White Sox Fans: Deciding what bandwagon to jump on for postseason play

The postseason is quickly approaching and sadly, the White Sox will not be in it. But, it’s not like this was a surprise.

But, if you love baseball, you will most likely watch postseason play, even without the White Sox in it.

So, how do you choose what bandwagon to jump on? Then, what happens when if that team loses in the Wild Card or the Division Series? Do you even pick a team?

The American League playoff situation is locked in with five teams already in their seeds. The first-seed Boston Red Sox will wait to play the winner of the Wild Card game between the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics (their seedings are not yet settled). The Houston Astros and Cleveland Indians will play each other as the second and third seeds.

In the National League, the playoff picture is still uncertain in a few spots. The Atlanta Braves won the NL East, but the other divisions are coming down to the wire. The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers will be in the playoffs, but their exact positions as Wild Card or NL Central champ have yet to be decided. And, the same goes for the NL West teams – the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies. The St. Louis Cardinals are still in the running for a Wild Card spot and could knock out the Dodgers or Rockies.

It’s an exciting time of year, even if your favorite team isn’t in the mix. But, how do you decide which team will be yours for the playoffs? Or do you skip out on watching postseason baseball if your team isn’t in it?

If you pick a team that has former White Sox on it, then you could go with several options. Chris Sale should be pitching for the Red Sox (if he’s fully recovered from his shoulder issues), but the Yankees have David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle. The Cubs have Jose Quintana. The Brewers have Joakim Soria and Xavier Cedeno.

Or, do you go with the easy out and pick the other AL Central team and simply cheer on the Indians? That team can pitch, so they could go far.

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Then, there is that whole idea of proximity. If you’re a White Sox fan, should you cheer on the Cubs? Probably not, because Cubs fans wouldn’t cheer on the Southsiders. And, speaking of fanbases, do you even want to call yourself a bandwagon Red Sox or Yankees fan? Egads! The horror! (But, then there’s Mookie Betts – wouldn’t it be great to see him in White Sox uniform?!)

So, the safest route might be to simply cheer on the Colorado Rockies, right? They’re in neutral territory in the Mountain Time Zone and Denver is a cool place to be. Their black striped uniforms resemble White Sox gear.

Or maybe, you pick the underdog and start wearing green and yellow – even if it is a horrible color pairing. There’s also the Braves and they have two players, Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies, who were born in 1997 – they can’t even legally drink the champagne in the celebrations. But, Acuna is something to watch.

You could also cheer on the 2017 winners and become an Astros fan for a few weeks. It’s so hard not to like Jose Altuve as a baseball player and Alex Bregman is so funny in the dugout after he hits home runs.

Just think, in a few years, White Sox fans will not have to make a choice as the rebuild (hopefully) delivers on its promise. But, for at least one more year, ChiSox fans and fans of 20 other MLB teams get to watch 10 teams vie for the ultimate trophy – the Commissioner’s Trophy.