The Giants captured the World Series title Sunday night by doing what the White Sox could not–emphatically sweep the Tigers out of title contention. Some, still wearing the scars of the brutal AL Central race, might thank the Giants for getting revenge. But the Giants also ended the season, which might be a greater crime than winning 88 regular-season games.

This is not some great funeral. While the White Sox year ending was the death of a dream and perhaps a window of opportunity finally slamming shut for some beloved veterans, this is more of a changing of the seasons. The easy, contemplative pace of the game of baseball is gone along with the humid summer nights that so smoothly accommodated it.

Admittedly, that’s a bummer, but preparations have been made to deal with this.  If anything, it’s jarring how immediate the transition is from the emotional climax of the season, to the process of picking rosters apart and placing cash values on the performances we just observed. Thank goodness there’s no World Series title afterglow that anyone around here is desperately trying to cling to. Remember feeling anxiety about Paul Konerko‘s contract situation during the 2005 World Series parade?  No thanks, right?*

There will be five days for exclusive negotiations for teams with their outgoing free agents.  This period will stand in as a period for reflecting on the season, because almost nothing will happen.  Except declined options!  Plenty of declined options.

• Jake Peavy ($22 million) – Getting declined
• Kevin Youkilis ($13 million) – Promised to be declined
• Gavin Floyd ($9.5 million) – Declining would be foolish
• Brett Myers ($10 million) – Too much
• Orlando Hudson ($8 million) – Is this a serious question?

*Wrong

**Maybe he is!  How much fun would that be!?

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Not sure if that’s emboldening or just infuriating.

Probably just infuriating, since the Tigers might be able to trot out Justin Verlander as many as three times (and against Barry Zito for Game 1!), and cruise their way to a World Series title after leaving the barn door open on the AL Central for six months.

The Tigers rotation whirring to its full, terrifying capabilities in the playoffs has done all it can to validate the AL Central as legitimate; now their continued success just hits home the “Man, the White Sox really blew it” angle.

Tigers in 6, I say, knowing full well that in a 7-game series, the Giants succeeding behind Marco Scutaro killing everything in his path and other “nonsense,” is just as meaningful as Detroit pitching well.

Obvious research

Mocking the White Sox for needing to hire an independent consultant to tell them to lower their ticket prices seemed like an easy, and immature joke.

And yet, the more revealed about the study Rich Luker conducted for the Sox, the more it sounds like a highly-trained profession ran a highly-elaborate and professional study that continually ran into the same obvious answer.  This is especially become apparent when Luker surveyed the fans themselves.

One telling find for Luker came from a question about why White Sox fans go to games. Their No. 1 reason is to support the team. “Generally, the No. 1 reason to go is more selfish,” Luker said. “My observation from the research is that White Sox fans are always on board.”

So the fans are not uniquely detached from the team.

The second reason for attending was the overall experience at U.S. Cellular Field. In examining teams such as the Bears and Cubs, or even concert attendance, the White Sox held up fine.

So the stadium is not particularly dreadful anymore.

The surveys revealed that 50 percent of the individual ticket buyers said they had less money to spend in ’12. And of those attending fewer games, two-thirds said they had less money available, while only one-third had the same or more. So, affordability clearly emerged as the No. 1 issue for this particular group.

A recession combined with top-end prices? It seemed liked this might just be the culprit.  Luker was also kind enough to compare the dedication of the White Sox fanbase to that of the Green Bay Packers.  That’s an interesting comparison to make, since Packers fans have a tangible investment in the health of their franchise, and the Sox have an owner with fairly typical tendencies to avoid paying for his own facilities  and charging top-end prices.

Terrible player available

Yunel Escobar was already my buy-low supreme candidate before CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman broke the shocking scoop that the Toronto Blue Jays may not be keen on paying the soon-to-be 30 year-old shortstop $5 million in 2013.  Not after a season where he hit .255/.300/.344 and was suspended three games for writing a homophobic slur on his face, that is.

I don’t actually want the White Sox to pursue Escobar–the eyeblack incident was revolting–but I would have to admire the shrewdness of reaching out for a guy who was the toast of Canada in 2011, but has depressed his value through incompetence.

His $5 million salary for next season is a hurdle and a hindrance that would need to be negotiated with Toronto, but between Gordon Beckham and the 3rd base situation, infielders that know which end of the bat the handle is could be a needed commodity.

Alex Rios is the White Sox nominee for the Heart & Hustle Award

Even people who remembered him being good in Toronto are weirded out by this.

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Tadahito was already 30-years-old when he came over from Japan but he played with the energy level of a 21-year-old kid. Gooch hit .278 with 15 home runs and 71 RBI in his rookie season, a good bit better than Gordon Beckham in his rookie year.

It was sad when Iguchi left but I think we just needed him for that one year. Everything worked exactly right for the Sox in 2005 – even people who aren’t Sox fans can’t deny that it was a dream season. Carl Everett and Willie Harris were huge pieces of that team for crying out loud, there’s no way that team wasn’t destiny. There’s also no way I’m a complete homer when it comes to the 2005 team.

I’ll go game-by-game when I get to the World Series because I really enjoy reminiscing about those games.