Are the White Sox good again?

Welcome to a postgame column about the 5-4 White Sox win in Cincinnati — or, if you didn’t have AppleTV, welcome to a rehash of the game you didn’t get to see.

Were the White Sox good? Eh. Were the White Sox decent? I guess? Should they have beaten the Reds by more than one run? Depends on if you’re delusional enough to think that the White Sox are a serious and good baseball team (spoiler alert: They are neither).

Now to give them credit, the Sox did not play badly; after all, they won the game. Did I care that they won? No, not at all. There is no way to get invested in this team. Sure, Luis Robert Jr. went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a home run that proved the game-winner. Sure, Lance Lynn went 6 2⁄3 innings with eight strikeouts. Hell, Elvis Andrus had a three-run, game-tying homer in the fifth and two walks, but what does it matter? None of those things make me think this team will be any better than they were a week ago, or any better than last year. None of the positive things about this team get me excited, because they’re not good — and when they do look good, they stumble back into something stupid that makes me question their ability to play baseball.

Case and point, the seventh inning, where with two outs Yasmani Grandal dropped a pop-up that would have been the third out, putting a runner on base and extending the inning. Sure, no damage was done — Joe Kelly got the last out, and dominated the next inning en routed to three Ks on the night. But had this been any team other than the Reds, that mistake would have scored a run or two. Reynaldo López was given the ninth, which given his recent history seemed like it could be another mistake, but a base-running mistake by the Reds led to a 8-3 double play, and ReyLo actually got a save.

Maybe the White Sox are learning from good teams and taking advantage of mistakes? No, they got lucky. Everything good with this team is luck, and everything bad is a testament to this idiocracy in baseball team form. The White Sox have won four of their last five games, but am I optimistic? Why would I be? They lost 10 straight games before this, and even if they somehow bring it back around, does anyone seriously think this is a team that can win the division or even get a wild card? At best, they’re destined for a .500 record, again. At worst, well, they could always break the losing streak record.

The wins don’t make me happy, the losses don’t make me sad. I just want a baseball team that proves my predictions wrong. Last night didn’t sway me into believing the White Sox are a good baseball team — just a team I wish was better and know won’t be.