Whether it’s comforting or not, White Sox fans can know that having a lottery pick last year did not cost the team the No. 1 pick in the 2025 MLB draft.
It cost them the sixth pick, which is the final pick in the lottery. Instead, Chicago will pick 10th.
The other ineligible lottery team (the A’s) lost even less. They wouldn’t have won a lottery pick even if they had been eligible.
The third MLB draft lottery did not have the same jaw-dropping moment of last year, when the Guardians and Reds shockingly landed the No. 1 and 2 picks. But it still was anything but predictable.
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The lottery has settled into being a very normal part of the Winter Meetings. The first year, most teams who had a chance to win sent a representative to monitor the draw. Last year, fewer teams did, but Ethan Purser was there for the Guardians to see the team shockingly land the No. 1 pick.
This year, no teams sent representatives. By this point, they all know how it works, trust that it will go smoothly and don’t have the desire to have anyone spend two and a half hours sequestered until the picks are announced on MLB Network.
But MLB does make sure to still go through the same strict rules to ensure transparency and a fair selection. The 14 ping pong balls are certified as identical by SmartPlay. The case in which they reside is sealed with wire and security tape until the time for the selection.
Before the draw began, MLB’s Bill Francis held up a copy of today’s newspaper to show that this was being done on the day of the selection announcement. For each pick, a timer called out when to press the button to allow the next selection.
MLB’s Jack Clark (no, not the ex-Cardinal) pressed the button. A ball would rise to the exit port, he would call it out, and then the process would repeat. After 30 seconds the timer would call-out for the next selection. The button would be pressed. Another number. And again 30 seconds after that, and 30 seconds after that.
Nationals Land No. 1 Overall Pick
The Nationals, the team with the fourth-best odds, landed the No. 1 pick, and they did so in a relatively drama-less manner.
The draft lottery uses 14 ping pong balls, numbered from 1 to 14. The air machine blows the balls around, and every 30 seconds, a button is pushed to allow one ping pong ball to rise to the exit port.
In draft lottery terms, high-numbered ping pong balls equal chaos. Low numbers equate to the teams with the…