White Sox might as well be shouting it into a megaphone: It’s playoffs or bust in 2020

The string of expletives roared through a speaker phone at White Sox right-hander Michael Kopech before he even got to say a word.

They were happy curses.

‘‘Oh, [expletive]! Holy [expletive]! [Expletive]! Oh, man.’’

A season-ticket holder named Matt had just been told by a member of the Sox’ sales department that a certain 23-year-old pitcher wanted to hop on the line to offer his thanks for the support. Elated, Matt continued hurling F- and S-bombs even as he lamented that his son — likewise a Sox diehard, maybe even a five-tool swearer himself — wasn’t home to hear the call.

‘‘We’re excited,’’ Kopech said. ‘‘It’s going to be a big year for us.’’

How big? That’s what everybody’s talking about.

In the Sox’ offices Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field — a day before SoxFest kicked off at McCormick Place — Kopech was part of a group of luminaries that reached out and touched fans who undoubtedly are psyched to see a winning team in 2020.

‘‘This is going to be one of the great White Sox years,’’ broadcaster Steve Stone assured a ticket holder named Chris. ‘‘This year, next year and the year after.’’

The South Side is ready for an uprising.

‘‘A lot of exciting times coming,’’ manager Rick Renteria told what we safely can assume was an over-the-moon fan named Danny.

The aforementioned Matt isn’t the only one gripped by a frenzy of feel-good as the Sox prepare to try to win more than they lose for the first time since 2012 and — yes — bust into the postseason for the first time since 2008.

‘‘I think we’re all very excited,’’ Renteria said after his phone work was done. ‘‘I’ve been trying to contain myself. I’m trying to stay in my seat. We’re looking forward to a positive season.’’

Renteria, who is entering his fourth season as the Sox’ manager, fumbled a few words and called himself out for ‘‘stuttering.’’ He blamed it on the excitement he’s having all kinds of trouble keeping in check as he thinks about the weeks and months — not to mention the years — to come.

You better bleepin’ believe Renteria is thinking playoffs in 2020. Why wait?

‘‘I would be disappointed if we don’t make the postseason,’’ he said. ‘‘I think that would be accurate. We want to break through.’’

What could sound better than that?

Ready or not, here they come

The Sox won 201 games from 2017 through 2019. It was their lowest three-year victory total, not counting strike-shortened seasons, since 1968-70.

They’re also coming off their worst decade, by winning percentage (.459), since the 1930s.

Good times, right?

It’s no wonder veteran Jose Abreu, whose teams have finished an average of 24.2 games out of first place in his six seasons with the Sox, chooses cautious optimism when discussing what will happen in 2020.

‘‘I prefer to go step by step,’’ he said through a translator. ‘‘I don’t want to say that we’re going to be in the playoffs or that we’re going to win the World Series because we don’t know yet. We might have the talent, but we don’t know.’’

The man makes an excellent point, but is anybody in the mood to hear it? Before SoxFest opened to the public Friday at McCormick Place, one of Abreu’s teammates after another stepped into a vast ballroom and let it all hang out.

‘‘Do I think we’re a playoff team? Yeah, man,’’ shortstop Tim Anderson, the reigning American League batting champion, said. ‘‘Who do you think? Do you see the guys we have in this room?’’

Not to name-drop or anything, but infielder Yoan Moncada and outfielder Eloy Jimenez — as promising a young twosome as you’ll find anywhere — were just out of earshot at the time. So was center fielder Luis Robert, a prospect so enticing that Jimenez called him the ‘‘next Mike Trout.’’

Over here was veteran left-hander Dallas Keuchel, the key addition to a rotation that includes All-Star Lucas Giolito and free-agent lefty Gio Gonzalez. Who will round it out? Reynaldo Lopez, Dylan Cease and Kopech are explosively talented options. Carlos Rodon, rehabbing after Tommy John surgery, eventually will be back in business, too.

