Sox Populi - A Chicago White Sox podcast

The White Sox continue their West Coast road trip to Seattle, taking on the Mariners. Seattle is in a tough division, ranking fourth despite hovering around .500. Both teams seem to have turned a corner, or at the very least are peeking around the corner. Two-time SABR award winner and contributor to Baseball Prospectus Mikey Ajeto joined the podcast to preview the series, chat about the Mariners, and talk about baseball and life. Content warning: There is talk about deep depression. The wild American League West What’s going on in Seattle? How do the Mariners get out of their slump? Who is the team’s current MVP, and who could be on the trading block? The Paul Sewald fan club, and how it saved a life A round of questions from Twitter about best friends, best players aside from Ichiro and Ken Griffey Jr., and Mikey’s love for Nirvana Series matchup and pitching breakdowns Why can’t [redacted] join his friend [redacted] in Japan? Fears, threats, and the keys to win the series Around the league with Mikey’s thoughts Find Mikey on Twitter and follow along at Baseball Prospectus and It’s Never Sunny In Seattle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chrystal O’Keefe and Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, frankly a little bored and finding so little to do South Side Sox-wise lately, chat it up with Brett Ballantini about where the White Sox stand and what lies ahead for the team. The first half of our intended short show (spoiler: It was not short) was devoted to the bright spots of the season. Chrystal chooses Romy González, Melissa the sturdy starting rotation, and Brett, with reluctance, the mere 4 1⁄2 -game deficit the White Sox face despite being, by all accounts, a lousy baseball team Mid-show we roll out some site news, including South Side Sox intern Sage Bollenbach spearheading our new TikTok (@southsidesox_) channel, Melissa’s efforts on Facebook (@SouthSideSox), ever-entertaining guests for Chrystal on Visiting Dugout (the podcast that never sleeps), and the looming likelihood of a daily history pod And, on to the bad ... Chrystal’s heart breaks a bit in talking about Lance Lynn, Melissa takes down the entire lousy offense, and Brett goes biggest off all, castigating the utter and complete lack of reinforcements at the Double-A or Triple-A levels, at any position Predictions on what happens with Lucas Giolito And yes, Brett defends Rick Hahn. Not gonna tease it any more than that. The position taken is utterly plausible, but the mere notion of defending Rick Hahn in the year of our lord 2023 seems ... wrong Plus, cameos from Freddie Sage-Bollenbach and Willow O’Keefe! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox lost the Marlins series with two of three of the more embarrassing losses of the last few years. Now Chicago is off to Los Angeles to start a West Coast road trip, starting with the Dodgers. AJ Gonzalez of Dodger Blue and REMEZCLA joined the show to chat about his team and the upcoming series. The good and bad surprises going down in the National League West A light razzing of the Padres What’s going on in LA? Who is the team’s current MVP, and who could be on the trading block? Remembering the great Vin Scully with a special moment for AJ A round of questions from Twitter asking about trades, how deep the minor league system is, if the Dodgers ownership would like to buy the White Sox, and general Mookie Betts appreciation Series matchup and pitching breakdowns Why can’t [redacted] join his friend [redacted] in Japan? Fears, threats, and the keys to win the series Around the league with AJ’s thoughts Find AJ on Twitter and over at Dodger Blue and REMEZCLA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, enjoy the week that was, relishing winning five out of six, including two out of three from the Yankees, while, being White Sox fans, wondering why the *%&#$ the Sox absolutely cannot hit pitchers just brought up from the minors, where they had ERAs around seven. They then look at the week ahead, agreeing that it would be cool to see Luis Arráez of the Marlins go 10-for-12 and raise his average even farther past .400, as long as he’s erased in a double play every time. After Miami comes a west coast trip, starting in Dodger Stadium, where Will will get to attend White Sox games without putting any money in Jerry Reinsdorf’s pocket — win, win!! The discussion naturally led to pitching matchups — some next week favorable, some not — and a general despair about much of the Sox starting pitching (the exceptions being Lucas Giolito and, often, Michael Kopech) and general delight with how the bullpen has turned things around from its horrendous performance in April. Will thinks the energy of Liam Hendriks and Keynan Middleton has gotten into the minds of the other relievers as well, to the benefit of all, and both think Garrett Crochet finally having a strong performance in New York is an excellent sign for the future. They discussed the homer barrage in Thursday’s first game, but, alas, forgot to credit Seby Zavala for singlehandedly being the offense on Tuesday. Please accept our apologies, Seby. Which leads to the musical question — how in the world does Rocco Baldelli keep his job? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox bounce out of the New York haze for a homestand against the Marlins. Both teams are struggling a bit, but one is in second place at the time of the recording, and the other is fourth in the worst division in baseball. Tommy Barbee, fellow contributor at South Side Sox and Southeast correspondent, joins the show to talk about the Marlins. Will the Marlins figure out Jake Burger and even Romy González? This series might be a close one, with both teams dealing with inconsistency. The winning Marlins are sneaky-good, sitting comfortably in second in the National League East What’s going on in Miami? The Marlins are good but not great, just like the White Sox! Old friend alert, featuring Jorge Soler Did Jazz Chisholm Jr. get the cover curse? Sandy Alcántara has been struggling, and no one knows why The race to the Wild Card Fears, threats, and the keys to win the series Around the league with Tommy’s predictions and thoughts Find Tommy on Twitter and over at South Side Sox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox learned from their previous Tigers series by sweeping Detroit this past weekend. The Yankees are also winning, and sit well better than .500. What will this series look like? Emily Nyman of the Breaking Balls Podcast joins me for a preview of the White Sox road trip to Yankee Stadium. The American League East is a wild place, where every team is better than .500 Will the Rays ever regress? Emily’s feelings on the Yankees season so far Aaron and Gus Judge create