Taste of 2020 will motivate White Sox, with Tony La Russa at helm, in 2021

As Evan Marshall put it, the White Sox had plenty to feel good about in 2020.

But not the way it ended. That is not sitting well.

“It sat terribly,” Marshall said. “It was awesome going to the playoffs and representing the city of Chicago, but looking at my final outing and allowing that two-run single after a couple of walks, that hurts. And it’s a terrible taste left in your mouth. I’m certainly motivated as ever to get back in that scenario and pitch better.”

With a 2.38 ERA in 23 appearances in the 60-game 2020 season, Marshall, 30, was a key component as well as a veteran presence for a good, young bullpen. Manager Rick Renteria, with no starter trusted enough to rely on in the deciding game of the wild-card series against the Athletics, rolled the dice with a bullpen game.

Sox fans know the rest of that painful story. Starter Dane Dunning was pulled after getting two outs and rookie Garrett Crochet left with a sore forearm in the second inning, and before it was over, a 6-4 loss ending the Sox’ season, Sox relievers, none of them working in his customary role, had issued nine walks. Marshall allowed two walks and a two-run single to Chad Pinder in the fifth inning that broke a 4-4 tie.

Season over.

Not forgotten will be the team’s first postseason appearance since 2008 after the Sox staggered to the finish line with two wins in their last 10 regular-season games, posting a 35-25 record.

“A lot of guys were proud and should be, myself included,” Marshall said. “We got to check that box. But when you’re there, you’re just thinking about the next step, wanting to go to the World Series. So it was sort of somber in the clubhouse afterward. A lot of big accomplishments, including Jose Abreu’s MVP season and the continued development of Tim Anderson, and it was cool seeing the first-round pick [Crochet] blow 102 [mph] past people. That’s as exciting of an arm as I’ve ever seen.”

In two surprising front-office moves, Renteria was fired and Tony La Russa was hired, emerging from retirement at 76 to accept chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s offer to be Renteria’s replacement.

The objective: get beyond, maybe well beyond, the first round.

“It’s really important that we understand that you can’t assume anything’s going to happen unless you make it happen,” La Russa said when asked Monday if the Sox should be favored to win the American League Central. “You can’t be afraid of the pressure and the challenge; you embrace it. Part of it is recognizing how tough it is to win. Just look at our division, the success of Minnesota and Cleveland over the past years, and the way Kansas City and Detroit are improving. And then there’s the rest of the American League, the East and the West. There’s nothing that makes us think that we’re the favorites. What we should think is that we have a legitimate chance.”

And with that, be motivated to work in the offseason and spring training with the shared goal of being the last team standing. La Russa, the third-winningest manager of all time, has done that with three teams.

Because of La Russa’s legal issues, his hire cast a pall over the buzz generated by a Sox season punctuated by the things Marshall noted as well as blossoming young talents such as outfielders Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert and third baseman Yoan Moncada.

Anderson, Abreu and Lucas Giolito have all publicly gotten behind La Russa, and Marshall said he’s not sensing objections about the hire from other teammates.

“There’s plenty of jokes to be made as far as all the things outside of baseball,” Marshall said, “but as for baseball-related, everybody knows you’re getting an ace as far as game-calling, and that’s the only thing anybody really cares about. He has a hell of a past and hopefully a good future for us, and as long as he’s putting the X’s and O’s together in the right sequence, that’s all that matters. And I think he’s going to help us do that.

“And, sure, there is plenty to be said about the age factor, and we have an extremely young team just full of talent. You go back to Tony’s peak years when he managed in Oakland [from 1986 to 1995] and St. Louis [1996 to 2011], the game has changed quite a bit, but he has never left the game and is up to date on how things have evolved.”

La Russa has won three World Series, but he also knows the sour taste of defeat Marshall and his teammates experienced all too well, having appeared in 14 postseasons and losing the World Series three times.

“You get into October, and playoff baseball is the most exciting reward you can have,” La Russa said.

A taste of it, and the bad one they were left with, should be motivation for the Sox.

“One hundred percent,” Marshall said. “I think this is a stepping-stone. Everybody is going to see the kind of talent we have that took us to the playoffs, and we can all be better. We’re close, we know we’re close and now another year under our belt of development and the additions they made, you think this is a squad that can go deep.”