The 2024 White Sox are bad. They are on the verge of breaking franchise records for being so bad. With us again being sellers at the trade deadline in a few weeks, the trajectory for the rest of this year does not look great. It’s simply not been fun to watch this team.
So how does a White Sox fan spend their summer instead of watching their team? They instead decide to watch the 2005 World Series in its entirety. Every game. Every out. Every pitch.
This was quite a fun experience honestly. I was instantly reminded of how long ago this was when you see commercials for the new Verizon Dual Camera Phone and Joe Buck talks about the debut of Fox’s new show “Prison Break.” To age myself, I was 5 when the White Sox won the World Series and I honestly don’t remember watching it. My parents say I sat on the couch and watched it with them, but I couldn’t tell you that.
I’ve seen the top plays a billion times —the Uribe catch, the Konerko grand slam, the Scotty Pods walk-off, etc. but not every play. When doing this watch, I was originally going to write about those plays, but we all know those plays. Young or old, we have seen these plays over and over through social media, the news, MLB Network re-runs, etc. So instead, I decided to write about the other plays that are often not on the highlight reels but are still impactful. Underrated, if you will.
So here are ten plays in order as they happened that gave the White Sox a World Series win after an 88-year drought.
For reference, I came up with these 10 plays through a combination of two very analytical stats. Baseball Reference’s wWPA (Winning Team Win Probability Added) calculates, you guessed it, the win probability added to the White Sox after that play is completed. The second stat I used was the overall vibe. I will not elaborate on that.
Big shout out to Youtuber John Quinn for uploading all four games on Youtube and SoxOn35th contributor Duke Coughlin for sending me the MLB archives so I can get you all some better footage.
Craig Biggio ground out to Joe Crede (Top 7th, Game 1)
Winning Team Win Probability Added: 10%
Joe Crede makes a phenomenal diving stop with men on the corners and two outs. If this ball gets by, the Astros tie it up and we might have had a different Game 1 outcome.
Neal Cotts strikes out Morgan Ensberg and Mike Lamb (Top 8th, Game 1)
Winning Team Win Probability Added: 13% & 16%
We will do a two-fer for this one. I think both of these strikeouts were incredible and it is best to watch both strikeouts back to back. Spoiler alert: there will be more Neal Cotts to come.
Jermaine Dye being “hit” before the grand slam (Bottom 7th, Game 2)
Winning Team Win Probability Added: 6%
This one has the lowest wWPA out of all the entries on the list, but this missed call swings this entire game dramatically. This ball hits Jermaine Dye’s bat and if replay had been around during this time, it would have been overturned. Maybe Dye still gets on base, maybe he strikes out. Luckily for us, it was 2005 and we will never know. Paul Konerko took advantage of the blunder the next play and the rest is history.
Neal Cotts gets Mike Lamb to pop out (Top 9th, Game 2)
Winning Team Win Probability Added: 11%
Bobby Jenks blows this lead and we have a tie game in the bottom of the ninth. When Neal Cotts comes in, there is still a man on second. If Mike Lamb gets a hit here, a run scores, and Scott Podsednik’s walk-off just ties the game in the bottom of the ninth. Luckily, Cotts deliveres.
Dustin Hermanson strikes out Brad Ausmus (Bottom 8th, Game 3)
Winning Team Win Probability Added: 11%
Ozzie Guillen had faith after Hermanson gave up two runs the previous at-bat and kept him in there to get the strikeout. This was a big play by Hermanson to keep his composure and close out the eighth inning.
El Duque strikes out Morgan Ensberg (Bottom 9th, Game 3)
Winning Team Win Probability Added: 16%
This is arguably not underrated as I could find this clip on YouTube and MLB Film Room, but come on, this was such a fun at-bat. Let me have one.
Adam Everett grounds into a double play (Bottom 5th, Game 4)
Winning Team Win Probability Added: 10%
It’s not the flashiest play on here, but a double play on a hit-and-run in a tie-ball game will always be helpful. Crede and Iguchi work quickly right here to empty the bases. It might not look like it but that is a 10% wWPA increase.
Freddie Garcia strikes out Jason Lane (Bottom 6th, Game 4)
Winning Team Win Probability Added: 10%
Freddie Garcia gets himself in a handful of jams in this game, but not one bigger than this. With the game still zero-zero, Garcia delivers the punch out to Lane with the bases loaded.
Jose Vizcaino grounds out to Juan Uribe (Bottom 8th, Game 4)
Winning Team Win Probability Added: 14%
Hey looks who’s pitching again. Neal Cotts! Uribe makes this play look a lot easier than it is. If he doesn’t get in front of this ball or it takes a weird hop, we have a tie ball game going into the ninth.
Conclusion
That’s it! I recommend rewatching the 2005 World Series if you still want to watch the White Sox without getting mad at the TV. It was a fun experience.
I’ll end it with a hot take: Joe Crede should have won the World Series MVP over Jermaine Dye. I’m not saying Dye doesn’t deserve it, he does, but I think Crede did more in these four games.
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Featured Image: CBS News
That was fun! My daughter was 6 and my son almost 4 for the World Series. They fell asleep on the couch watching it and don’t remember it now. I have the series on dvd which I used to watch every year right after the regular season was over. I don’t think I’ve put it on since before co-vid. I was thinking the same thing about Crede being the MVP while watching.