Sox Populi - A Chicago White Sox podcast

Hey there White Sox fans, we’re back with another mothership podcast, featuring Adrian Serrano, Chrystal O’Keefe, Joe Resis, Hannah LaMotta and Brett Ballantini. This time out, we’re mostly centering on the transition to the second half of the season, and the marshmallow-soft schedule that looms on the horizon: Coming out of the Cleveland split, we round up the positives (Yoán Moncada!) and negati...

It’s time for SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and current next room (while he’s in Chicago for rehearsals of his new play) correspondent, Will, to gaze into ye olde crystal ball for the second half of the White Sox season. Unfortunately, a look at the first half is required first. Even more unfortunately, Leigh decided to be a meanie and look at White Sox defense. Sure, we all know they ar...

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and currently next room correspondent, Will, anxiously await the next fascinating intentional walk call by the HOFBP, with Leigh pointing out it takes a while sometimes for old folks such as the HOFBP and himself to remember a name, such as the name of who is at-bat. Or what team you’re playing. Meanwhile, they dig into the value of the strategy of always lo...

South Side Sox duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son, Will, who is usually the west coast correspondent, but will be the next room correspondent while he’s in Chicago for six weeks for (shameless plug follows) rehearsals and opening of the world premiere of his play “Campaigns, Inc.” at Timeline Theatre, praise the return of Eloy Jiménez, especially since Eloy helped salvage the Minnesota series wit...

Tireless San Francisco sweep weekend SSS writers Chrystal O’Keefe and Jacki Krestel hopped on for our special Independence Day podcast — which turned out to be anything but. More on that in a bit. The trio chatted on the many highlights from the weekend, concerns going forward, and a little bit about what it means to be a reader of this site. Let’s proceed: Post-sweep, what if anything looks diffe...

In our continuing effort to provide hope and happiness to you, the South Side Sox reader and listener, the SSS mothership podcast crew of Brett Ballantini, Joe Resis, Trooper Galactus, Dante Jones and Adrian Serrano spent this episode figuring out how (if) the White Sox can make up their first-half deficit behind not one, but two formidable AL Central clubs. Let’s get to the highlights: Looking up...

Sharing Sox west coast correspondent Will Allan trekked from North Hollywood to Anaheim Wednesday night, only to find out the White Sox didn’t bother to show up for the game. Well, figuratively, anyway. Asked by dad Leigh whether the Sox look as listless in person as on TV, Will confirmed that if anything they look worse, from pregame warmups to the end of the loss. The two agreed that while the S...

Another week off of the calendar, another week of White Sox water-treading. The SSS mothership podcast crew of Brett Ballantini, Chrystal O’Keefe, Trooper Galactus and Jacki Krestel took on the team, and the curious public relations surrounding it. In the never-ending temperature check of White Sox postseason prospects, how optimistically do we stand? Tangible ways for the White Sox to launch them...

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, breathe a sigh of relief that their joint prediction that the White Sox would go 3-3 vs. Houston and Toronto came true, and give a special thanks to Tuesday night plate umpire Dave Eddings’ incredibly badly-called game for making that possible — what with the stats showing he handed the Sox more than two runs in a one-run...

With “first halves” of the minor league season over, Darren Black and Brett Ballantini spent No. 30, looking at the best player at each level, with some game-show wrinkles: Hot call-up pick Yolbert Sánchez seems to not be a clear-cut MVP at Birmingham or Charlotte, so what gives? In fact, for the Knights, Darren has a wild MVP pick Birmingham’s MVP is sort of a given, considering Lenyn Sosa is sti...

It was a rare opportunity to find out the truth. Sharing Sox west coast correspondent Will Allan spent 13 hours Wednesday in the same room with one of the greatest collections of comedians and comic actors ever assembled, shooting a scene for Jerry Seinfeld’s new Netflix movie Unfrosted, so he naturally took advantage of the situation to ask two of them the most critical question of the day — are...

After a sweep, punctuated by a resounding 13-0 smackdown that applied first aid to Chicago’s woeful run differential if nothing else, this SSS mothership podcast crew of Brett Ballantini, Chrystal O’Keefe, Adrian Serrano, Joe Resis, Dante Jones and Zach Hayes peered into the future to find out whether this was a sign of good fortune ahead: Round-table time: Are the White Sox real, or is a sweep in...

It is often good to go against the tide of public opinion, but this definitely is not one of those times where the White Sox are concerned, so SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, join the throng attacking the HOFBP for the infamous intentional walk on a 1-2 count, the in-your-face defense thereof, and his seemingly endless string of bizarre and harmful manag...