Over there was catcher Yasmani Grandal, whose signing in November got the ball rolling in an offseason when the Sox became one of the most-talked-about teams in baseball. He adds proven quality to the lineup, as does fellow free-agent addition Edwin Encarnacion, a 414-homer man.

And a familiar new face: rock-solid reliever Steve Cishek, formerly of the Cubs, whose signing Jan. 14 was perhaps the last significant piece of the offseason puzzle.

According to Cishek, the 2020 Sox have all the talent the 2019 Cubs had — and maybe more.

‘‘There’s so much talent on this team; that’s what made me want to come here,’’ he said. ‘‘I’d be disappointed if we didn’t do something big this year with this squad.’’

Ready or not, here come the Sox. They’re geared up for a run to the postseason and, in most cases, not the least bit afraid to say it.

Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

We will, of course, remember their comments and remind players of them if they turn out to be wrong. That’s part of the deal, too. Jimenez presumably understands this, but that didn’t stop him from likening the Sox to the 2019 Twins, a team that won 101 games and had five players smack at least 30 homers.

‘‘I think we have the same team like Minnesota,’’ he said. ‘‘They had a really good team last year. They made the playoffs. And I think we’re kind of the same this year. That’s why I say if we don’t make the playoffs, I’m disappointed.’’

Keuchel called it ‘‘mind-blowing’’ that the Sox were able to bring in Grandal and also keep catcher James McCann, who was a 2019 All-Star. That’s two large helpings of can’t-go-wrong behind the plate.

‘‘That’s really where you build from,’’ Keuchel said. ‘‘After that, it was kind of, ‘Hey, this AL Central could look pretty juicy.’ ’’

Keuchel, the 2015 AL Cy Young winner, has grown accustomed to playing in October, having spent last season with the Braves after a memorable run with the Astros.

‘‘If there isn’t postseason play, then I know the guys won’t be very happy,’’ Keuchel said. ‘‘But I, especially, won’t be very happy.’’

It’s a new decade, starting with a mighty big year.

‘‘This ain’t the last decade,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘We’re looking to change it up this decade, and we’re looking to change it right away.’’

Rick is ready

Ten years. That’s how long it has been since Renteria, 58, approached a season with as much belief in the winning to come as he has now.

He was a coach with the Padres then, on the staff of Bud Black, who would win National League Manager of the Year honors. Those Padres led the NL West for 148 days and won 90 games, but they finished two games behind the Giants and missed the playoffs. Dropping three of four to a bad Cubs team in the final home series of the season didn’t help.

Renteria has experienced too much losing for his taste since then. Managing the rebuilding Cubs in 2014 and joining the rebuilding Sox as a coach in 2016 (a year before he took the managerial reins) meant a long trip into the big-league wilderness.

‘‘It’s been a little bit,’’ he said.

Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

And that’s why Renteria sees a team without a clear leadoff hitter or Opening Day second baseman and thinks to himself: It’ll be OK. It’s why he smiles at the task of trying to turn free-agent signee Nomar Mazara into an every-day right fielder and thinks: It’ll work out. It’s why he looks at his roster, still so young — maybe ready, maybe not — and thinks: We’ve got this.

It’s why Renteria greets a pivotal season in his own career — is he the right guy to take this the rest of the way? — with such vigor.

The man is launching himself at a target — the 2020 postseason — he might not have a shot to reach again if he doesn’t get there with these Sox. And he absolutely expects his guys to go full-throttle with him.

‘‘I am very demanding,’’ he said. ‘‘You can ask anybody. You can ask my wife. You can ask anybody else. I’m kind of a hard guy to live with, a little bit.

‘‘That hasn’t changed, but I think all of us evolve. I want to go into this season thinking: ‘I don’t want to miss an opportunity.’ My goal right now is to not miss this opportunity. Expectations breed opportunity, and I’m not afraid of expectations.’’

He is saying it out loud and might as well be using a megaphone. His players are saying it, too. It’s out there, and there’s no taking it back.

It’s playoffs or bust for the Sox.

Not a damn thing wrong with that.