The shining moment came on an autumn afternoon beneath a gray Cleveland sky.
On Sept. 23, 2021, the Chicago White Sox won the first game of a doubleheader 7-2. That victory clinched the franchise’s first division title since 2008. But because the game in question was the first of a twin bill, White Sox players and staff were forced to wait until after the nightcap for a Champagne shower.
Still, the atmosphere between games on the diamond at Progressive Field was celebratory.
Players milled about outside the visiting dugout, hats turned backward. Many took pictures, sporting fresh, black T-shirts with the words “CENTRAL CHAMPS” plastered across the chest in large block lettering. A band of visiting die-hards who’d made the trek across the Midwest, from the South Side to The Land, cheered on the scene from the first few rows.
A few steps away, the team’s 76-year-old skipper, Hall of Famer Tony La Russa, conducted an interview on the NBC Sports Chicago postgame show. A wry smile crept across his well-worn face. Hired before the season, the manager had been the subject of much doubt and criticism. Many had believed that his 10-year hiatus from the dugout would render him unprepared for the realities of the modern game.
For a season, he’d proven them wrong.
“We’ve all seen it. I’ve been with teams — I could name a couple — that had expectations, and it just bothered ’em, and they never lived up to it,” La Russa said. “This team, here we are, you know? We’re the champs, and we got 10 games left to play.”
Moments later, on the same show, general manager Rick Hahn echoed La Russa’s message.
“It’s a great feeling. Today is a day where the focus of that clubhouse is on celebrating what we were able to do so far, but frankly, you walk through there, and everyone is talking about how many more of these we hope to have and intend to have.”
Such was the energy of those days. In the end, it was fleeting. Two weeks later, the White Sox fell to the eventual AL champion Houston Astros in the ALDS, three games to one. In the aftermath, the White Sox turned their gaze forward. They had a young core, controllable superstars, a pitching staff with high-end talent — plenty of reason for optimism. The 93-win 2021 felt like a beginning.
“We have more to do,” La Russa told The Athletic after his squad’s season-ending loss to Houston.
Three years later, the joyousness of that afternoon in Cleveland reads like a hallucination.
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