After rainout, White Sox hungry for final run

DETROIT -- The 2021 White Sox hope to share a World Series championship story with the dominant 2005 squad, who captured that title with an astounding 11-1 postseason run.

But those two squads officially will differ on where that playoff journey truly began.

On Sept. 29, 2005, the White Sox claimed a 4-2 victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park to lock down their first American League Central title since 2000. That clincher will almost certainly happen for the ’21 White Sox in Cleveland, after Wednesday afternoon’s contest in Detroit was postponed due to inclement weather.

Wednesday’s game will be made up Monday, which originally was scheduled to be an off-day for both teams. The 2005 White Sox team went from Detroit to Cleveland, where it swept the Indians to close out the regular season and pushed out the team that had sliced the South Siders’ division lead from 15 1/2 games on Aug. 1 to 1 1/2 games on Sept. 24.

When factoring in the playoffs, that 2005 team finished the season with a 16-1 run in its final 17 games. Tony La Russa’s ’21 crew hopes to find a similar sort of run in late September and into October.

“These 11 games [to finish the regular season], I wish we could have played today. Use the 11 games to get ready for Game 1,” said La Russa on a Wednesday Zoom before departing for Cleveland. “As long as we compete, we’ll be ready. The thing is you never take that for granted.

“We have 11 games left, so [we have] chances to practice that competitive edge. ... Our goal is to compete with the guys who are playing and if there’s any dropoff, you say, ‘Let’s go get back on it.’ If we compete like we competed, the numbers will take care of themselves.”

Reynaldo López will start the first game of the doubleheader at 1:10 p.m. ET Thursday at Progressive Field. The second game starter is TBD, depending on what transpires in that first seven-inning contest. Dylan Cease, Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito will finish out the five-game set, with the Bears also playing in Cleveland on Sunday, and Dallas Keuchel will lead the White Sox back to Detroit on Monday to start the makeup contest.

Once the remaining 11 games have been played, it seems almost certain the White Sox will be onward to Houston for what shapes up as their toughest challenge in the American League Division Series. Not toughest necessarily because of the Astros’ equally vast talent, but because of the perception surrounding a first-round loss amidst this top-notch White Sox season.

“There’s a popular perception, the players talk about it all the time,” La Russa said. “You get into the division champs thing over six months, if you get bounced that first series, it’s to a lot of people -- fans, media -- the season wasn’t anything because you lost right away.

“Players feel more pressure in the Division Series then they do in the Championship Series and the World Series. If you lose, then to many people it’s wasted.”