wholesome content, but Giancarlo Stanton keeps everyone swooning Gerrit Cole is so wonderfully weird Both teams are high off recent wins, and Emily is confident The biggest threat and the keys to winning the series Iowa was ugly, so we stay away from Twitter when the bad blood resurfaces Taking out the trash on both teams Around the league with Emily’s predictions and thoughts Find Emily on Twitter and over at Breaking Balls Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chrystal O’Keefe, Brian O’Neill, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Malachi Hayes, Dante Jones and Brett Ballantini reviewed an excellent weekend of White Sox baseball, and took out the pocket schedule to study some stern stretches ahead: After the sweep of Detroit, the White Sox project as a 93-loss club and at 26-35 are just 6 1⁄2 games out of first place Yes, it’s just the Tigers — but Ws are Ws Individual thoughts on the weekend triumphs of Liam Hendriks, Michael Kopech and Jake Burger Re: Burger, Melissa points out that only one player (Aaron Judge) has a better average exit velocity — so PLAY HIM MORE, Pedro! Yankees writer, White Sox fan and Mets aficionado Malachi continues to preach quiet confidence, surmising that a “nothing to lose” attitude could play well for the White Sox. Also: Superbullpen! According to one future podcast guest, the White Sox might win one this week in New York A full breakdown of the month of June, which is going to be a bear for the White Sox to succeed through Brett learns what the wrestling term “put through a table” means. Always learning ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan is back from spending May on the other side of the Atlantic. So he and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, delve into all the things that have happened with the White Sox in the past month, as they soared from 13 games worse than .500 to, uh, well, er, 12 games worse. Well, at least Liam Hendriks is back and looking healthy. The duo go from the optimism of actually having a winning month, to the pessimism that the record was only 15-14, and only that because of playing 20 games against the fellow dregs of the dreggy AAACentral. Somehow, they managed to do it without ever mentioning Jerry Reinsdorf or Rick Hahn. Meanwhile, there is discussion of the starting pitchers’ woes, the bullpen’s mixed performance, the aggravating inconsistency of the offense, and even more aggravating horrible consistency of the defense. But what about strength of schedule? Yes, that’s in there, too, just to add to all the excitement the White Sox generate on a daily basis. Or weekly basis. Or ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just days ago the White Sox were humiliated by the Tigers after losing three of four. In this episode, Rogelio Castillo from Motor City Metrics and Tigers Minor League Report (and so much more) shares his thoughts on the Motor City Kitties and their upcoming trip to Chicago. Do you get déjà vu? The White Sox play the Tigers yet again Rogelio’s feelings on the season so far are not as doom and gloom as Chris Brown’s With a lot of prospect knowledge, Rogelio talks about who he is looking forward to seeing Go see a minor league game! They’re actually a lot of fun! The biggest threat and the keys to winning the series Around the league with Rogelio’s predictions and thoughts Find Rogelio on Twitter and follow along at Tigers Minor League Report, FanSidedMLB, Call to the Pen, and Motor City Metrics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommy Barbee, Malachi Hayes, Ryiin, Dante Jones and Brett Ballantini took a hard look through the looking glass into the future to decide how this failed White Sox roster will transform in the coming weeks: There are just two teams worse than the White Sox, and the team projects as a 98-loss club currently, in case you are seduced by being just 6 1⁄2 games out of first place On that note: Memories of the White Flag Trade A “speed round” of evaluating the coming contract options, free agents ... and Yoán Moncada Is Jerry looking to slash costs? The range of opinions seems to be Malachi’s no-moves/ride it out to Tommy’s FIRE SALE The ONE most significant move the team will make this season Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Brett Ballantini grills Darren Black on the players who are soon due (or well overdue) for promotions. Alternately, we discuss some players who should have already moved up, but instead are stuck in place trying to figure out a next gear. First, a cursory rundown of the past few weeks of MVPs, including the likes of DJ Gladney and Connor McCullough who should have been promoted already Darren shares his “key stat” for determining progress in the minors The most obvious upward movement in the system appears to be at first base, where DJ should be moving up to Birmingham and Tim Elko to Winston-Salem Why a pause on a player like Terrell Tatum would be wise, in spite of his obvious outclassing of his level through two months The José Rodríguez conundrum, trading contact for power but now beginning a slow-start trend that could torpedo his career Quick speed round, just for laughs: Who is the “next man up” into the White Sox rotation from Charlotte (or Birmingham), if necessary? The answers will shock and horrify, and not because Brett and his Wiffleball frisbee throws his hat in the ring Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fresh off of dropping three of four games against the Tigers, the White Sox look to bounce back on their home turf, welcoming the likes of Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and the rest of the Angels. What it feels like to have two of the greatest players on your team Angels rundown The biggest threat, fears, and the keys to winning the series Around the league More women in sports, please Swilly is on Twitter at, what else, @SwillySports. Also, check out Swilly’s linktree. