Surprise, surprise, Chicago White Sox fans aren’t hopeful for the 2025 season.
The Athletic recently published its annual “MLB Hope-O-Meter” results (a subscription is required to access content linked), which assesses and ranks the fanbase outlook on all 30 teams, and the stats aren’t surprising.
When asked if they were optimistic about this upcoming season, only 8.7 percent of Sox fans answered “yes.”
The Sox placed 29th last year by 0.1 percent, ironically beaten by Rockies fans, and this year they slipped into last place by 0.1 percent.
If numbers aren’t convincing enough, fan accounts surely put the nail in the coffin.
A fan by the name of “Pessimist Brian” echoed every Sox fan’s fear: “The biggest mistake a White Sox fan could make is to fall into the nihilistic optimism of saying, ‘We lost 121 games last year. This year’s team can’t possibly hurt me more than that.’ That’s not true. We’re going to lose 122.” Another fan called “Pessimist Scott” responded to the survey, “The bar is set so low it’s in Hell’s root cellar. This team plans to tunnel underneath it.”
Needless to say, morale isn’t great.
With optimism at a lowly 4.7 percent last year, it’s not surprising to see that Chicago fans aren’t much more confident.
Sox fans have every reason to be almost as pessimistic as they were last year. Payroll was cut by roughly 60%. A new manager who doesn’t have official managerial experience is leading the team. The roster and staff have been completely revised. Need I go on? Asking Sox fans to be optimistic is a tall order, and almost borderline unreasonable.
Although life for Sox fans is far from rainbows and unicorns, there are a couple of bright spots. Tickets to see a slightly improved team are ten percent cheaper this year, and the Sox released a bargain three-month ticket plan for $125. With the reduced prices, fans can more frequently see players from MLB’s sixth-best farm system in the league, an improvement from the twentieth-best last spring, while slurping on a campfire milkshake.
But that’s about it.
There’s light at the end of the tunnel though. Manager Will Venable is already garnering respect, Justin Ishbia is close to buying the team from Jerry Reinsdorf, and there are glimpses of excellence from prospects this spring.
And if that’s not enough to be optimistic about, at least Sox fans still have a team, which is much more than Oakland fans can say.