2015 Chicago White Sox

2015 Chicago White Sox
Major league affiliations
American League (Since 1901) American League Central (Since 1994)
Location
U.S. Cellular Field (Since 1991) Chicago (Since 1900)
2015 Information
Owner(s)	Jerry Reinsdorf
Manager(s)	Robin Ventura
Local television	Comcast Chicago, WGN, WCIU
Local radio	WSCR
Baseball-Reference	2015 Chicago White Sox

Record: 76-86, Finished 4th in AL Central Division (2015 AL)

Managed by Robin Ventura

Coaches: Harold Baines, Daryl Boston, Don Cooper, Joe McEwing, Mark Parent, Todd Steverson and Bobby Thigpen

Ballpark: U.S. Cellular Field

Season

The 2015 Chicago White Sox were very active in the off-season for the second straight year. General manager Rick Hahn was aggressive in pursuing free agents, with 1B Adam LaRoche, OF Melky Cabrera and closer David Robertson all joining the team as free agents, and P Jeff Samardzija being acquired from the Oakland Athletics in a trade for prospects. Other acquisitions were 2B Gordon Beckham, a few months after having been dealt to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the stretch drive in 2014, utility player Emilio Bonifacio, OF J.B. Shuck and catcher Geovany Soto, giving the team an almost entirely new bench. The major departure was 1B/DH Paul Konerko, who retired after a long and productive career on the south side, while Adam Dunn had left late during the previous season and had also retired. the new arrivals were added to an unchanged young core built around starting pitcher Chris Sale, 1B Jose Abreu, OFs Adam Eaton and Avisail Garcia, and one veteran in SS Alexei Ramirez. The White Sox were thus convinced they had the team to challenge for the AL Central title.

The team went through a rare series of events at the end of April, as they were hardly able to play a game because of outside circumstances. Their game of April 24th against the Kansas City Royals was suspended by rain after eight innings; it was supposed to be resumed the next day, before the start of the regularly scheduled contest, but both games were wiped out by weather. Before it was stopped, the game was marred by a brawl that started when the Royals' Yordano Ventura had some words with Eaton after fielding a comebacker. Six players received suspensions as a result of the incident, while reliever Matt Albers, who was not at the center of things, managed to get himself injured, breaking a finger. They did complete the game on April 26th, and then were able to play a full game afterwards - the White Sox won both times - but then they headed to Baltimore, MD for a three-game series against the Orioles just as the city was shaken by persistent rioting. The first two games of the series were postponed, and the third, on April 29th, was played under unprecedented circumstances, with no spectators allowed in at Camden Yards, in order not to mobilize security forces that were needed elsewhere in the city. The Sox lost that game, 8-2.

Awards and Honors

• All-Star: Chris Sale
• 2015 Topps All-Star Rookie Team: Carlos Rodon (LhP)

Further Reading

• Kevin Cowherd: When the Crowd Didn't Roar: How Baseball’s Strangest Game Ever Gave a Broken City Hope, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 2019. ISBN 978-1-4962-1329-7
• Paul White: "Camp Sites: White Sox, no longer needy, can get greedy", USA Today Sports, March 23, 2015. [1]

2015 MLB season by team