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Chicago White Sox Fans: From 121 Losses to the 2026 Playoffs
We went to a White Sox game.
Sure, because it's baseball.
But really because I've got this lifelong quest to visit every Major League stadium before my kids get too cool to come with me.
Guaranteed Rate Field was next, so we showed up and checked it off the list.
From the first pitch, I noticed her.
A woman a few seats down from us, yelling at the top of her lungs like it was Game 7 of the World Series.
And sure, she'd probably had a few beers. But that wasn't the story.
The story was how much she cared.
She wasn't heckling. She wasn't giving up. She was doing her part, willing this team to be better.
And I found myself admiring her.
What It's Like to Root for a Losing Baseball Team
Because let's be honest: the 2025 Chicago White Sox were historically bad.
Not in a fun, lovable-losers kind of way. In a bleak, existential, burn-it-down-and-start-over kind of way.
And that was after losing 121 games in 2024, the most in modern Major League Baseball history.
By mid-June 2025, they were 23–52. Last place. Again.
The losing wasn't new. It was just a sequel nobody asked for.
My kids laughed at my special White Sox edition of the seventh-inning stretch when I sang:
Root, root, root for the home team…
If they don't win, it's a normal day.
But this woman?
She still showed up. Still cheered. Still believed, in some small way, that it mattered.
Why Baseball Fans Keep Showing Up
I think there's something beautiful about people who keep showing up for a losing baseball team.
You don't need a championship to enjoy a ballgame. There's still a good defensive play, a beautiful afternoon at the park, a hot dog, and maybe a moment worth remembering.
And sometimes the best part of the game isn't even on the field.
It's a woman a few rows behind you cheering her heart out for a team that's going nowhere.
That's what makes baseball fandom special.
Not just the banners. Not just the walk-offs. Not just the champagne-soaked locker rooms and parade routes.
It's showing up when your team is garbage.
It's caring when no one else does.
It's yelling encouragement into the void and hoping something echoes back.
Because someday—maybe not this season, or next—but someday, the White Sox will be good again.
And when they are, that woman will be there, too.
Hoarse voice, beer in hand, saying, I was here before.
That's fandom. That's love. That's baseball.
The 2026 Chicago White Sox Playoff Run: A Fan's Reward
October 2026 Update
When I wrote those words in July 2025, I had no idea how quickly they'd become relevant.
Now, just over a year later, the White Sox are on the verge of reaching the American League Championship Series.
And I keep thinking about that woman.
I even have a photograph from that afternoon. There we are, my family and this complete stranger, caught in the same moment. She had no idea she was giving me something I'd remember long after the final out.
I wonder if she's watching. I wonder if she's screaming at the television the way she screamed at the ballpark that afternoon.
I hope so.
Because when I wrote that someday the White Sox would be good again, I certainly didn't expect someday to come so soon.
That's the beauty of baseball.
You suffer through 121 losses. You show up anyway. And sometimes, sooner than anyone expects, you get rewarded.
I hope she's enjoying every pitch.
She's earned it.
“Know what’s enough. Build what matters.”
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