White Sox returning triumphantly to Cell; who will greet them?

SHARE White Sox returning triumphantly to Cell; who will greet them?
white_sox_orioles_baseball_61004421.jpg

White Sox pitcher Chris Sale raised his record to 6-0 with a victory over the Orioles on Sunday. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

The White Sox tied for the most victories in April in franchise history. They have the best bullpen in baseball and perhaps the best left-handed starter in the American League in Chris Sale.

Will you come?

After a seven-game road trip, the Sox return home Tuesday to face Boston. They will carry with them the AL’s best record. The weather for the week is expected to be good. Raising a follow-up question:

Will you come?

It’s the eternal question posed to Sox fans, who are very discerning when it comes to their team. That’s a nice way of saying that, historically, they have not shown up in droves at The Cell. In 2005, the year they won the World Series, the Sox went 17-7 in April. After returning home from an eight-game road trip near the end of the month, they drew a crowd of 18,313 against Detroit on a Friday night. The temperature at game time was 46 degrees. They drew significantly better early in 2006, feeding off the World Series and another hot start.

To date, they rank 13th out of 15 AL teams in home attendance, thanks in part to playing 17 of their 26 games on the road. The negative hangover from a disappointing 76-victory season in 2015 surely has played a role too.

This is a fun team, and it is exceeding expecations. Sale might not be the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta to this point in the season, but he’s close. If you’re a left-handed hitter, you don’t want any part of a delivery that seems to come from first base. Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie have added excitement to the lineup. Jose Abreu hasn’t even warmed up yet.

We can spend hours discussing the reasons for the poor attendance over the years – bad teams, a smallish fan base, not enough to do around the ballpark, etc. – but it really doesn’t matter. Win or lose, Sox fans show up when they want to.

Will you want to Tuesday?


The Latest
Lorenzo Davis was fired in 2015 from his job as a supervisor of Chicago’s Independent Police Review Authority, since replaced by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
Illinois has the most operating nuclear reactors among all the states, but it’s been crickets from public officials on the potential weakening of nuclear oversight.
Woman no longer wants to be with man who pays no rent and asks for gambling money.
Chicago has so much riding on this casino’s success. Mayor Johnson says he’s not worried, but Bally’s $800 million financing hurdle is just the latest glitch in the project’s bumpy road.
Enbridge’s Line 5 oil and gas pipeline trespasses through sovereign tribal lands and is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, Ben Jealous writes.