When it was just Tim Anderson, it was fine. We could manage liking Tim Anderson. We could manage liking Rick Renteria. We could even manage liking Jason Benetti up in the booth (and Bill Walton that one time). It was fun. We were happy for them.
But now…
Now, they have everybody.
Luis Robert.
Eloy Jiménez.
Ok, so their only shtick is not letting Jiménez play defense. But it’s a good shtick. And with José Abreu (and the rest of them, frankly) hitting bombs, it makes them likeable. Too likeable. Lucas Giolito threw a no-hitter last night and I was happy not just for him, but for all of them. This is dangerous. Especially since they’re suddenly good.
Throughout my lifetime, one thing that could be counted on was that the White Sox, as cool as they are in theory (great uniforms, low thread count ethos), would be absolute losers in practice. The Chicago Bears of football. Idiotic front office. Delusional/dramatic fanbase. Even when they won a World Series, they did it the dumbest way possible, with Ozzie Guillen nearly managing to blow a 15-game division lead over August and September despite having a stacked rotation and the karmic high card in Paul Konerko.
But now…
Now, I am scared. The White Sox are good. The White Sox are likeable.
That’s a perilous combination.