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fresh off of a much-needed series win in Cleveland, the White Sox head to Detroit to take on the second-place Tigers. In this episode, Chris Brown from Motor City Metrics and Tigers Minor League Report talks about everything going on up north. The Tigers aren’t even supposed to be good this year A few Korn references because Chrystal and Chris are old Rough starts and hot streaks Miggy’s treasure trove of weird farewell gifts Free agency drama Comerica is not only fun, but it has delicious street tacos and happens to be across from Mom’s Spaghetti The biggest threat, fears, and the keys to winning the series Around the league Find Chris on Twitter and follow along at both Tigers Minor League Report and Motor City Metrics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Given that the White Sox have again been exposed for a significant lack of upper-minors depth, Darren Black answers a number of questions from Brett Ballantini that center on the organization’s philosophy regarding the minors, how things have improved (or gotten worse), and the overall outlook for this batch of young players. As easy as it is to talk about what’s wrong, we started out with what’s right about the White Sox and their approach to the draft and minors. Yes, there was something positive, but no, it was not inspiring A key flaw in how the White Sox have approached the draft and their minors: The “filling a need”/fantasy baseball philosophy When the playing field is even, the White Sox are exposed as one of the worst organizations in the majors All that said, Darren is significantly more optimistic about the direction of things under Mike Shirley A Chris Getz assessment (or: How Loud Will Darren Howl if Getz replaces Rick Hahn?) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox travel to Cleveland to face the Guardians for the two teams’ second series matchup of the season. The last round was good for the Pale Hose, winning a rare series, but they also didn’t face Sox-killer José Ramírez, and only saw Josh Naylor for one game. Somber vibes and hard times in Cleveland When will Triston McKenzie return, and will he be the same? The revolving door of injured pitchers and rookies Farm report The biggest threat, fears, and the keys to winning the series Around the league Find Imari on Twitter, over at Pitcher List, and follow along with Rocking at the Jake Podcast and Bleav in Guardians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox are hosting the Royals after losing the first matchup in Kansas City a week ago. Michael Farina from Royal de Lux Podcast joined the show to talk about all things Royals: The Royals, they’re just like us! The lack of pitching depth in Kansas City Is this all just a perpetual rebuild? Thoughts on Pedro Grifol The biggest threat, and the keys to win Around the league Find Michael on Twitter, and check out Royal de Lux Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommy Barbee, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Dante Jones, Chrystal O’Keefe and Brett Ballantini took the lead of a recently-stoked Race to the Bottom series and took it a few measures farther: Impressions of a dastardly season, now one-quarter gone What makes this season different from 2018’s 100-loss season Does Burlington Coat Factory still exist? Of course Burlington Coat Factory still exists! You go in there with $645, you are literally a king Imagining how the next 120 games will play out ... it doesn’t look good for Pedro Is a full teardown/rebuild in the works ... and if so, what conditions need to be met for that to happen? White Sox Pride is now the Scarlett Letter ... W Only one of the five on the panel thinks this season will not end in significant firings/rebuilding Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox will be hosting the Guardians for their first meeting of the season. The Guardians are sitting just three games back from first, recently reclaiming second place from the Tigers. Jeff Ellis from Locked On Guardians joined the show to talk about all things Guardians: How a sluggish start from Josh Naylor and José Ramírez’s lingering thumb injury are affecting the team Triston McKenzie’s return Will the Guardians linger in the same spot all season in a weak division? The biggest threat, and the keys to win Around the league Find Jeff on Twitter, and check out Locked On Guardians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darren Black is back off of the IL, joining Brett Ballantini for a run through recent affiliate MVPs, with extra attention paid to a few players who seem to be taking a big step forward in the early going. We start in Charlotte, where Brett wonders why bigger bats like Victor Reyes, Clint Frazier and Oscar Colás were bypassed in favor of Jake Marisnick on the South Side A study of the the unique hitter that is Carlos Pérez Quick check-in on the foreboding news about Davis Martin’s injury A glimpse at the jaw-droppingly great start to Cristian Mena’s season, and how high his fortunes could find him this summer Who is having the more perfect and promise-fulfilling start to 2023, DJ Gladney or Terrell Tatum? (Answer: A tie?) Eschewing Kannapolis for this podcast, we return to Charlotte for discussion of Garrett Crochet, and his present and future prospects Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Astros are coming to town, and it will be José Abreu’s first trip to his old stomping grounds. The White Sox will play a tribute video for Abreu, and I imagine it will be a mixed bag of boos, cheers, and maybe a few tears. The Astros sit 3 1⁄2 games back from first, sitting in third place in the American League West. Meanwhile, the White Sox are just a single game ahead of the last-place Royals — the team that just took three of four games in the last series. Injuries abound with some of the best players on the Astros José Abreu has not yet reached August Abreu level, and has yet to hit a home run Excitement around JP France The biggest threat, and the keys to win Around the league Find Andy on Twitter, and follow along at All Blogs Go To Heaven. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryiin, Dante Jones, Chrystal O’Keefe and Brett Ballantini looked straight into the eyes of great fortune (wins in five of seven games) and tried to imagine whether it could last. Pluse, what’s the deal with that home run celebration? Chrystal, fresh from a mini-trip to Cincinnati for the one loss of the weekend that ended in her not even scoring a Funko Pop for her aunt, gives us the skinny on the Great American Ballpark. Verdict? Great park for families, and an eminently decent park overall What do we believe, the team we’ve seen for a month that is REALLY LOUSY, or this one over the past week that is playing at a division-winning clip? We all managed to avoid inhaling too much laughing gas The injury train keeps rolling, and the group tries to cure what ails the White Sox. Unfortunately, that points more to the front office’s poor roster construction than anything the actual players are falling short over The White Sox turn back the clock to a time before Michael Jordan, deigning to have Chicago embraced again for Al Capone and organized crime, not dynasties. OK, while not overreacting to the “Gangster” celebration, we do think there are other directions the team could have taken And in a spontaneous final round, we speculate on what the sponsor patch (presuming any company ponies up the surely low, low patch rental price) will be once the White Sox adorn them. Four different answers, and not all of them are a down arrow! