2020 FUN SETS UP BIG 2021
Despite unhappy ending, Sox provided plenty of thrills, and future looks bright
The White Sox were great, inexpensive entertainment in 2020. For the cost of cable or the device that put their games into your home or palm of your hand, fans watched Luis Robert show up like a future superstar and Eloy Jimenez cement himself as a dangerous cleanup-type hitter for years to come.
They saw Lucas Giolito throw a nohitter as he followed up his turnaround All-Star season with another that solidified his status as bona fide ace and watched Tim Anderson thrust himself into Most Valuable Player conversations as an encore to winning a batting title the season before.
And speaking of MVP talk, Jose Abreu — ignited by the joy of playing for a winner for the first time in his seven-year career — ripped through every game of the shortened 60-game season like his ponytailed beard was on fire, refusing to take a day off, delivering one clutch hit after another and putting up numbers that very well could win him the award.
So what an enjoyable show that was. For the fan, the only thing better than watching a team win it all is seeing it ascend to that point where such a moment seems possible, and that’s where the Sox went in 2020 in the fourth year of their rebuild, finishing 35-25.
Was air taken out by a 4-14 finish? No doubt. A 3-12 slide in the regular season after the Sox clinched their first postseason appearance since 2008 preceded a one-win, two-loss showing against the Athletics in the wild-card series, but here’s hoping it served the meaningful purpose of showing the front office exactly who the Sox are going into the offseason.
General manager Rick Hahn should offer some hints about what the offseason will bring when he signs off on the fun yet challenging, pandemic-maligned 2020 season on a media Zoom conference this week. It was Hahn’s first winning year as a GM, and his team is built for more to follow.
In the meantime, let’s look back at some of the achievements and moments that made it so fun:
The Sox led the AL with 96 home runs, a franchise record through 60
games led by Abreu (19), Jimenez (14), Robert (11, plus a 487-foot playoff bomb), Anderson (10) and Edwin Encarnacion (10).
The Sox hit five or more homers in a game five times, the most in the majors, and hit four in a row against Cardinals rookie Roel Ramirez on Aug. 16 with Yoan Moncada, Yasmani Grandal, Abreu and Jimenez turning the trick to tie a major-league record.
Against the Cubs at Wrigley Field seven days later, Abreu tied a major-league record when he hit his fourth straight homer in his first at-bat on a Sunday morning against Yu Darvish. The night before, Abreu homered in his last three at-bats in a 7-4 victory.
The Sox would go on to lead the AL in slugging percentage (.453) and run differential (+60) and were second in runs (306), batting average (.261) and OPS (.779).
On the pitching side, Giolito threw a masterful 13-strikeout, one-walk no-hitter against the Pirates on Aug. 25 at Guaranteed Rate Field and took a perfect game into the seventh inning of Game 1 against the A’s. The Sox ranked sixth in the major leagues with a 3.81 ERA, their lowest since a 3.61 mark in 2005, and the starting rotation ranked eighth in the majors with a 3.85 ERA, also the team’s lowest mark since 2005 (3.75).
The bullpen, featuring rookies Codi Heuer, Matt Foster and Garrett Crochet working in high-leverage roles, emerged as a strength, finishing fifth in opponents’ slugging (.366) and seventh in ERA (3.76) and on-base percentage (.308).
It all added up to a .136 increase in winning percentage, the third-best in the majors behind the Padres (.185) and Marlins (.165) from the National League. The Sox were 7289 a year ago.
“It’s a tough one to swallow, but we’ve got to keep going,” Anderson said minutes after the season came to a close. “It’s just the start of something that could be great.”