A team from Chicago... in the World Series?

Well, of all the things I thought I'd see this season, the Chicago White Sox going to the World Series wasn't one of them. I was one of the people that laughed at Ozzie-ball all year, at first saying the Twins would catch them, then chiming in with everyone in the world who thought the Indians were certainly going to catch them down the stretch. Towards the end of the season though, as they played the Indians (I happened to be home that weekend and was able to catch the final two games of their sweep of the Tribe) something dawned on me. All year I didn't want to see the White Sox win because I thought their brand of small ball was useless and futile. I hated hearing people like Joe Morgan tell me that the White Sox were a great team because of all their bunting and hitting and running and stealing. After watching Scott Podsednik in Milwaukee I refused to believe he was that important to anyone. Now, if you read this blog regularly you know I'm not exactly a Beane-nik either (which is a whole different story). I try to not fill this blog with stats and numbers unless I really think they mean something. But watching the White Sox play the Indians it dawned on me that they weren't just a good small ball team, they were a good team, period. They were good at the plate (Konerko might be the best kept secret this side of Jason Bay), their rotation is great (four consecutive complete games, are you serious?), and their good fundamentally(after watching a fundamentally terrible team all year, a good one sticks out like a sore thumb). They don't win because Ozzie bunts and steals until the cows come home, they win because there's nothing that they're bad at and they have a manager that will believe in his guys until the end. That's what Ozzie Guillen brings to the table, unwavering confidence in his players. When everyone from Jayson Stark and Peter Gammons all the way down the totem pole to guys like me are thinking the White Sox are going to blow that lead to the Tribe and miss the playoffs, Ozzie tells reporters that if the ChiSox win the World Series, he might retire. THAT's confidence in your team. The White Sox are going to the World Series, not because of bunts and steals and hit-and-runs, but because they don't have a glaring weakness and they know it, because Ozzie told them they were going to the World Series and every last one of them believed that crazy bastard. While the Red Sox worried about their pitching and their defense, the White Sox hammered them. While the Angels worried about the umpires, the White Sox put up the best pitching performance in years against them. I don't know who's coming out of the NL (as good as the Astros have looked, the Cardinals are a Chris Carpenter gem away from going back home and no one wants to lose the NLCS in the last home game EVER at Busch) but I don't think either team should be happy to know the White Sox are waiting.