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How evenly matched are the White Sox and Royals? They’re currently the bottom-feeders of the American League Central, dealing with rebuilds and a rough April. Will this be a mid-off, or will we at least have a competitive series? I asked Kevin O’Brien from sites such as The Royals Reporter, SABR, and Pitcher List what his thoughts were on the Royals and the upcoming series. What on Earth is going on in Kansas City? The uncanny resemblance between the White Sox and Royals Royals prospects Lorenzo Cain’s retirement, and wanting to retire as a Royal after 13 seasons The biggest threat, and the keys to win How Andrew Benintendi will be good for the White Sox Around the league Find Kevin on Twitter, and again at The Royals Reporter, SABR, and Pitcher List. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox are fresh off a series win, the first of the season, against the Twins. With better vibes, the team heads to Cincinnati to face off against the Reds. Chrystal sits down with Wick Terrell from our sister site Red Reporter to chat about the road trip. Predicting the Reds season as a whole April and May without Joey Votto Extension talk about the young ace Hunter Greene The biggest threat, and the keys to win The Reds Hall of Fame Museum, and why those traveling this weekend should stop in Around the league Find Wick on Twitter and over at Red Reporter, and tune in to his podcast Walks Will Haunt, part of the Fans First Sports Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White Sox are still pretty bad, and the Twins are atop the American League Central. In this episode, Seth Stohs gives a great breakdown of the Twins after nearly 20 years of coverage on the team. Predicting the Twins season as a whole and who has the best chance at MVP How great is a healthy Byron Buxton Carlos Correa and Joey Gallo are good, but what about the starting rotation The biggest threat, and the keys to win The depth of the Twins' roster A few White Sox compliments Around the league, and some Pirates and Dave Parker appreciation Find Seth on Twitter and over at Twins Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elated by the White Sox actually ending their 10-game losing streak, even if the win was largely thanks to a pitching gift from Rays manager Kevin Cash, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and temporarily downtown Chicago correspondent, Will, delve into the past but then leap into the possibilities in the future. Anticipated guest star Berto from the west side had to cancel due to a workout injury (isn’t that so White Soxy?), but there is plenty of ranting on the show, though none of it done without going seven minutes without a pause to breathe. Among the topics: What the hell is wrong with Luis Robert Jr.? Is it hamstring, mindset, or the extra weight of having to lug two extra letters around on the back of his jersey? Has Ethan Katz outlived his usefulness (big disagreement on that one)? Now that the losing streak has been broken and the Sox have raised their winning percentage to a 45-victory pace, is the sky the limit? Or is fivethirtyeight.com’s projection of 71 wins as high as they can go? When Tim Anderson and Hanser Alberto are activated this week, who gets shipped out (no disagreement on this one, except maybe whether Romy González should be shipped all the way out to infinity and beyond)? How many of their next 10 games do the Sox need to win to be even remotely considered a real major league team? Can Liam Hendriks and Garrett Crochet save the incredibly awful bullpen? Which relievers go when they’re activated? Rick Hahn now has kinda sorta fallen on his sword and verbally accepted responsibility for the awfulness of the White Sox, mere months after saying if problems were his fault he’d resign. Can anyone believe anything Hahn ever says? Is there even the tiniest, teeniest, itty-bittyest, teensy-weensyest chance Jerry Reinsdorf would sell the team, or are we all just on death watch (bet you can guess the answer)? Important questions all, some of which may even be answered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Malachi Hayes, Chrystal O’Keefe, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Adrian Serrano and Brett Ballantini took on the daunting task of immediately improving the White Sox by taking over the team on Friday night. We discussed changes major and minor, then predicted the next weird thing that will happen with the club. Not to give the whole program away, but our “immediate change” answers include revamping the farm system, selling off assets, position changes, demotions from the big club, DFAing the despicable abuser, chasing the most coveted free agent in the land, and burning the entire executive class to the ground Tweaks, mea culpas and fun changes? Restore retired player images to the outfield wall, bring back the Goose, make reparations via DV organization donations, free the 500 class, get the City Connects in greater circulation As for the Next Weird Thing that’s going to happen, predictions vary from a quick return for Liam Hendriks to a future .500 club We’ve got some fun shows to come as well, with a constant parade of Visiting Dugouts, Berto from the West Side guesting on Sharing Sox, and our Sox Populi Show-and-Tell, so keep tuning in — we’ll try to entertain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Without a series win, or even a back-to-back win, the White Sox once again face the best team in the league — the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays are atop the American League at the moment with a record of 20-5, a cushy .800 winning percentage. Author and lifelong Rays fan Alicia Thompson sits in the Dugout this time around, to talk about the red-hot Rays. First things first — buy Alicia’s book Will the Rays crush our hopes even further? How Alicia feels heading into the series Wander Franco’s MVP race and Tyler Glasnow’s return The biggest threat, and the keys to win The depth of the Rays roster The best ’stache in the league? Dylan Cease Around the league Find Alicia on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a week off due to technical (get rid of the duck!) difficulties, Darren Black again joins Brett Ballantini to talk about the best of the White Sox affiliates, addressing the first two system Players of the Week, Loidel Chapelli Jr. and Wilfred Veras. So, Darren has managed to turn around his coverage record — and the fate of each affiliate — early on in 2023. What’s his secret, and does it involve pep talks? Veras, our most recent POTW, is up first, and what’s additionally notable to the “givens” (mashing the ball, dominating at High-A after splashing into Project Birmingham with no hiccups in 2022) is some of his high baseball IQ and defensive play We’re a week late on Loidel, who continues to impress in