Chicago White Sox: Five best division rivals since 2000
The Chicago White Sox have played in a division loaded with good players since the turn of the century. Which five stick out above the rest?
The Chicago White Sox don’t play in the best division as we head into 2020 (hopefully) baseball. The Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals are both pretty bad right now but they have been good in the recent past. Each of those teams has won the American League Pennant since the year 2000. In fact, every team in the A.L. Central has at least played in a World Series since 2000 except the Minnesota Twins.
In order for each team to have some success shows that this division has had some very good players. There are some guys that are going to the Hall of Fame and had to take part in this division during their runs. The White Sox and Royals each won the World Series in an appearance in the series since 2000. The most recent division rival to play in the World Series was the Cleveland Indians but they were defeated in seven games.
You can argue that each team had multiple superstars throughout the years but some stick out above the rest. There are five specific ones that stand out as the best ones. They were the five best because they were so good against the White Sox but also so good against everyone else. There are pitchers and position players that are there on this list. In order to be on this list, you need to have been considered a great player for one of the other A.L. Central teams from the years 2000-2019.
Max Scherzer. 5. player. 63. . SP. Detroit Tigers
There have been some really good pitchers to play in the American League Central over the years. In fact, the best of them all might have played for the White Sox in the early portion of the past decade in Chris Sale. Well, one who makes an argument for the best is Max Scherzer. He was an elite pitcher with the Detroit Tigers for a while before making his way to play for the Washington Nationals. Somehow, Scherzer continues to get better as he continues to get older.
With Detroit, Max turned into one of the league’s best players. He played for the Tigers from 2010-2014. It was five years of brilliance. He had a remarkable record of 82-35 during his five seasons with the Tigers. He had a 3.52 ERA to go with 1081 strikeouts and a 1.197 WHIP. He really bloomed into a star during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. In 2013 he had a 21-3 record. Those 21 wins led all of baseball. In 2014 he went 18-5 and those 18 wins led the American League.
Scherzer also took home the Cy Young with Detroit in 2013. It was the best year he had with the Tigers and the White Sox were a victim of it many times. He moved onto the Nationals after the 2014 season which remarkably saw him get better. He won the Cy Young two more times with them and eventually the World Series in 2019. Scherzer is clearly one of the best players to come through this division in a long time.
2. . 1B. Minnesota Twins. Justin Morneau. 4. player
Of all the elite rivals on this list, Justin Morneau is the only one who made his way to the White Sox at any point in his career. It was a one-off year for him as he spent most of his career with the Minnesota Twins. He played first base for them for a long time and at one point was one of the league’s best players. He spent parts of ten years with Minnesota from 2003 to 2013 and had a brilliant career along the way.
In those years with the Twins, he ended up winning an MVP, two Silver Slugger awards and was a four-time all-star. That MVP season came in 2006 for Morneau where he had a .321 batting average, 34 home runs, and 130 RBIs. That was the first year of four straight years with 100 RBIs or more. He didn’t (somehow) make the all-star team in 2006 but from 2007 to 2010 he made it four straight times.
Morneau is one of the best division rivals of the century but it was a little strange to see him come play for the White Sox in 2016. He also had stopped with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Colorado Rockies along the way as well. Morneau was a great player and has our respect.
C/1B. Minnesota Twins. Joe Mauer. 3. player. 2.
The Minnesota Twins had some great players during their run. After reading about Justin Morneau, it might be hard to imagine that someone might be better on those teams but there was someone. Joe Mauer was the Twins’ best player for a long time. He played his entire 15 years career with the Twins and was great in almost all of them. The Twins never had any playoff success with this dynamic duo but they surely were great in the regular season a lot of the time.
Mauer played for the Twins from 2004 to 2018. He started his career as a catcher but as he got older he started to make his transition to first base. Joe Mauer has a very decorated resume with the Twins as he did basically everything there is to do as far as regular-season accolades. He won the MVP in 2009. In that year, he led the league in batting average, OBP, SLG, and OPS. He also hit 28 home runs and had 96 that year which is incredible for a catcher.
He won the batting title in that 2009 season and it was one of three times he took home that title. He also won five Silver Slugger Awards, three Gold Gloves, and was an all-star six times out of 15 years. With Mauer, we start to get into the conversations of all-time great division rivals and not just since 2000. He is without question one of the best players to play baseball this century and he did it all with the division rival Minnesota Twins.
2. player. 63. . SP. Detroit Tigers. Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander is one of the best pitchers of this era. He spent most of it with the division rival Detroit Tigers which is tough as a fan of the Chicago White Sox. He was a brilliant pitcher for them for a very long time. He played for the Tigers from parts of 2005 to 2017. He was brilliant and became a future Hall of Famer there.
In his 13 years with Detroit, he went 183-114. He had a 3.49 ERA with them and a total of 2373 strikeouts over that time. He had some great years including 2011. In that year, he didn’t just win the Cy Young, but he won the MVP as well. That is very difficult for a pitcher to do in today’s era. He led the league with his 24-5 record, 2.40 ERA, and 250 strikeouts. It was a brilliant year for him as he won the pitching Triple Crown. He also had six all-star appearances during his time with the Detroit Tigers.
He seemed burned out at the end in Detroit so he was traded to the Houston Astros. Well, his career was revived a bit there as he won the World Series with them that fall. Yes, it came out that they cheated using technology to steal signs that postseason. Verlander is wrong because he had to know it was happening despite it not really affecting his pitching. He did also win the Cy Young a second time this past season with Houston. Some people might see the Houston years as a knock on his legacy but there is no doubt that he was one of the best players to ever play in the A.L. Central.
1. player. 63. . 3B. Detroit Tigers. Miguel Cabrera
Not only is Miguel Cabrera one of the best hitters of his era, but he is simply one of the best hitters of all time. He is a shell of his former self here in 2020 but there is no doubt that he is one of the game’s all-time greats. Some White Sox fans cheered him on in his days with the Florida Marlins, especially in the 2003 NLCS, but he became a Hall of Famer in his time with the Detroit Tigers.
Cabrera has won two MVPs, five Silver Sluggers, and a remarkable four batting titles as a member of the Tigers. One of those four batting titles came in a year that not only did he lead the league in batting average, but he led in RBIs and home runs as well to win the first Triple Crown the MLB had seen in 45 years. There is no doubt that this guy elevated himself to become one of the game’s all-time greats during his time in Detroit.
light. Hot. A.J. Pierzynski owned the city of Chicago in 2006
Cabrera was also an MLB all-star a total of 11 times. Seven of them came with the Detroit Tigers. Having him in the division was absolutely no fun from a cheer perspective but it was cool to see one of the game’s all-time greatest players play on a regular basis. Miguel Cabrera should have the utmost respect from every team in his division for how he played throughout his career.