Sox Populi - A Chicago White Sox podcast

The Sharing Sox special edition with 538 sportswriter, editor and general stats expert Neil Paine has been delayed a week because Neil was at a game that ran long (and was a big Braves win over the Mets and he’s from Georgia, so probably had no voice left), so for this week, it’s just SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, doing their usual schtick. Well, not u...

Well, Brett Ballantini forgot his tux, but hey, we’re still celebrating a 100th podcast together. All of us gathered down at the Indianapolis Field Office to try to make this first month of White Sox seem somehow palatable: Chrystal O’Keefe has had enough, escaping to games in Milwaukee and Boston to avoid the White Sox (bad news, O’Keefe, guess who’s playing the Red Sox this weekend?) Joe Resis f...

Verily, the eight-game debacle has ended, and there is victory in the land once again! And, by golly, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, leap to the world of the pods immediately after the aforementioned victory to rejoice. Among the rejoicees is, of course, Dylan Cease, who pitched five brilliant innings vs. the Royals and one not-so-brilliant one, demonst...

After more than two decades of sports fandom, Sam Sherman hit a crossroads. It’s hard to explain, but he found myself asking if all of the emotional pain that his sports fandom has brought him is worth it anymore. Sam, who co-hosts North Side Sox on SSS with Janice Scurio, was going to do a solo podcast to vent about his feelings, but decided that would be sad and unproductive. Instead, he turned...

What do you do on the heels of a seven-game losing streak? You record a podcast, that’s what! Zach Hayes, Brett Ballantini, Chrystal O’Keefe, Trooper Galactus and Joe Resis got together to solve the White Sox. Did we? Well: Is it time to panic? The Eloy Jiménez injury Liam Hendriks is back to tipping his pitches, but is that the biggest concern about him? Tony La Russa: Seriously, what more is the...

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, go full-out frustrated fan this week, cringing at the many-sided debacle of the Cleveland series, from disastrous defense, to TOOTBLANs galore, to an offense only capable of more than one run if handed to them, to pitchers forgetting it’s not just batting practice, to absolutely inexplicable decisions by the (JA)HOFBP. Tha...

We lied to you two weeks ago. Well, Brett Ballantini lied. He said there would be another Farm podcast in a week, but with the home opener last Tuesday, it didn’t happen. But thankfully for him, Darren Black picked up the phone and snapped on his monitor to chat up the early MVPs of the system: Brett is contractually prevented from actually listening to any SSS podcasts, instead compelled by SBN t...

In the second installment of Explain it Like I’m 5 (ELI5), Eugene Freedman, union lawyer and top voice of baseball labor relations, joins me to discuss a retrospective of, as well as future implications created by, the 2021-22 MLB lockout and collective bargaining agreement (CBA). “Not a lot of people grow up in union households, but I did,” Freedman says. Freedman proudly points out his maternal...

In their first podcast of the 2022 season, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, heap much-deserved praise on the play of Luis Robert, as they decide whether Luis will have to pitch at least a couple of games to battle Shohei Ohtani for MVP. The duo also heap praise on White Sox defense, particularly as opposed to the ineptitude of their opponents so far, and...

What a winner! Yes, the White Sox, and Luis Robert, took a thrilling game from the Seattle Mariners, 3-2, on Tuesday in the home opener. Chrystal O’Keefe, Kristina Airdo, Whitney Hale and Brett Ballantini break the win down: Luis Robert. WOW. We all jump on the O’Keefe “Pantera for MVP” bandwagon Did Vince Velásquez meet or exceed expectations? For Chrystal and Whitney, who had expectations somewh...

Brett Ballantini and Adrian Serrano sit down to preview the home opener and opening homestand, paying particular attention to some of the hotter topics of this new season: How about this offense! Making contact, feeling confident No. 1-9, younger hitters getting more experience and confidence ... Which leads, of course, to a protracted discussion of Tim Anderson: his incredible value and importanc...

Three of us (Tommy Barbee, Zach Hayes, Brett Ballantini) got season picks in to make the feature story we ran outlining 20 prognostications, one (Chrystal O’Keefe) was too late to make the story, and one (Trooper Galactus) just punted the whole thing, but still has opinions about how things will wrangle out in 2022. We begin with a detailed discussion on our White Sox categories, and go from there...

