Chicago White Sox Eliminated From Playoffs After Dropping Series to Detroit Tigers

The Chicago White Sox had managed to hang around in the race for the AL Central crown through early September, but that came to an end Sunday.

Following a 3-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Saturday and another 3-2 defeat at the hands of their divisional foes on Sunday, the White Sox were mathematically eliminated from MLB postseason contention. The two losses dropped Chicago to 55-88 on the season, as well as 8-19 since Aug. 11 – the third-worst record in baseball in that span.

The White Sox were already out of the running for an AL Wild Card berth, but they were still technically within shouting distance of a division title entering the weekend. The Minnesota Twins won their third consecutive series to open September, though, improving to 75-68 as Chicago continued to tumble.

With 19 games left in the regular season, the White Sox are 20.0 games back in the AL Central and 24.0 games back of an AL Wild Card spot.

The White Sox are officially eliminated from playoff contention pic.twitter.com/yWi6njC0iq
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 10, 2023

Upper management essentially gave up on this White Sox team over the summer, starting with their decision to be sellers at the MLB Trade Deadline.

Chicago traded away starting pitcher Lucas Giolito, starting pitcher Lance Lynn, reliever Joe Kelly, reliever Reynaldo López, reliever Keynan Middleton and third baseman Jake Burger. A few days later, closer Liam Hendriks underwent Tommy John surgery, just a few months removed from beating non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Lynn and Middleton both criticized the White Sox's locker room culture on their way out of town, and shortstop Tim Anderson was dealt a five-game suspension after instigating a viral benches-clearing brawl with Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez.

Within the next few weeks, Chicago fired Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams – their Senior Vice President/General Manager and Executive Vice President, respectively.

The White Sox are the fourth team to get eliminated from postseason contention.

The Oakland Athletics became the first Aug. 25, followed closely by the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 29. The Colorado Rockies were the first NL team to get place on the chopping block, officially falling out of the playoff picture on Saturday.

The Tigers have the worst record of any team still mathematically eligible to make a playoff push, but the St. Louis Cardinals or Washington Nationals could wind up getting eliminated first, just by nature of the AL Central's season-long struggles at the top.

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