Sox Populi - A Chicago White Sox podcast

The postseason is finally here, and SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, peer into the old crystal ball — or, where the Astros are concerned, crystal trash can — to foresee the future, because foreseeing is the only way to see the future. They start out putting together the White Sox 26-man roster, with 12 pitchers, 14 position players, and no one with the in...

Podcast 67 is our best ever, and that’s not just because we all learned how to properly hydrate and sing a new campfire song. This pirate broadcast began with Chrystal O’Keefe, Jacki Krestel and Joe Resis signing on with Brett Ballantini for some chat on the 93-69 White Sox, before we were interloped first by Adrian Serrano, then Di Billick. But Di did come with song. Here are some highlights: Imp...

King of Prep Brett Ballantini, who 1) forgot the podcast episode 2) ran off-camera/mic during the podcast 3) let the “tape” run out on his outro, hosted No. 66 on Thursday with delightful guests Darrin Brown, Zach Hayes and Jacki Krestel. We touched on the Blackout Game anniversary, and looked ahead to the Houston playoff series. Here’s the highlights: Two guests not only were at the Blackout Game...

For the first time since 2008, the White Sox are AL Central champions! And because it was so super-sweet to enjoy this moment, after 13 years, we doubled up on postgame podcasts! Brett Ballantini, Zach Hayes, Tyrone Palmer, Joe Resis, Jacki Krestel, Chrystal O’Keefe, Celeste Radogno and Tommy Barbee got together after the White Sox lost the nightcap of today’s triumphant doubleheader to talk about...

For the first time since 2008, the White Sox are AL Central champions! Brett Ballantini, Di Billick, Zach Hayes and travellin’ Trevor Lines got together in-between games of today’s doubleheader to talk about the journey: Reactions to the clinch f-i-n-a-l-l-y h-a-p-p-e-n-i-n-g Yes, Brett did crack out the Seuss party hat Who’s the pick for Game 1 ALDS starter? From this panel, slight edge to Lucas...

The main issue this week for SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, is starting pitching for the playoffs, starting with extreme doubt the White Sox can survive Houston without a healthy Carlos Rodón, who has been by far the best starter versus the Astros this season. Lucas Giolito has also been good, but no one else has even been close to adequate, so fears ab...

Darren Black and Brett Ballantini took a few weeks off (!) but are back with the Farm podcast. With Birmingham, Winston-Salem, Kannapolis and the ACL White Sox all finished for the year, we took a look at good and bad surprises from the 2021 season. The curious case of Birmingham Barons late collapse out of the playoffs, including the first rainout clinch in recent history or memory Another bit of...

As the White Sox head into the final 18 games of the regular season, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, gaze into ye olde crystal ball and see an immediate future mostly full of teams that wouldn’t even be in the major leagues if relegation existed. That, of course, bodes well for the effort to gain home-field advantage in round one of the playoffs, especia...

As off-day became idle day, a couple of SSS yuk-sters came together to record. Di Billick is back on the mothership with Brett Ballantini, with a primary focus on Monday’s dive into the psyche of White Sox fans (and, you betcha, herself) in these bountiful times. But the two find time for other stuff, some funny, and some just perplexing. Sitaspell, take yer shoes off: Let’s talk about two profane...

What’s up with the White Sox lately? Have you torn your hair out at Tony’s getaway day lineups? Are you cool as a cucumber because a clinch is in the near future? No matter your mood, we’ve got a treat for you: MLB.com’s Justice delos Santos joins Janice for a jovial conversation spanning from covering baseball with on-field access to his Harold’s order when he’s in Chicago. Based in the Bay Area,...

On this week’s edition of Sharing Sox, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, delve into the strange and wondrous world of the intentional balk — and the unintentional balk in its many manifestations as well, including manifestations that are clearly illegal but never called any longer. First, though, there’s the question of the massive inefficiency of White So...

Joe Resis steps into the hot seat to sit down again with Brett Ballantini in a discussion of the past Royals series, and the White Sox prospects the rest of the way, and into the playoffs. It’s Brett and Joe’s sixth podcast talking to one another, stretching back over these past three years, and for none of the previous five did we think we’d be sitting pretty in early September just waiting for t...