In the aftermath of a heartbreaking loss, four brave souls gathered together to discuss the hows and whys and why-mes and it-isn’t-fairs of Chicago’s shocking, fall-from-ahead loss to the Detroit Tigers on Friday. Brett B. welcomes the group, there’s coffee and doughnuts in the back, no last names here Zach H. gets an assignment to correlate volume of Liam Hendriks words to his stubbornness in for...

In our biggest podcast yet — we are going to have to rent a dedicated room in which to fit all of the microphones and beverages — the SSS crew previews Opening Day. Have a listen before the ballgame in Detroit, will ya? The most pleasing aspects of the new season, from Eloy Jiménez remaining alive in left field to Lucas Giolito reclaiming ace status to a legit catching tag-team a la 2020 OK, sure,...

On the cusp of a new season with lots of reason to believe in the White Sox, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, delve into the predictions for the Sox and the rest of MLB from the computer whizzes at Five Thirty Eight, and even come up with their own predictions, which are never, ever right (one look at their March Madness pools will prove that). Of course,...

Yes, for reasons unknown, SBNation reviewed the dozen hours of tape, watched all footage, and realized that the buddy cop movie otherwise known as South Side Sox on the Farm has been ... renewed for another season! Who is the good cop/bad cop between Darren Black and Brett Ballantini? We’ll let you decide. Have a listen, to an hourlong SEASON PREMIERE: BREAKING: The South Side Sox on the Farm Podc...

Adrian Serrano and Trooper Galactus join Brett Ballantini to break out big merger news ... Heh, the hell we did. Who gonna have us? We DID talk about the state of the rotation (yes, BEFORE adding shim-sham starter Johnny Cueto) and quite a bit more: Does spring training matter? Will the White Sox find the necessary 400 innings out of Dallas Keuchel/Reynaldo López/Vince Velasquez/Jimmy Lambert/John...

It is a 100% good vibes podcast, after the amazing Rick Hahn events of the day. OK, maybe 95% good vibes. Or, 90%? Well, there was a lot to talk about, including the bad news that Garrett Crochet would likely sit out 2022 with Tommy John surgery. Sox Optimist, Adrian Serrano, Chrystal O’Keefe, Tommy Barbee, Trooper Galactus, Delia Ritchie and Brett Ballantini gathered together to otherwise celebra...

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, begin the podcast with a confession and a huge apology — it turns out they’re not really White Sox fans. Oh, sure, they’ve thought they were White Sox fans for a combined 86 years or so, what with cheering for the team and going to the games and wearing the gear and all that, but they have obviously been deluding everyone,...

Well, this podcast features a first. Well, maybe a few firsts. As usual, consult your bullet points. However, let’s just point out that the “tape” just ran out on this podcast. So when you hear Scott Reichard’s delightful “Don’t Stop Believin’” outro kick in during the last minute, that’s no mistake; Trooper Galactus was just on a long AL Central riff that prevented a proper goodbye. So, good-bye....

With baseball finally back, albeit in a mere spring edition, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, start by claiming a tenuous, even highly dubious, connection to Josh Harrison in his high school days, and then do what is so often instructed: Follow the money. That’s because the 2022 Forbes baseball team values are just out, with the White Sox listed at $1.76...

Janice Scurio and Sam Sherman, otherwise known as the podcasting duo North Side Sox, are back and better than ever for their 2022 debut episode. What have the NSS kids been up to lately? Sam discusses a future career shift, and Janice talks about her work with the new sports media outlet in town, CHGO. The pair continue to discuss the team’s offseason moves. Were our expectations met? (Spoiler ale...

Do we really need to get to know Trooper Galactus? He’s been a core member of South Side Sox for many years, and has been writing for us since 2019. Still, what do you have to lose, get to know him better with this podcast, as well as his Meet the Players that’s up on site along with this podcast. First hero: Frank Thomas, along with a discussion of his post-White Sox career Mid-90s fandom Thought...

Welcome the irrepressible SoxOptimist by taking a look at his Meet the Players on site along with this podcast, and learn much, much, much more about him in this de-luxe podcast. A little college hoops, a bit of SoxOptimist White Sox origin story, a touch of 2022 White Sox ... well, just listen, will ya? A brief review of college basketball action, featuring Illinois’ stirring 18-12 win over a tea...

On the heels of a terrific welcome back from Hannah LaMotta and the exhaustive (if soul-sapping) labor writing from Kristina Airdo, both writers hop on the pregame podcast with Brett Ballantini to discuss finally making it to ... BASEBALL! One of us is briefly made an honorary Italian, so for the first half, meet Kristina Airdietta Baseball is back ... how exciting is that? What gives us the bigge...