his first Stateside year. Sure, he’s an older prospect and is roughly age-appropriate for High-A, but is making a massive transition to a new culture. What does the front office see in players like Veras and Chapelli beyond filling the box scores? Kannapolis POTW Tim Elko is such a fun watch. Brett throws out a completely blind (but not necessarily inaccurate) Ron Kittle comp, and The Captain should be so lucky to have that impact given his swing-and-miss-but-also-go-boom game Birmingham POTW Cristian Meña (we have the question now in officially to the White Sox, tilde or no tilde, we’re guessing tilde) continues to burn it up. With a hat-tip also to Davis Martin, Meña has established himself as the Fast Riser among starting pitchers in the system Charlotte POTW Nate Fisher is exactly the kind of pitcher that made sense to sign into the system during the contention window (yeah, sorry, window’s closed ca. 2023), and Rick Hahn failing to do so (kudos for this year, but whatever) remains a true “deep cuts” failure of his GM tenure Injury roundup covers some big names, but the news is actually not as bad as you fear Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chrystal O’Keefe sits down with Michael Waterloo of The Athletic and Fantasy Pros to discuss the upcoming series in Toronto. The Blue Jays are sitting in third place in a tough division — but were the first team to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays. How will the White Sox fare against the team up north? Give a listen below, and find out. A rundown on the Blue Jays Where will the Blue Jays sit throughout the season Poutine hot dogs and ballpark updates Series preview The biggest threat, and the keys to winning the series Around the league How the season might just go Find Michael on Twitter and follow along on The Athletic and FantasyPros. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dante Jones, Chrystal O’Keefe, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach and Brett Ballantini sat down to pull the camera back a bit on our White Sox fandom, and reassess our purpose here. Yeah, there is some origin story background for each of us, but also equal parts sweetness and cynicism. There is a love for the White Sox and what (we feel) they stand for present in all. Joe Resis again tries and fails to catch on to the podcast, and his hunger for those green room snax is getting alarming. In the second half, we also bring back our Good Vibes (hey Jacki!) segment. It’s sad, and it’s a tough way to open the show, but the White Sox just don’t care. How to we stomach and play through that? There are a variety of reasons, and they keep us going That includes directly confronting the issue of an unsavory player in a prominent role — and making the very best of a horrible situation, as Chrystal and Colleen Sullivan are doing by donating to domestic violence organizations for each start Burying the lede because this was an overarching podcast that examines our fandom, Liam Hendriks is cancer-free! Other Good Vibes topics: Jake Burger, Reynaldo López, Chrystal’s Visiting Dugout podcast on Sox Populi, and some bright spots on the farm Only after the podcast did we run our show-and-tell gear segment, with Dante rocking Padres and White Sox, Brett in the SSS Juggling Vices Dick Allen tribute, Melissa repping the FAR South Side, and Chrystal going all Sky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Without a series win, or even a back-to-back win, the White Sox face the best team in the league — the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays are atop in the American League at the moment with a record of 16-3, and way better than .500, at .842. Elizabeth Strom of fellow SBN site DRaysBay sits in the Dugout this time around, to talk about a magical start to the season. How far will the Rays go? Postseason? Devil magic and Cash How Elizabeth feels heading into the series Will there be a pitchers’ duel on Saturday? The biggest threat, and the keys to maybe just sweeping the White Sox Thoughts on the pitch clock Around the league Rules, rules, rules — stealing bases IS FUN How the season might just go Find Elizabeth on Twitter and over at DRaysBay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and current downtown Chicago correspondent Will (shameless plug — in town to perform in The Cherry Orchard at the Goodman Theatre), wander into the world of mysteries surrounding the 2023 White Sox, many of them mysteries that have baffled Sox fans for many years, to whit: Why do the White Sox year after year have the worst plate discipline in the majors (well, OK, this year next to worst, thanks to Detroit, but do the Tigers even count as major league?) despite multiple changes of hitting coaches, bench coaches, and managers? Why do the White Sox year after year have the least efficient pitching staff in the majors, consistently awful in how many pitches it takes to get through an inning? If you always walk a passel of opposing hitters, is that really baseball, or just bad slow-pitch softball? If the player meant to be your star designated hitter is very much not hitting anything at all, designated or otherwise, and his substitutes are hitting really well, how do you decide on your lineup? And how long do we get to enjoy Jake Burger’s hitting before the league figures out how to pitch to him? Even Cats has finished its Broadway run. Is the horribleness of White Sox pitching a sign to end its own Ethan Katz run? Is there a way out of this mess? Tune in to find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will the White Sox finally be evenly matched as they head into a series with the Phillies? The two clubs sport identical records heading into this week’s series, so listen to Kevin Seamus as he breaks down Philadelphia’s season thus far with Chrystal O’Keefe. The 1993 team and Kevin’s love for the Phillies Bryce Harper rumors Where does Kevin see the Phillies sitting by midseason, and again in September How does Kevin feel going into this first series Keys for the Phillies to take this series, and will it be another 4-0 ballgame? The biggest threat to the White Sox right now Rules, rules, rules — stealing bases IS FUN How the season might just go Find Kevin on Twitter and check out his blog on the 1993 Phillies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A couple of weeks in and finally shedding some of the preview/pregame/postgame podcasts for a bit, it’s time for the mothership to take off again — this time, with a weird duck stowing away throughout. Darren Black, Malachi Hayes, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach and Brett Ballantini got together for a gut-check on where the team’s at. Hang around, because while you might not see Joe Resis, you may catch some Good Vibes (hey Jacki!) by the