1969 Revisited?

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Sep 20, 2005 7:43PM

Are the Sox on the verge of an epic choke even larger than that of the legendary '69 Cubs? That team held an 8 1/2 lead over the Cardinals and 9 1/2 game lead over the Mets on August 14th. By August 31st, that lead was down to 4 games. By September 10th, the Mets were in first place and finished the season up 8 games by virtue of their 24-8 finish.

The White Sox held a 14 1/2 game lead over the Cleveland Indians on August 1st. By August 31st, that lead was more than cut in half to 7 games. Even with a 7-game winning streak to start the month, the White Sox have still seen the Indians trim the lead all the way down to 2 1/2 games as they've gone 14-3 in September.

After Damaso Marte blew a 5-4 lead in the 8th inning, the Indians beat the Sox 7-5 last night in the first game of a 3-game series at U.S. Cellular. Should the Indians sweep the Sox, they'd cut the division lead down to just a 1/2 game. The Sox still have seven games to play against the Minnesota Twins, who always play the Sox tough. The final three games of the season are against the Tribe back in Clevelend. Who'd have thought that series might determine the division winner? Just a few weeks ago, that was unthinkable. But that was before Cleveland--who on August 1st was just 5 games over .500--had won 32 of 43 since. Chicagoist is getting very worried here.

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