If you wanted your last game of the season to encapsulate the most frustrating problems of the previous 161, it was (finally) your lucky day.
Phil Humber pitched beautifully, battling through Mark Lollo's inability to call a high strike and coming away with a career-high nine strikeouts. He allowed just one run over 6 2/3 innings, departed with a one-run lead ... and did not get the win.
The White Sox came to the plate eight times with runners in scoring position, and twice with the bases loaded. They did not come away with a single hit, and stranded what proved to be a key insurance run the fifth. They had a runner on third with one out, and Tyler Flowers and Dayan Viciedo both struck out to end the inning.
Chris Sale provided a flashback of the first month of the season, when he came in to face a favorable part of the lineup and gave up a double and a single. Following an inexplicable bunt, he intentionally walked one guy, and unintentionally walked two to score the tying and go-ahead runs.
Juan Pierre, the final batter of the season, lined out to right with a runner on second, finishing his Sox career with an 0-for-5 afternoon, and the worst WPA of the game.
The guy on deck? Alejandro De Aza, who went 2-for-3 with a walk to finish the year with an even .400 OBP. Hopefully he will be leading off next inning.
One-hundred and ninety-one days from now.
Record: 79-83 | Box score | Play-by-play