Sox Populi - A Chicago White Sox podcast

As we head toward the decision time of the trade deadline, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, ask the musical question, “Is there anything at any level that the White Sox do well, or at least adequately?” (Spoiler alert: We didn’t include groundscrew, batboys or ballgirls in the evaluation, so you may already know the answer.) Then there’s the follow-up mus...

The White Sox look to make up for the abysmal Rangers series by hosting the Red Sox this weekend. Boston might be sitting in last place in the American League East, but that doesn’t mean they’re not having a great season. Boston sits 12 games back in the division, but comfortably at .520. Unfortunately for Boston, they’re in a divisional fight with the Rays, Orioles, Yankees, and Blue Jays ... als...

Mark Liptak sat down with Brett Ballantini to talk about where the White Sox stand, how little will change in the near term, and whether there is a historical precedent for the 2023 team. Coming soon, history podcasts! The pair discuss the incredible dysfunction inside the White Sox clubhouse and in the organization at large — and how unlikely things are to change as long as Jerry Reinsdorf owns t...

The White Sox lost the series in Seattle and are heading home to host the first-place Rangers. We’ll see some familiar faces, like Marcus Semien and Dane Dunning, who will likely have the South Side of Chicago a little envious. But envy isn’t the issue Pedro’s Boys should be concerned with — the .620 the Rangers have held on to, the star players, great pitching, and a somewhat functional bullpen s...

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,...

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...

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 Pa...

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...

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 ev...

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 re...

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 Individu...

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 actua...

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 gloo...

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...

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...

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 Tw...

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...

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...

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 p...

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 Tw...

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...

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...

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 h...

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 Royal...

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...