Chicago White Sox: The franchise all-time bracket
By Bill Felber
Chicago White Sox: The Franchise All-Time Bracket
No. 4 vs. 5 seed
The 1983 Chicago White Sox won the AL West on the strength of LaMarr’s Hoyt’s exceptional mound season. He won 24 games against just 10 losses and covered 260 innings. Richard Dotson added a 22-7 record in 240 innings.
Offensively, the 1983 Sox had Ron Kittle’s 35-home run, 100 RBI season. Harold Baines drove in 99 runs and Ron Luzinski added 95 including 32 home runs. At .307, Tom Paciorek produced the team-leading batting average.
They’re pitted against the Black Sox, largely a copy of the 1917 club. In 1919, Cicotte went 29-7 and Williams 23-11 in a combined 75 starts embracing 604 innings of work.
When the Sox needed offense, Jackson was there to produce it. He batted .351 with 96 RBIs. Second baseman Eddie Collins hit .319, and the team’s .287 batting average was American League-best.
light. Related Story. Milwaukee Brewers: The all-time tournament
Game 1: The 1919 club is heralded in culture as virtually unbeatable, but the reality is that its 88-52 record only added up to a .600 winning percentage. The 1983 team actually out-played it during the regular season, winning 99 of 162 games, a .611 percentage
Game 2: The Black Sox lost, of course, lost their best-of-nine World Series in eight games, a .375 winning percentage. The 1983 team lost its ALCS to Baltimore 3-1. That’s a .250 winning percentage. The tainted victory goes to 1919.
Game 3: The 1983 Sox were an average offensive team and they produced an average 100 team OPS+. The 1919 team’s 104 OPS+ takes the win.
Game 4: With Cicotte at its helm, the 1919 team’s pitching staff is viewed as unassailable when on the up and up. Indeed, its 106 staff ERA+ is solid. But the1983 team, led by Hoyt, was better, producing a 114 staff ERA+. Through four games, this series is even.
Game 5: Catcher Carlton Fisk was the 1983 team’s most productive every-day player, with a 4.3 WAR. But Dotson, Hoyt, and Floyd Bannister produced 12.8 WAR on the mound, running the 1983 team’s total to 44.2. The 1919 Sox had Jackson, Collins, Cicotte, and Williams all above 5.0 WAR. But they lacked the team depth to go above 41.7. The win goes to 1983.
Game 6: The 1919 Sox’ .969 fielding average was four points better than the league’s .965. The 1983 team only beat the AL average by two points. This series goes to a seventh game.
Game 7: The 1919 Sox roster three Hall of Famers, catcher Ray Schalk, pitcher Red Faber, and Collins. Had Jackson, Cicotte and Buck Weaver not been implicated in the fixing scandal, they’d have between one and three more. But they were.
The 1983 team rosters only two Hall of Famers, Harold Baines, and Fisk. This win – and the series – goes to the 1919 club despite itself.
Result: 1919 in seven games