I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I think that watching the 2022 White Sox for six months has made me unusually excited for the postseason.
Usually I take the week after the regular season to gear down into a casual following of the divisional series, and then I resume watching it live when the ALCS and NLCS open. But after following such a thoroughly mediocre enterprise for the last six months, I'm looking forward to watching a field of all good-to-great teams.
Now that the White Sox are back on the outside after brief postseason appearances the last two years, here's a quick summary of the former White Sox occupying October rosters and coaching staffs.
St. Louis Cardinals
Jose Quintana is starting Game 1, and any success should doubly delight White Sox fans since it'd irritate Cubs fans. Quintana had a terrific bounce-back season and reached 10 years of service time, so a respectable showing in October would be fine cap on a helluva year.
Philadelphia Phillies
If you don't count Zack Wheeler and Bryce Harper despite their shoulda-been-White-Sox statuses, then David Robertson is the only guy on their roster. He's not the easiest to root for this time of year, what with his history of postseason-share stinginess.
Speaking of postseason shares, former White Sox Jacob Turner posted a thread on Twitter detailing how that money gets divvied up.
New York Mets
There's a healthy contingent of former Sox. James McCann is the only one who joined the Mets directly from Chicago, and no matter how poorly Yasmani Grandal plays, the four-year contract McCann received continues to look like the worse idea. Chris Bassitt had Oakland in between, but he's set highs in wins (15), inninngs (181.2) and strikeouts (167) in a fine first season in Queens. Eduardo Escobar has been everywhere, and he's bringing his usual brand of versatile, low-OBP pop. Joey Cora is their third-base coach in his most favorable coaching assignment since the 2005 days.
San Diego Padres
They're the National League's version of the White Sox, except not nearly as insular, way more transactional and thus far more fascinating to follow, but aside from a general interest in Manny Machado's crunch-time abilities, there's nothing Sox-specific here.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The White Sox traded Yency Almonte for Tommy Kahnle, and they're now both in the Dodgers bullpen, alongside a Craig Kimbrel who lost his closer designation. Trayce Thompson made it back to an MLB roster by providing high-strikeout bench thump.
Atlanta Braves
Nothing doing.
Cleveland Guardians
There's Terry Francona and Sandy Alomar Jr. on the coaching staff. Player-wise, none, unless they really find themselves reaching for Konnor Pilkington's left-handed help at any point.
Toronto Blue Jays
None, because Zack Collins couldn't cut it.
Tampa Bay Rays
None. The Rays go with youth, upside, and defined strengths. Given that a lot of White Sox starters lack those attributes, their cast-offs are even less likely Rays.
Seattle Mariners
None.
New York Yankees
Frankie Montas' shoulder injury has removed him from the Yankees' rotation plans, but he still figures to be part of their bullpen.
Houston Astros
Erick Threets is the Astros' Florida Complex PItching Coach, which is fun, but hitting coach Alex Cintron is the only one you'll see in the dugout.
First Pitch
Here's today's schedule for October action:
Guardians vs. Rays: Shane Bieber vs. Shane McClanahan, in progress on ESPN
Cardinals vs. Phillies: José Quintana vs. Zack Wheeler, 1:07 p.m. CT on ABC
Mariners vs. Blue Jays: Luis Castillo vs. Alek Manoah, 3:07 p.m. CT on ESPN
Mets vs. Padres: Max Scherzer vs. Yu Darvish, 7:07 p.m. CT on ESPN
