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It’s crazy how much can change in just seven days.
Last week, I was in as good of a mood as I could have been in. The White Sox had won four straight playoff games and were a win away from the ALCS. The Chicago Bears had won two straight games with backup quarterbacks and vibes were high for the Monsters of the Midway. Combine that with Mizzou football climbing up the Top 25, and that’s about as good of an October as you can ask for.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know where it’s gone from there.
With the exception of the Tigers (which are still safe, for now. Big one against Ole Miss on Saturday), everything has crumbled. The Bears got thoroughly mollywhopped by none other than the Packers on Sunday, and in even more heartbreaking news, the White Sox were reverse swept by Cleveland, with the Guardians winning the last three games in the series, including both in Chicago to send my boys home packing.
I’m going to focus on the latter, because I promised last week that when the season did eventually end, I would be eulogizing the 2026 Chicago White Sox. I just didn’t expect I would be doing it so soon. Now that the series has been over for a couple of days and my head has cooled off a bit, I can look back at this entire season in a proper way as opposed to being grumpy about the way it ended. After all, the Sox played 169 games this season, who am I to judge them on their final three?
No. Instead, I want to look back at this season for what it really was: a season that made me fall in love with baseball again. A season that had even the most jaded Sox fans such as myself as invested as ever. A season that started with little to no expectations and somehow ended five wins away from playing for a World Series.
I told my brother Jeremy and my Dad, the two biggest Sox fans in my life, back in March that I would be thrilled to win 70 games. After three straight years of losing 100+, that would have been just lovely. What we got instead was nothing short of a miracle. Not only was this team much better than anyone could have predicted, they were so darn easy to root for too, and I think that has to be the best part.
I mean, just think of all of the remarkable storylines us Sox fans got to live through this summer. Signing Munetaka Murakami in the offseason, hearing that the only reason the Sox got him was because there were real concerns about him hitting MLB pitching. Then he comes up and goes on an absolute tear over the first two months of the season, hitting bomb after bomb. There’s sushi items in the ballpark named after him. He’s getting the loudest pop of the lineup whenever he gets to bat. He did get hurt and slowed down tremendously in the final months of the season, but he still finished with 35 homers and was the biggest story in baseball for a little bit there.
Tristan Peters went from a guy I had never heard of when I got a notification saying he gave the Sox their first walkoff win of the season back in April to a guy that the team does not make it to October without. A former Savannah Banana (back when they actually played real baseball, not this malarkey they do now), Peters was instrumental to the team’s success this season, being one of two Sox rookies named to the All-Star team. Whether it was his 18-pitch plate appearance that he turned into a walk or his streak of homering in five consecutive games, TP came up big all season long.
Then you have the team MVP, and a guy who should get some MVP votes later this winter, Miguel Vargas. This is a guy that came to Chicago when things were at their lowest. He got traded from the Dodgers, right before they won their first of two straight titles, to the Sox, who were in the middle of their record-setting 121-loss season. Not going to lie, I’d be pretty devastated if that happened to me. Vargas’ numbers reflected that when he put on the black and white uniform, and it took awhile for him to really start figuring it out at the plate. This year, it finally all came together for him, and he was the best bat in the lineup all season long. Tremendous power, a great eye, speed on the basepaths, he was the team’s do-everything guy for the whole year, and a guy I have a lot of confidence will grow into one heck of a ballplayer.
These are just some of the main ones. I could go on and on. Sean Burke and Davis Martins both put together some absolutely nasty stretches on the mound. The Sox bullpen, headlined by the filthy Grant Taylor, was one of the best in baseball. Sam Antonacci’s grinder mentality rubbing off on the rest of the guys. Mike Vasil in the dugout waving the wand and home runs magically happening right on cue. The team making the playoffs despite spending the entire year cursed at the catcher position. I truly could do this for 2000 more words. I’ll spare you.
Am I sad that the season ended the way it did? Of course. I’d honestly rather them have gotten swept by Cleveland instead of the hope that came with the 2-0 lead. But at the end of the day, that whole series was playing with house money. This team is still rebuilding and should take more steps in the near future to get even better than they are now.
At the end of the day, it’s as simple as this: if you would have told me on Opening Day that the Sox would make the playoffs and lose in the ALDS in five games, I would have said sign me up. These last few years have been beyond brutal, and having a team that I actually would spend all day looking forward to watching that night again brings me more than enough happiness. When I remember the 2026 Chicago White Sox, I’ll remember one of my favorite years of being a fan that I can remember.
(I really tried to not mention it but I just can’t help myself: They were also the only baseball team in Chicago to win a playoff game this year, and they spent about $200M less to do so! That’s basically a World Series title to a guy like me)
It came down to overtime on Monday Night Football but the Bills got it done for me, giving me three wins and another winning week. Let’s try to make it three in a row.
FAVORITE FAVORITE
Buffalo Bills (-5.5) at Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders are a better team than what was shown last week against New England, but I think as they run into another high-octane offense here, they might face similar problems. Josh Allen is running away with his second MVP award right now, and he has the Bills offense playing on fire. The real question for this result is whether or not the Buffalo defense can slow down Kirk Cousins and company enough to win by a touchdown. I think they do.
The Pick: Bills -5.5
BIG DAWG GOTTA EAT
Carolina Panthers at Philadelphia Eagles (-1.5)
I’ve gone to the Panthers well already in this category, and it worked before so we’ll try again. This pick is more about their opponent though. Losers of three straight, including a bad loss in London last week after taking a lead with eight seconds left, the Eagles look like they are ready to implode at about any second now. Playing at home is actually working against them this week, because if things start poorly, the boo birds will be out in force. Coming off a bye, I think Carolina will be ready.
The Pick: Panthers +1.5
BEAR DOWN
Chicago Bears (-1.5) at Atlanta Falcons
I could not have been more off in my assessment of the Bears last week. Needless to say Chicago did not cover on its trip up to Lambeau Field on Sunday. The downside to writing these on Wednesdays is that when games are played on Sunday, a lot can happen in between. Caleb Williams was a full participant in practice on Wednesday, but I still don’t know if he’s going to start. I’d have to assume if he doesn’t it’s Case Keenum after how Tyson Bagent looked last week, but I think a full practice is a good sign. The Falcons are dealing with some QB injury issues of their own, so I like the Bears to get it done.
The Pick: Bears -1.5
THIS IS OUR COLTS
Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts (-6.5)
Man, I really don’t like this one. The Titans are a really bad team, sure, but I also am not so sure the Colts are good enough right now to be touchdown favorites against anyone. This game being played in Indy is definitely doing some heavy lifting for me, because the Colts always seem to play much better in front of their home fans. This is really gross and I’m sure I’m going to regret this, but I think Indy does find a way to get this done.
The Pick: Colts -6.5
GAME OF THE WEEK
Seattle Seahawks (-2.5) at Denver Broncos
This was my game of the week by default, as there really wasn’t all that much that caught my eye schedulewise for Week 6. Seattle is coming off a tough loss to the Niners, while the Broncos narrowly made it past the still winless Chargers on Sunday afternoon. Both teams come into this game with records that aren’t what they’d like them to be, and with undefeated teams at the top of both of their divisions, a win here would go a long way. Denver is missing some key guys on the defensive end of the ball, including Pat Surtain, the best defensive back in football. I like the reigning champs to bounce off a loss.
The Pick: Seahawks -2.5
It is certainly a favorite-heavy week for me, which if history is any indication, will come back to bite me. Maybe it won’t. I’ll try being positive here for once and let’s see where that takes me.
Cheers.
Last Week’s Record: 3-2
Season Record: 12-13