Well then, anyone got anything you wanna talk about? Brett Ballantini invites in Dante Jones, Chrystal O’Keefe, Sam Sherman and Joe Resis to discuss the latest La Russa embarrassment: Brett offers a quick breakdown of the good and bad of La Russa being questioned about his intentional walk to Justin Turner with a 1-2 count — an unquestionably disastrous bit of strategy Dante, at the ballpark today...

Yes, there were no lies detected in Podcast 28 — it’s a Farm podcast for a second straight week! Can we fill the time? Romy González, despite his 2022 setbacks, still may be the preferable promotion option vs. Lenyn Sosa or Yolbert Sánchez Yoelqui Céspedes’ contact troubles Wes Kath is bringing the power and getting his just due as more than just Colson Montgomery’s running mate Bryan Ramos’ promo...

Hey hey, it’s a throwback mothership podcast, to our heady days when it was just Brett Ballantini and the Indianapolis Field Office, Chrystal O’Keefe and Joe Resis in adjacent cubicles. Joe almost missed the podcast, but luckily he looked skyward and saw the SSS Podcast logo beamed up into the sky, and new it was time. Good thing, because amid the gloom of a 25-27 overall record and 2-4 road trip,...

It’s no secret the White Sox are playing very badly, but SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, make the big mistake this week of looking at the actual numbers for hitting, fielding, and pitching. Surprise! Those numbers do not improve one’s opinion. Even when there appears to be hope, the hope gets diminished: Batting average .235, 19th in MLB. Not good by any...

Last time we met for session one of White Sox group therapy, the White Sox were making us sad and apathetic. Over a month since the first episode, it’s somehow worse, with the White Sox two games under .500 and keeping our sports trauma running steady. Sam Sherman, Chrystal O’Keefe, Adrian Serrano and a treadmill aka Zach Hayes gets together for yet another episode of White Sox Therapy to discuss...

Sure, we’re running a victory lap over Darren getting GM Rick Hahn to dump Dallas Keuchel, why shouldn’t we? OK, there were other things to talk about, as well: How big a drag is it to have covered this lousy system for five seasons now? Darren offers hope, though: diamonds in the rough Yolbert Sánchez is still not in the majors; is Darren getting impatient? Lenyn Sosa is still not in Triple-A; is...

A split to finish off Crosstown 2022, at an enormous cost, as on Sunday it appeared that Tim Anderson would be sidelined with a groin injury to an extended period of time. But even with TA, the .500 White Sox have flopped through the first quarter of the season. Zach Hayes, Dante Jones, Trooper Galactus, Joe Resis and Brett Ballantini assess the State of the Sox: How hard is it to do a White Sox p...

After another weird week, the White Sox host the Cubs for the final two games of the Crosstown season series. Delia Ritchie, Dante Jones, Adrian Serrano and Brett Ballantini discuss the South Siders, and what’s to come this weekend: Delia reports on her cousin’s Bridgeport White Sox tee-ball game on Thursday, during which the tee was reported to have better stuff than Dallas Keuchel was throwing a...

Sharing Sox has been on a jury duty hiatus, but is back with a very special guest, indeed. SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, are joined this week by Neil Paine, senior sportswriter and general editor for the amazing statistical analysis site fivethirtyeight.com. Five Thirty Eight is the product of master statistician Nate Silver, who began the site as a po...

Well now, this is more like it. An impossibly happy podcast, on the heels of a White Sox doubleheader sweep in the Bronx, brings the best out of Chrystal O’Keefe, Jacki Krestel, Joe Resis, Sam Sherman, Zach Hayes and Brett Ballantini. Or does it? Round table vibe check? Solid The outright heroism of Tim Anderson and Michael Kopech But really, dig how good the entire pitching staff has been, more o...

After an extended hiatus — Brett Ballantini was unavoidably detained from minors talk — he and Darren Black hook up for a truly terrific Farm edition, featuring some stellar analysis from the latter and more awkward jokes from the former: Darren dismantles Brett’s theory that Davis Martin in the bigs is simply another product of Tony La Russa’s stubbornness Given Martin’s stellar debut, what are h...

After too long a break, encompassing a long winning streak and short home sputtering, the mothership podcast is back and motoring toward the next hundred podcasts. Chrystal O’Keefe, Adrian Serrano, Joe Resis, Sam Sherman and Tommy Barbee check in with Brett Ballantini to assess the state of the Sox, as the team struggles to stick above .500. Some crib notes: Chrystal O’Keefe is ready to abandon th...