end of the show. The lineup: Darren in old-school Intimidators cap, Malachi rocking the ’59 Sox cap, Brett donning Bob Marley but with just one operating ear, and Melissa in self-professed Friday the 13th gear chosen especially for the fan-murdering nature of this early Sox season Yes, Joe Resis was also inked to appear on this podcast, but he either got locked in the green room, or was just enjoying the snacks so much, he never arrived. Darren even left a few times to try to go find him Yes, there was some chuckling over David Roth’s Defector piece that pretty well captures the demolition derby nature of this White Sox team, even after we’d been told that fundamental play — the basics of baseball, if you will — were drilled throughout Spring Training Injuries. Yep. Well, we talk about ’em. Guys won’t be out forever The yin-yang of this year’s pitching rotation does have us stumped. On one hand, it has the potential to lead a team to the playoffs (Malachi) or be hot-cold for 162 games (Darren) LUIS ROBERT. Brett gets simmered down a bit from the MVP talk The Positive Vibrations portion of the podcast brought it all home Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you believe the White Sox are heading to their fifth series already? Time flies when you’re not having fun. I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to Dream from FTNBets about the super-fun Baltimore Orioles. Where does Dream see the O’s sitting by midseason, and again in September How does Dream feel going into this first series Keys for the O’s to take this series The biggest threat on the O’s right now (hint: it’s my favorite baseball name) Rules, rules, rules — are we in favor? How the season might just go Find Dream on Twitter, and follow along at FTNBets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a sort of test podcast and video feed, we switched over to a new format for the Sox Populi family of programs, to considerable success in spite of Darren Black losing his camera for a sec and Brett Ballantini not knowing where to look to engage with viewers. But that backstage nonsense aside, Darren and Brett sat down to talk about the hot (?) Charlotte Knights, who have seen some breakout performances early and, let’s face it, simply have an actual pitching rotation this year. Lenyn Sosa mania! Darren tracks the ascendant middle infielder’s early work in 2023, and what he’s done and needs to keep doing to take the step forward into impact major-leaguer After considerable consternation the Brett’s part, the Knights seemingly have five or more starters — not going deep into games, mind you — but not just an assemblage for bullpen games, as in 2022. Darren traces that evolution, and also finds time to talk a bit of Davis Martin, the best of the Charlotte starters so far Lane Ramsey is also making a bullpen impact, taking the opportunity the White Sox have given him and making the most of it despite being outside the 40-man, looking in The curious case of Loidel Chapelli Jr.’s assignment, and why it was absolutely the right move (correction: neither of us, no one, yet has a clue whether it’s the right move) However, Brett is quick to point out that if not the Luis Robert Jr. track, Chapelli’s assignment to High-A could at least end up being an Oscar Colás track to the majors Mostly, we just want some games below the Triple-A level to not be rained out, for a fuller Sox Pop on the Farm experience next week Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you believe the White Sox are heading to their fourth series already? Time flies when you’re having fun. I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to Ben Jones from Fans First Sports Network’s Twins Talk and SB Nation’s Twinkie Town to talk about his team. The Twins are leading the American League Central at 6-3, two games ahead of the White Sox. Where does Ben see the Twins sitting by midseason, and again in September How does Ben feel going into this first series Ben’s keys for the Twins to take this series The biggest threat on the Twins right now Rules, rules, rules — are we in favor How the season might just go Find Ben on Twitter, listen to Twins Talk Pod, or check out some of his work over at our sister site Twinkie Town. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout the season, I plan to preview our upcoming series with a fan from every team the White Sox face. We’ll chat about our game expectations, players to watch, and much more. For the third episode of Visiting Dugout, I sat down with Graves to chat about the upcoming series in Pittsburgh against the Pirates. The Pirates are back at PNC and ready to welcome the prodigal son, Andrew McCutchen PNC is awesome, and Graves talks about some of the best things the ballpark has to offer Fresh off a sweep in Boston, Graves speaks on the keys to winning, and the biggest threats the White Sox might face. Who might have a good season, and thoughts on the new rules — love them or hate them? You can find Graves on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is a very interesting group of players at Low-A Kannapolis, and by interesting, well, note the word used isn’t intriguing. But the two most interesting arms from the 2022 draft will be Cannon Ballers, so hey, Darren Black hopped on with Brett Ballantini to discuss them, and some of the other, more imperfect, prospects: Darren defends Noah Schultz from the immediate Randy Johnson comps, while Brett admits he’d be terrified to face a pitcher of Schultz’s size And then, there’s the sneaky 1a draft pick from 2022, plum-pick-until-injury Peyton Pallette. Pallette has been drawing raves already this year, and Darren explains why There is a core of intriguing bullpen arms, including a pair of promising pitchers who aren’t yet sure to be starters or relievers The offense? Well, nine guys per game will go up to hit, that’s for sure Deep thoughts, driven by dummy Brett. The White Sox still have, in technical terms, a really lousy farm system. How long before we can expect to see better records from the affiliates — or is that even important? Brett insults the White Sox front office and has to run off of the podcast to address its hate mail. How they were listening live to this podcast, though ... Also, programming note, Brett had Opening Day down as Thursday for AA-A, then double-checked and somehow found a source that had it wrong. So all the talk about the season opening on Friday, well ... OK, let’s face it, Brett’s a little dim Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unlike a year ago, the clear bevy of Single-A talent in the White Sox system resides in High-A Winston-Salem. And that’s not only due to matriculation from the 2022 Low-A Kannapolis team. With so many promising players starting the year at Winston-Salem, Darren Black hopped on