It’s May 16 on the South Side of Chicago. Just east of the historic neighborhood of Bridgeport, Guaranteed Rate Field howls with enthusiasm. An announced crowd of nearly 10,000 produces cheers that reverberate throughout the ballpark on a quintessential Chicago spring day. “Let’s Go White Sox!” chants circle around in rhythm like an expertly conducted philharmonic. The shadow of the Chicago skyline wanes in the distance beyond left-center field.
The White Sox trail the Royals 3–2 in the bottom of the eighth inning. José Abreu leads off first base as the tying run. Yermín Mercedes—“The Yerminator”—stands in the right-handed batter’s box. He has looked off-balance in his first three at-bats, grounding out, striking out and popping out in foul territory. In other words, an unproductive day for the rookie sensation.
He swings and misses at a first pitch slider, takes two pitches out of the zone and swings through a fastball, appearing a bit overmatched. Then he fouls off a slider. Then he does it again. And again. Two more pitches zip in. He takes them both out of the zone. He works a walk. The fans roar with approval.
The grinded-out plate appearance personifies the attitude that exists in the ballpark that day, both on the field and in the stands.
“We have a lot of hard-working people who sometimes don’t feel appreciated,” White Sox TV broadcaster Jason Benetti says of their fans. “Sometimes when you’re competitive and you finally get a win—you get knocked around in life a little bit and you finally get a win—you wanna show how much you did to get there and how hard it was to get there.”
After missing out on the postseason from 2009 through 2019 and finishing with a winning record just twice in that span, the White Sox have brought back winning baseball to the South Side. Five years ago, when the Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years and emerged as one of baseball’s model organizations, the Sox were an example of what professional baseball teams shouldn’t do. That season, they feuded over the presence of Adam LaRoche’s 14-year-old son, traded away Fernando Tatís Jr.—then just 16 years old—for veteran James Shields, and angered ace Chris Sale to the point that he cut up all of their throwback jerseys so the team couldn’t wear them. Now, they’ve emerged from the tumult with an exciting core of young players and a steady mix of veterans, while also overcoming a series of injuries, to become one of the best teams in baseball. Entering Friday, Chicago (38–24) holds a 4.5-game lead in the AL Central and is the favorite to win the pennant.
“The biggest thing that sticks out to me is in previous years, we lose a couple games, and the morale is low, and it's like, 'Man, how're we gonna get out of this?' " pitcher Lucas Giolito says. “Whereas now, if we lose one or we even lose two in a row, three in a row, it's like nothing has changed. We come back to the field the next day. We get our work in. We go out and prepare to win. That's just what I love about this team right now. Very resilient, and we're having a lot of fun while winning.”
