CHICAGO — The White Sox came home Friday night with October already stamped on the calendar, and the South Side met them at the gate. A cool evening at Rate Field drew a near-capacity crowd that arrived by train, car and rideshare, with plenty of tailgates still rolling outside as the club prepared to face the Rockies.
It was Hispanic Heritage Night, complete with Los White Sox ponchos, but the larger occasion was the return of a team that had secured its first postseason berth the night before. Chicago made it official with a 9-1 win over Kansas City, turning Thursday’s road victory into the first step of a postseason run after a long climb out of the American League cellar.
The turnaround has changed the feel around the ballpark. The White Sox lost a Modern Era-record 121 games in 2024, then absorbed 102 more defeats in Will Venable’s first season as manager in 2025. This young club has instead become one of the season’s livelier stories, with the players’ connection to one another showing up in the dugout, on the field and now in the stands.
“We have really strong team chemistry, and it gets amplified by our fans,” general manager Chris Getz said. He added that the support from the crowd has aided the development of the roster, with players responding well to the attention and energy around them.
Venable expected a different kind of pregame buzz for a group that had just earned its way into the tournament. “There’s going to be a lot happening, a lot of good vibes tonight,” he said. “It’s going to be special for these guys taking the field.”
The story has traveled well beyond the South Side. Munetaka Murakami’s interview during the clinching celebration became a viral moment, while Pope Leo XIV was asked about the surge by his favorite club. Before becoming pope, Robert Prevost attended two games of the White Sox sweep of Houston in the 2005 World Series.
Asked whether there had been any special assistance from the newest Chicago sports supporter, Pope Leo answered with a smile: “No comment. Great things happen in Chicago.”
Former President Barack Obama also congratulated the White Sox, while giving a parenthetical nod to the Cubs, who locked down their own playoff place three minutes after Chicago did on Thursday. It is the fourth season in which both Chicago teams have reached the postseason, naturally reviving talk of a possible all-Chicago World Series.
“Traffic would be out of control,” Getz said, recalling the edge that always comes with the crosstown matchups. “We’ve got a feisty bunch, and they’ve got a feisty bunch. That would be pretty remarkable and a lot of fun.”
Venable, who has embraced the baseball pulse of the city, said Chicago is hard to beat when both clubs are playing meaningful games. With two strong teams in a baseball-mad city, he called the setting “really special.”
A playoff crowd settles in
Friday’s pregame show had the looseness of a clubhouse enjoying its accomplishment without mistaking it for the finish line. A camera shot of the home dugout caught the players clapping along as right-hander Mike Vasil — the “Windy City Wizard” — broke into a sharp Kazatzki dance, a move that would have drawn approval from Henry Winkler’s old television character.
When the White Sox finally took the field, the crowd rose to greet them. It was appreciative rather than frantic, as if the ballpark understood there should be more nights like this ahead.
The offense gave the fans something quickly. Chicago scored twice in the first inning, and Murakami drove Tomoyuki Sugano’s pitch out for his 34th home run of the season. The blast supplied an immediate reminder of why a club once defined by losses is now playing with a postseason ticket in hand.
Getz sees the chemistry as the central piece of the turnaround. “They love playing, and they love each other,” he said. “It’s as good a clubhouse as I’ve ever been around. You want to bottle that up. For now, we want to enjoy it and keep supporting the players.”
