This new ballpark would be great for the White Sox and Chicago

whitesox.com/garagesale

What do you guys think about here Sox hats?

who would have thought back in March?

Can we please bring back the "Park" naming convention? Sick of calling it Rate Field. Some corporate bozo, I'm sure, introduced Field back when they originally sold the naming rights.

You guys think I’m a white Sox fan?

Where else would a White Sox broadcaster have wanted to be on Sept. 24?

The team’s magic number to clinch its first playoff berth in five years was one. A September slog finally would reap a reward with one more victory, and only the lowly Royals stood in the way. It had the makings of a momentous day.

For Sox TV voice John Schriffen, it would’ve been the capstone on a season that was a broadcaster’s dream, filled with home-run calls and dramatic finishes. Like Chicagoan and former NFL coach Marv Levy always said, “Where else would you rather be?”

To Schriffen, the answer was Las Vegas for a UFC Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu event.

Connor McKnight filled in alongside Steve Stone and did a fine job calling the clincher. But Schriffen’s absence had to touch a nerve with Sox brass. Even though he was contractually allowed to take a certain number of games off, did he have to take that game off?

With Schriffen’s three guaranteed years winding down and the chances of him returning seeming slim, perhaps being in the booth that day wouldn’t have mattered. But the Sox couldn’t have liked the optics of its TV voice choosing to be elsewhere than at a potential clincher.

If Schriffen wanted to return, missing that game couldn’t have helped. He declined to comment.

One of the reasons the Sox hired Schriffen before the 2024 season was his willingness to be available. That became a sticking point with his predecessor, Jason Benetti, who had expanded his profile nationally. Now, here was Schriffen, giving a side hustle priority.

And shouldn’t he have wanted to be there? After enduring one season with an MLB-record 121 losses and another with 102, this was a chance for Schriffen to celebrate something with the Sox. Criticize his broadcasting all you want — and I have — he earned that game.

I know what you’re thinking: Pick a lane, Agrest! You wanted Schriffen fired after last season, and now you’re complaining that he missed a game? What’s wrong with you?

To answer the second question first, plenty. The first question is fair, and I stand by that column. I would write most of it again today. As a baseball broadcaster, he’s not my cup of tea.

But while I filled in on the Sox beat this season, we got to know each other. Schriffen actually initiated it, approaching me in the team’s dugout before a game in Minnesota in June. I felt everyone in the dugout, mostly media, staring at us, waiting for a blowup.

It never happened.

It could have. He could’ve lit into me like a firework and made a scene that would’ve made Billy Martin blush. Instead, he simply reintroduced himself — we had talked before during Zoom and phone interviews — and started a conversation.

It opened a line of communication that hadn’t existed before and helped me understand him better. It didn’t change my opinion of his broadcasting, mind you, though his third season was his best.

He’s just not a baseball broadcaster. He didn’t have much experience before this job, and his style is more suited for the UFC than MLB. A longtime broadcaster told me that an announcer needs to give his voice somewhere to go. If you’re screaming for every home run, your voice has nowhere to go to indicate significance. The little homers blend with the big homers.

To me, it’s like Michael Buffer calling a baseball game. It’s all hype. But that’s what Schriffen likes. We agree to disagree.

Schriffen’s contract has an option for next season. If the Sox don’t pick it up, what will they do? That could depend on how much of a season there is next year, with a lockout looming. If it looks like Opening Day will be delayed significantly, they could hold off for a year on hiring someone and put someone already on the payroll in the booth. That likely would be McKnight.

If by some miracle it looks like much or all of the season will be played, there are plenty of good fits for the Sox, some with local ties. Connor Onion, a La Grange native and Chicago resident, is a rising star in the industry. He calls baseball on Fox and FS1. Wayne Randazzo, a Berwyn native who also lives in Chicago, calls the Angels and Apple TV’s “Friday Night Baseball.”

The Sox also could scour the minor leagues for the next big name. Whatever they do, they need a baseball broadcaster. With a team on the rise, they need a TV booth to match. And before anyone gets any ideas, Len Kasper is not walking through that door. He’s living his best life on the radio with Darrin Jackson. Besides, there’s no sense filling one spot and opening another.

And the way things look now, there probably will be a spot to fill in the Sox’ TV booth. If I could give candidates one piece of advice, it’d be this: Tell the Sox that they’ll make sure to be at any and all potential clinchers, conflicts be damned.

Got to be Hawk’s entire ninth inning of Mark Buehrle’s perfect game, right? Or am I missing an obvious one?

