Despite 102 losses, the 2025 White Sox found out a way to leave people wanting more.
The White Sox capped off another noncompetitive season with a professional showing, sealing a road series victory with an 8-0 victory. Six of the White Sox's 10 hits went for extra bases, including three homers, which looked like overkill as Shane Smith and three White Sox relievers combined for a true one-hitter, facing just one batter over the minimum.
The White Sox grabbed the lead immediately, as Colson Montgomery worked a four-pitch two-out walk to extend the inning to Miguel Vargas, who launched a two-run homer to left. That set the tone for an all-White Sox afternoon, with the only drama involving how far Smith could carry a perfect game. He retired the first 16 batters of the game before Brady House lined a single to right.
That proved to be the lone blemish on Smith's six innings, which required him to only throw 73 pitches despite striking out eight. It was the apotheosis of his late-season form, as his two kinds of fastballs did practically all of the lifting, setting up his curveball to succeed whenever he could locate it well enough. Only four of the 14 he threw generated a strike, but all of those strikes were whiffs.
Had House lined out to Dominic Fletcher, he had built a case to pursue a no-hitter for as long as the bid lived, at least as long as he averaged 3.8 pitches per batter. As it played out, Will Venable allowed Smith to register a quality start, then turned it over to Tyler Alexander, Jordan Leasure and Jonathan Cannon, all of whom ended their years with one perfect inning.
The White Sox offense tacked on runs with loud contact. Lord settled in after the early hiccup and was on the verge of getting through four without further incident, but Brooks Baldwin -- always vigilant against high two-strike fastballs -- got a 1-2 fastball just above the belt and launched it out to right for a 3-0 lead. Lenyn Sosa then reached on an infield single before Dominic Fletcher resumed the long ball programming, as his first homer of the season made it 5-0.
The move to the bullpen didn't throw off the White Sox. They loaded the bases immediately against Shinnosuke Ogasawara, and while Edgar Quero got locked up for the first out, Baldwin came through with a double off the right-center wall for two more RBIs. That was the White Sox's lone hit with runners in scoring position in nine at-bats, but on the last day of the season, they figured out a way around it.
Bullet points:
*Michael A. Taylor received warm standing ovations in his first and final plate appearances, the latter of which was an RBI groundout for the White Sox's final run. He then received one more salute when Will Venable pulled him from the game with one out in the ninth.
"We wanted to do as many of those as we could and the fans did a great job of engaging there and giving Michael love," Venable said. "He’s such a good guy and you see how much of an impact he’s made in places that he goes where he gets that kind of response. Great moment for him each one of those times and to have his career end here where it started was really cool."
*Smith finished the year 7-8 with a 3.81 ERA, leading the rotation in innings and ERA, and finishing tied in wins.
*If the White Sox scored one more run, they would've averaged 4.00 for the season. As it stands, they finished at 3.99.
*Sosa reached 20 doubles, and ended up holding off Montgomery for the team home run title with 22.
