. (I kid, I kid.)

The Sox' reign, at least in my opinion, was marked by flukish years. I did a study last year and found that at least 10 White Sox players played better in 2005 than they had in any other season of their lives (Dye, Garland, Garcia, Uribe, Pierzynski, Podsednik and anyone - I do mean anyone - in the White Sox bullpen were among the "flukes"). Then, as if to prove me and anyone who agreed with me wrong, many of those players, Pierzynski and Dye especially, played even better in 2006. Unfortunately for them, the Tigers pulled a White Sox, leading the division from wire-to-wire behind a great pitching team that came out of nowhere, assuming they don't blow the lead late and get relegated to wildcard status, and Minnesota pulled an Indians, blowing up the league in the 2nd half to threaten for a divisional crown. That leaves the White Sox out in the cold.

And to think that the freakin' Phillies are going to get to play in October.

In the meantime, the Penn State @ Minnesota game which was to be played next month will probably be moved to Thanksgiving weekend to accomodate Twins' home games in the playoffs. Tough luck, Gophers. Maybe if you didn't suck, the Twins would move for you.