None of the 2005 WS calls were that memorable for me from Joe Buck, since this was when he was in his more monotone stage and didn’t show much emotion.

hear me out. YES, i get that our bats went ice cold games 3-5 of the alds. but fuck.. the rays look so beatable. i also get that they have faced some solid pitching on the guards, but rays offense looks god awful, which would have given our rotation a chance. idk, just talking out loud but this is depressing to watch knowing we could have had a decent chance, and by the looks of it, been facing a sox/brewers world series.

that shit fucked

Hagan Smith (pictured), Grant Taylor, Noah Shultz? The Sox need real starters more than anything. Their position players are full of talent and upside, and they should continue to develop and improve… but without high-end pitching.. it won’t matter much.

Just trying to watch some wrestling tonight and this guy is just rubbing it in. They were in Cleveland btw.

His stats are solid, both at 2B & AB, & I would love to see this for him! Thoughts on whether he’ll get it? What an exciting team this has been, & I can’t wait to see him get even better next season! 🖤 Go Sox!

For me, and I’m someone who’s never been to a game before.. I’d like for us to stay.

I’ve heard it all before, the ballpark is facing the wrong way, there’s nothing surrounding the ballpark, yadda yadda yadda.. man idc. I feel like Rate gets a lot of unnecessary hate.

One of the biggest reasons I’m a Sox fan is that when I’d go down to the South Side as a kid on the Dan Ryan, I’d always pass by the ballpark. I thought it was Wrigley bc I wasn’t into baseball yet and I was like.. fucking 9-10 years old.

I love the surrounding area, I don’t think there needs to be anything special around it. Isn’t that why you go to a game in the first place? For a special experience AT the game?

At the very least, I think our ballpark is in a better spot than Wrigley. I used to live right by Clark and Grace, and every time I pass by it I can’t help but think that it looks like it was just slammed down there from the sky in the middle of all these restaurants and buildings and we just said fuck it. It’s the only ballpark/arena/stadium in Chicago that looks very out of place to me, no matter how many times I see it. Maybe that’s just my own opinion.

And I think Armour Square, Bridgeport, and the other surrounding neighborhoods are very beautiful and nice. It’s hard to imagine us playing anywhere else. Sox-18th or Sox-Roosevelt wouldn’t hit the same, but obviously I’ll take the new park over playing in fucking Nashville or something. I really don’t think we need something flashy regardless like this looks, I feel like Rate/The Cell/Comiskey/whatever you want to call it.. it IS the Sox. It is our identity, it fits what this franchise is, and represents the best people who work hard to make a living. That’s what we are as Sox fans. That’s who Chicago is.

I say this as a fan of the Sox and baseball since 2021, but I was watching games on WGN with Hawk since Steve when I was 9-10 years old. I wasn’t a fan that young because baseball was boring to me at the time. Just because I’ve never been a game doesn’t mean I doesn’t mean I can’t have an attachment to the ballpark I’ve seen this team play in majority of my life, and seen so many memories at on my TV.

that shit fucked

I'll always appreciate 2026 as it brought the franchise back from the abyss, but we can only be cautiously optimistic 2027, in whatever truncated form, will be an improvement.

Hoping for good things but don't get the hopes too up!

Anybody ever watch sports before?

Oh damn awful week for all things Chicago and confirmed Leo has lung cancer and lower lobe of his lung removed.

Needless to say GWS !!!

Do we think Brooks will have a spot on the roster next season? He is only 26 years old and still unproven. He missed the entire year with an injury but is going to be fighting for a spot on a much (much) better version of this team than he last played on.

That shit fucked

not saying Nishida deserves a guaranteed starting spot, but I think he’s earned a legitimate opportunity to prove himself. His minor league numbers are solid across 2023-2026 at every level: (285 average/405 OBP and 126 SB)

He’s a contact hitter who rarely strikes out and draws a fair amount of walks. Watching us struggle with strikeouts against Cleveland in the playoffs to me shows why a guy like Nishida could be valuable. When our power hitters are cold and we’re striking out 15+ times, having someone who can put the ball in play and potentially manufacture a run with his speed gives us a different way to win. A way we’re totally lacking.

Think about it this way, in one of our many situations in games 3-5 when we had RISP and got nothing out of it thanks to strikeouts, having a guy who could’ve just given us a bloop would’ve been great. Or when Williams was absolutely raking in the early innings, a double poked down the 3rd base line could’ve totally changed the dynamic of the game.

So I say give him a legitimate shot in spring training to play his way onto the team. Because if he can replicate his minor league numbers, I think he could be an X factor. But at least to me, it seems like he’s already been written off by Getz because he can’t hit for power.

Edit: to clarify, I’m talking about him at best as a platoon bat or utility guy. Essentially being a potential Acuna upgrade. Not expecting him to be a second Antonacci