Chicago White Sox fans should probably now root for the Oakland A’s in the playoffs.
The Chicago White Sox spent a week looking at the Oakland Athletics as the enemy. They were defeated by them in a well-played series by Oakland. There is no doubt that the White Sox had some good things to build on and some negatives to learn from but the A’s deserved to win the series. Now, it is fair to think that White Sox fans should be rooting for the A’s going forward in the playoffs.
They are playing the defending American League champion Houston Astros in the American League Division Series starting this afternoon. Nobody really likes the Houston Astros right now because of their involvement in the sign-stealing scandal. They used trash cans and buzzers to steal signs from their opponents and they had a lot of success on the field as a result.
Well, they had some severe punishments but it doesn’t feel like enough in the eyes of most fans. They also didn’t have to deal with the scrutiny that away fans would have presented to them because of COVID-19. Now, most teams just root against them because of it all. They made the playoffs as an under-.500 team so it was clear that they took a step back without cheating.
The Astros managed to win a series against the Minnesota Twins who have now lost 18 straight playoff games. It is so easy to want whoever they are playing to beat them now. The A’s are a likable team who hasn’t won in the playoffs in recent years so hopefully, they can get it done against the Astros.
After Houston (if they win), they would play against the winner of the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees. The Tampa Bay Rays vs Oakland Athletics would be one of those series that we are happy with the winner no matter what. Neither of them has won the American League in a while so it would be nice to see them make a run. If the A’s play against the New York Yankees, well, you already know why we’d be rooting for them. Fans can do what they want, obviously, but rooting for the team that just beat the White Sox is okay for those reasons.