Maybe it’s counterintuitive, but this is the happiest game thread I’ve written all year. You’d think there would be a bit of a letdown, going from what could have been the most dramatic Game 162 in team history to what amounts to a meaningless tune-up game.
That’s not the important part. My Sunday coverage meant that almost every regular game I did this year was the final game of a series, in one way or another. This is the last game thread of the last series of the last week of the 2026 season. Usually,
that means one thing and one thing only.
But things are not usual, and with a feeling that would have been unimaginable six months ago, we can say for certain that this will not be the final game thread of 2026 on South Side Sox. And I can say for certain that I’ve never been close to this happy to write a preview of any Sox game in the month of September.
Not to sound too much like Bill Simmons, but in my head, I’m queuing up the great final battle scene of Return of the King and imagining Aragorn riding a horse rallying his troops. It’s the culmination of the ultimate comeback story. We’ve watched our protagonist move from among the last descendants of an ancient bloodline reduced to wandering in the wilderness, to the top of his old society. He was leading his army into near-certain death, sure, but goddamn if he wasn’t going out as the King of Gondor.
There will be a final game thread on South Side Sox. The ride will eventually end, whether we’ve enjoyed it or not. But it is not THIS day. I see in your eyes fear of a Houston Astros team currently in their Western Roman Empire phase and a Texas Rangers team that’s scored the fewest and allowed the most runs of any (potential) playoff qualifier. Maybe it’s justified, and the season will end by Thursday. But it is not THIS day, and when that day comes, they’ll go out as a playoff-caliber team.
“Wandering in the wilderness” is a truly generous way to describe the White Sox in recent years. When the Ancien Régime was finally deposed in 2023, we were dreadfully made to understand that the team’s next phase involved a competitive window opening in 2027, making it more than a decade of descending from “mired in mediocrity” to “mired in record-setting awfulness.” I was in such denial that I thought Luis Robert Jr. could still help form the nucleus of the next Sox team that would play meaningful September baseball.
And yet, here they are. A playoff team, arriving on the big stage somehow even earlier than expected despite a less-than-24-month-old nadir of a depth that shocked even our greatest cynics. If the White Sox are Aragorn, they’ve got their army, and they’re marching on Mordor. Even if it’s minuscule, there’s always a chance that Frodo could still make it to the top of the mountain. Ceiling be damned, the important thing at this point is that they’re there.
The 2026 White Sox: So remarkable that there is, in fact, a there there.
I almost forgot that a game is still happening. Here are nine guys that may or may not be looking forward to playing baseball this afternoon:
Here are nine more guys who may or may not be relieved that this is the last time they have to play baseball for about 120 afternoons:
Kyle Freeland is like if Jordan Lyles became a local legend instead of the great journeyman of the 2010s. First pitch is at 2:10 p.m. CT from Rate Field (in what could, however, be the last home contest of the year). Standard broadcasts will be available on CHSN (TV) and ESPN 1000 AM (radio). We’ll see you there!
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