The Chicago White Sox were missing from the 2022 MLB Postseason for a variety of reasons. Most of the reasons were within the organization but it didn’t help that the Cleveland Guardians were very good.
Everyone expected the White Sox to win the division with ease and Cleveland was expected to be way closer to the bottom of the division than the top. If anyone was going to take down the White Sox, it was going to be either the Detroit Tigers or Minnesota Tigers. Wrong.
Well, Cleveland was the hottest team in the American League down the stretch and they won the division and the White Sox couldn’t even win a Wild Card.
Once the postseason started, the Guardians shocked the Tampa Bay Rays and swept them in the Wild Card round. It was starting to look like that team that got hot and is ready for a big playoff run to the World Series.
Well, that hope is going to come up short. To their credit, they pushed the New York Yankees to the brink of elimination. They had a 2-1 series lead in a best of five but New York won two straight games to take the series win and are now headed to the American League Championship Series.
The Cleveland Guardians have been eliminated from postseason contention.
It was nice to see the Guardians make the American League Central look a little bit better than people thought by getting as far as they did. However, it is nice to finally have them out.
They said some nasty things about the White Sox when they clinched the division so it isn’t all that sad to see them go. They became a team that went from being incredibly likable to one that wasn’t in a short time.
Josh Naylor had some nasty things to say throughout the year whenever he had a big moment and he mocked Gerrit Cole to an embarrassing level in game four of the series. He probably should have waited until they beat them to make a move like that.
Now, Naylor and the rest of his teammates can go into the offseason knowing that they will catch nobody by surprise in 2023. As the White Sox learned quickly in 2022, nothing is given in this league and bad years can come out of nowhere. It will be interesting to see how they do next year.
One player who deserves some praise is Jose Ramirez. Although he tortured our favorite team all season long (and has for a few years now), he is an elite player that somehow doesn’t get enough respect.
He deserves all of the money that he makes and it will certainly be a joy to watch him next year. We can only hope that the White Sox are able to contain him to a certain extent when they face him. This Guardians team is lucky to have him.
With that in mind, it would be nice to see the White Sox take their rightful place atop the AL Central division in 2023.