It’s the final stretch of the season, and SSS duty geezer and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, lean into lyrics from The Fantastiks to ponder the month ahead for the White Sox and how best to set up for the playoffs (spoiler: It involves staying healthy). With the Sox just a half-game behind the Astros for the second seed and home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs (yes,...

Darren Black and Brett Ballantini are back with the Farm podcast, talking over the September call-ups, catching depth, and the utter lack of starting pitchers in the system. Sound fun? Have a listen: Another take on the incredible Romy González, stressing the significant jump he took and the challenge of his defensive positioning That said, if Tim Anderson doesn’t get hurt, does Romy get the call-...

A tasty trio of White Sox analysts — Darren Black, Joe Resis, and Zachary Jeremiah Boom-Boom Hayes — join Brett Ballantini in a discussion of the final month of the White Sox season, and more! Peruse the exciting details of this podcast: The “State of the White Sox” — ensconced in first place, but motoring toward the postseason? How do you juggle health in the stretch run against the need to stay...

Happy Di Billick Day! Here we go, it’s another new stellar addition to the South Side Sox family, quadruple-threat Di Billick. You can get to know Di better with her Meet the Players, and by listening to this here podcast. She’s also working the recap for today’s game, and has a first feature up, lip-reading today’s starter, Lance Lynn. We covered a lot here over an hour, in a really fun conversat...

This week SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan again joins his son, Will, as a west coast correspondent, and they take a look at the latest tough two-week segment of the White Sox schedule. Well, OK, the only tough two-week segment of the White Sox schedule. The two have spoken often as to how this stretch would show just how good (or not) the Sox are, and guess what! It showed pretty much nothing, at leas...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: the South Side leg of the Crosstown Classic. Our neighbors to the North head down to Guaranteed Rate Field this weekend for a three-game set that will be sure to thrill the masses. Our beloved White Sox look to claim the coveted Crosstown Cup, something I’m not sure even exists any longer, at least physically. Though the history of the intra-city rivalry h...

Darren Black and Brett Ballantini are back with the Farm podcast, talking over recent injuries depleting the system, as well as three bright spots, all at the same position — and no, for once, it’s not designated hitter! The highlights: The serious lat injury to Jonathan Stiever reduces the starting depth in the system to essentially zero If the White Sox had to have just a few standout players in...

Now, you might think that Brady & Radogno sounds like a legal firm. It is NOT. In fact, the only one on this podcast legally allowed to provide legal advice is the host. But you would not want to follow it. However, Julie Brady and Celeste Radogno have more than just legal studies in common. They are White Sox fans! Also, ace writers with a taste for both the wry and the absurd. If Brett Ballantin...

Both SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son, Will, are west coast correspondents this week, as Leigh and his wife visit Will and his wife and the duo take time out to record the show. Top of the news, of course, is the horrible injury Oakland ace Chris Bassitt sustained Tuesday when hit by a 100 mph line shot by Brian Goodwin. That got the geezer thinking back to probably the most famous case of...

After a week off, Darren Black and Brett Ballantini are back with the Farm podcast, with talk about recent losses in the system, and a deep dive into how the 2021 draft class debuted in Arizona. Here’s the stuff: Based on winning percentage on Darren’s 50-90 coverage record this year, Black is the Winston-Salem Dash. Brett comes closest to the Birmingham Barons, baby The losses of Luis González (t...

What a game! We tried to do a spot-podcast last night, but everyone in SSS HQ was still high on what was the wildest and most thrilling (and, given the TV ratings, popular) regular season game in ages. So, the pivot involved me offering to join Sharing Sox for their Friday podcast, then just bullying my way into hosting the thing. Thanks to the Allans for their graciousness. For the first time sin...

It was shaping up to be a bloodbath, but just two Field of Dreams naysayers has the guts to show up for this podcast and attempt to convince Brett Ballantini that the film is trash. Colleen Sullivan and Jacki Krestel wax acidic on the film; in the end, no one shifted their stances. Here's a corny taste of this episode: Zoe Krestel the Wonder Dog makes an appearance, and Brett is convinced the cani...

If you’ve been on the internet in the last five years or so, you've no doubt come across, and more than likely fallen in love with, the YouTube series Hot Ones, hosted by the lovable Sean Evans. Sean is not only, for my money, one of the best and most innovative interviewers and media personalities of our time, but he also happens to be a big White Sox fan. This isn’t some casual celebrity fandom,...