It’s already run through the minds of some fans.
The White Sox could finally make some noise, finally jump into contention mode, finally reach the postseason after more than a decade away, and it wouldn’t matter because they did it in a 60-game season.
That’s just one argument and not reflective of the likely thousands who would be thrilled with any playoff baseball on the South Side. But as Major League Baseball attempts to make it all the way to the end of the World Series in the middle of a pandemic, certain folks on social media are already vowing to slap an asterisk on everything about the 2020 season, considering that a sport so often defined by its six-month marathon will be condensed to a two-month sprint.
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If baseball is able to crown a champion, avoiding a season cut short by COVID-19, how will players, coaches and fans gaze upon the team holding the trophy?
And what if it’s the White Sox?
“I’ll let history decide what it means or doesn’t mean,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said Thursday. “All I know is … if we’re able to accomplish that, that would be great. And everybody can do with it what they wish, because they will anyways, right?”
MLB
Indeed, this seems a debate better suited for sports-talk radio than anything else. But even someone who spent years in a major league clubhouse and lifted the World Series trophy himself expressed worry that 2020’s champion might be looked at as illegitimate.
“I would hate to see somebody lift that World Series trophy up … and there’s some eye-rolling going on,” former White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko told Our Chuck Garfien on the White Sox Talk Podcast. “‘This isn’t even legitimate or real.’
“Let’s say the White Sox go out and win the World Series. Now they’re going to take a bunch of crap because, ‘Oh, it’s not a real World Series.’ That would be my fear, because you know it’s going to happen if it’s not the Yankees or the Red Sox or some team like that. If they win, they’re going to be like, ‘Oh, they never would’ve won in a full year.’”
The White Sox aren’t heading into this shortened season as a World Series favorite, but they should have the postseason on their minds. They spent their time at Camelback Ranch talking playoffs before spring training came to an abrupt end in March. They seem capable, if things go right, of competing right alongside the Twins and Indians for the AL Central crown. And if they reach October, anything can happen, especially in this most unusual of years.
Perhaps keeping that in mind — or merely realizing that every team is playing under the same circumstances — White Sox general Rick Hahn had a definitive stance on the matter.
“Is it a legitimate season? Absolutely.”
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But Hahn also pointed at the 2020 season, even in its shortened state, as an important year for the White Sox, whether they win it all or not. His team is built for the long haul, after all, to compete for multiple championships not just one in one weird season. The experience gained by the young core — especially if that experience includes a trip to the postseason — is all part of the process in growing these White Sox into perennial contenders.
“What we are building here is a multi-year project, it’s a multi-year endeavor,” he said. “This was going to be sort of that first year of transitioning from the rebuild into that competitive stage. So it’s extremely important, from our perspective, to get these guys out there competing.
“We have a young club, a team that is only going to grow and benefit from playing experience during your regular season and hopefully the postseason. So getting a taste of that this season is of the utmost importance.
“We are excited about that. We are excited about the idea this team will have the opportunity to start off what we view as a multi-year path toward championships.”
So even if the White Sox don’t have to fend off critiques that an unexpected run to the World Series was only the result of the havoc caused by the pandemic, they’ll claim legitimacy to whatever happens for them. Because it’s all part of the evolution taking place on the South Side.