with Brett Ballantini to discuss all of the promise residing in High-A this year: But first, Brett initiates a mini-rant about a player no longer in the White Sox system, but who last played there in 2021 with the Dash and was just moved up to the Philadelphia Phillies, McKinley Moore OK, on to the actual Dash players, leading off with two exciting starters who (for different reasons) will need to flash health and reach the 100 IP mark, Norge Vera and Kohl Simas A positive dive into Jonathan Cannon, and a worried one into Jared Kelley Brett brings up Brooks Gosswein, and Darren makes Brett wish he didn’t Shout-outs to Trooper Galactus for his Wilfred Veras stan ... but seriously, what were you Top Prospect Voters thinking by not only keeping Veras from winning a round in the first 20, but finishing low on the ballot itself, throughout? Brett attempts to place a claim on Jacob Burke, but stymies himself when realizing that any mildly-promising center fielder captures his heart. Darren provides the actual reasons why, yes, we should be optimistic about where Burke can move in our system Some “bonus time” talk about the otherwise-overlooked Wes Kath, and in fact, we unearth a way that the way-premature assignment Kath got to Project Birmingham in 2022 could in fact work out really well We recorded before the wild news that Loidel Chapelli Jr. (yes, Brett has placed a claim on his Cuban brother) would be starting the season here. WOW We also were fighting (well, Brett was) some real technical issues that apparently stole a minute or so out of the podcast; apologies for the very strange lack of commercial intro and outro midway through the program Also, programming note, Brett had Opening Day down as Thursday for AA-A, then double-checked and somehow found a source that had it wrong. So all the talk about the season opening on Friday, well ... OK, let’s face it, Brett’s a little dim Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and current downtown Chicago correspondent, Will, were just settling in for their first podcast of the regular season when the White Sox announced that Eloy Jiménez is headed to the IL with a theoretically minor hamstring issue. Not good. On the good side, the praise is for the Cuban contingent, especially Luis Robert Jr.’s incredible fielding and Yoán Moncada’s hot start at the plate, with plenty left over for the start of Oscar Colás’ White Sox career and the (at least temporary) resurgence of Yasmani Grandal’s bat, if not his defense. Further praise goes to Dylan Cease for his great first start (the podcast was recorded before No. 2), with reserved kudos for the other starting pitchers in Houston, who took a whole lot of pitches to get through a depleted Astros lineup, with FIP showing Lance Lynn and the new guy getting a whole lot of luck and Lucas Giolito getting ill-treated by fortune. That, of course, doesn’t include whatever happened to Michael Kopech on Monday, which both agreed could not just have been a matter of pitch-tipping. As for the bullpen and its 9.90 ERA, both agreed the best reliever far and away in the young season has been Hanser Alberto, though Will disagreed that Hanser should be handed the closer’s job, at least until Liam Hendriks is back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If Project Birmingham didn’t ensure it, the roster heading into 2023 sure does: The Barons are the centerpiece minor league organization for the White Sox. With so many promising players starting the year at Birmingham, Darren Black hopped on with Brett Ballantini to discuss all of the promise residing in Double-A this year: Cristian Mena and Matt Thompson may be starters headed in a different direction; the former has his sights set on the South Side this summer, while the latter faces a make-or-break season in the rotation The heart of the bullpen has been injured over the past few seasons, as well as Spring Training invitee Edgar Navarro The offense is really where it’s at, with Colson Montgomery, of course. But we talk at length about Bryan Ramos, and how his success would be a rare, non-high pick win for the White Sox José Rodríguez shouldn’t be long for the Barons, but he does start here, and needs not only to mash, but to stay healthy We struggle through technical difficulties, making this a rare audio-only podcast Still to come, previews and podcasts on both Single-A clubs, leading up to Opening Night for AA-A clubs on Friday Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the most brutal home opener we can remember, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Kristina AIrdo and Brett Ballantini got together right after the final out to review a sad trombone of a 12-3 Sox pasting by the San Francisco Giants. Kopech, Kopech, Kopech, he went from lights-out early 2022 to whatever ... this ... is. Funny, we don’t discuss “tipping pitches” but we do mention leaving hittable, straight meatballs over the heart of the plate There was a small amount of fight in the club — was it what we needed to see after getting down so big, early? Positives to be taken from this very negative game How is Pedro Grifol shaping up as a skipper in this early going? How do we see the first block of 12 games this season shaping up and what should the 12-game record be then for us to feel like, yeah, this team is on the right track? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brett Ballantini invites some of his SSS friends, including Tommy Barbee, Jordan Hass, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Dante Jones and Brian O’Neill, to chat about what is looking to be a damp Home Opener against the Giants on Monday: Wow! Two of four in Houston, leading in every game, potent if inefficient offense, solid starting, some speed and defense — who are these guys? Can the momentum of some early season success down south translate to a series win or sweep this week hosting the Giants Focus on Michael Kopech’s season debut, as it seems he could be the most “all or nothing” hurler in the rotation Our favorite Opening Days include a 1990, a couple 1991s and 2006s, and an almost-2020. See which panelists were at the games together! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Home Opener! Throughout the season, I plan to preview our upcoming series with a fan from every team the White Sox face. We’ll chat about our game expectations, players to watch, and much more. For the second episode of Visiting Dugout, I sat down with Britt of Willets Pen to chat about Chicago’s first homestand against the Giants. Britt shares her thoughts on the not-great, but not-bad Giants Saying goodbye to our old friend Carlos Rodón, and why he can’t be replaced Britt shares her key to a series win and the biggest threat to the White Sox The O’s might just be a fun team to watch this year, according to Britt Chrystal’s sleep agents that might just go pretty far this season You can find Britt on Twitter, Pitcher List, and Willets Pen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s another season in Charlotte, and hopefully a good for a Knights team that wasn’t just bad in 2022, but embarrassingly so, as just one-third of Charlotte starts were made by legit starting pitchers. Darren Black hopped on with Brett Ballantini to discuss the highest level, yet somewhat AAAA status, of the Chicago minor-league system: The biggie: Will the Knights start actual starting pitchers this season? With Davis Martin, Sean Burke, Jonathan Stiever and John Parke, it appears so. Maybe not 100% of the time, but we’re hoping for 80%. Brett immediately carves out an exception to the 100% goal — if Davis Martin or Sean Burke need to be called up immediately to take the spot of our fifth starter, [redacted], all good Between Gregory Santos and Franklin German, there are two MLB-ready arms in Charlotte, and on the southpaw side, it’s Tanner Banks. All in all, not the worst way to break camp Darren was forced into an altogether-too-long segment on Yolbert Sánchez, who has seen his star fall right off of the map — especially once José Rodríguez is promoted from Birmingham At some point, Darren goes from intermittent Zoom camera to gone for good, so forgive the 30 seconds of tech failure ... just cue up the Yakety Sax, please Given just three true outfielders on the South Side (or 2 1⁄2 , or just two, depending on how you feel about your corner outfielders getting caught in the fishing nets) are the Knights stocked with ready band-aids? More so than in 2022, says Darren Next week, with the rest of the minors opening on April 7, we’ll run our other three affiliate previews Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wow, way to make us all (oh please, don’t you shake your heads at us, this season was scaring hell outta you, too) feel like negative nellies, White Sox. Well, finally a fun postgame podcast for our crew, as Brian O’Neill, Malachi Hayes, Dante Jones, Allie Wesel, Jacki Krestel, Chrystal O’Keefe, Ryiin, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach and Brett Ballantini got together right after the final out to review a thrilling, 3-2 win. Dylan Cease. Seriously, you want more than that? Well, how about his ruthless, intense attack of the strike zone and the pitch clock. Remember when we were concerned the pitch clock was gassing him? Pfft A round-robin of delights we all took from tonight’s game The offense was not efficient — but then again, efficient enough. There are two takes on this, and we present both How do we see the series shaping up the rest of the weekend? What were our reactions to seeing José Abreu in enemy garb? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brett Ballantini invites a half-dozen SSS friends, including debut podcaster Ryiin, Jordan Hass, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Malachi Hayes, Chrystal O’Keefe and Brian O’Neill, to chat about Opening Night in Houston: Did Brian’s terrific essay render this entire podcast moot? Suppose not — we didn’t stop recording after reading Starting it off on the sunny side, we discuss the things we are most excited about as the 2023 season dawns — including the likelihood and tolerance of José Abreu hitting a massive bomb against a former teammate at least once OK then, what about the White Sox still gives us the willies? Among many possibilities, a thin rotation and the possibility that Rick Hahn will control this team on the field by remote come to light Speed round: How likely are the White Sox to pull a Baines ’89 and retire Abreu’s jersey immediately upon his return to Chicago with the Astros in May? At least two dog and one cat cameos on-screen We wind up our longer topics trying to find anything redeeming about the Houston Astros. Aside from Malachi’s rec for a book that strips that insipid organization bare, we didn’t Final speed round finds us discussing the player we are most looking forward to watching in 2023 Also: Tune in to tonight’s postgame podcast, up somewhat shortly after the end of the opener Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Opening Day! I heard everyone wanted another podcast, and I’m here to provide it. Throughout the season, I plan to preview our upcoming series with a fan from every team the White Sox face. We’ll chat about our game expectations, players to watch, and much more. For the inaugural episode of Visiting Dugout, I sat down with Ben Zeidman of Pitcher List and Apollo Media to break down the opening series against the Astros. Ben shares his post-Justin Verlander thoughts, with insights on Houston’s “weakened” starting rotation Astros season predictions Chrystal tries to move on from José Abreu Ben shares his key to a series win and the biggest threat to the White Sox The White Sox are winning the AL Central??? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In what we’ll consider our semi-official Fans First Sports Network and Sox Populi coming-out party, part two, a half-dozen (Chrystal O’Keefe, Tommy Barbee, Adrian Serrano, Dante Jones, Joe Resis, Brett Ballantini) of our 22 prognosticators got together to discuss the differences and similarities we feel about the fortunes of the coming 2023 baseball season. It’s been roughly 43 mothership podcasts since our last MLB prognostication pod, and in that time — you may have noticed — some things have changed. We now represent the Fans First Sports Network and record under the umbrella of Sox Populi. And we soon will be debuting a new program, hosted by Chrystal O’Keefe: Visiting Dugout. Chrystal will be previewing upcoming opponents, with enemy team guests from inside and outside of the FFSN. Tune in, you’re gonna dig it You got some ’splainin’ to do, part one: Tommy Barbee (again) picks the Angels to win the AL West. There’s a support group for that, Tommy — but it’s not us (OK, Darren picked them for a Wild Card) You got some ’splainin’ to do, part two: Dante Jones picks the Cubs for the playoffs, again one of just two writers (Trooper, NLC champs) to see the ivy bumblers in the postseason Because who really cares about the other divisions (aside from, apparently, the AL West), we dive in a bit more to how the AL Central will wrangle out. Warning: there are some seeming inconsistencies in some of our writers’ bold stances We run through our World Series picks, with special guest and late addition to the podcast, Willow O’Keefe Does Brett enjoy the Tomahawk Chop? Related: Brett will not be invited on any Mets podcasts anytime soon, while both he and Tommy (who picked New York, by the way) anticipate actual Steve Cohen crimes in order to secure a title Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices