I've been a baseball fan since 1984. The kid who lived next door to me when I was a kid was a big White Sox fan and told me all about the 1983 White Sox AL West champion team that lost to the Orioles in the playoffs. Ever since that time I've been a baseball fan. (However, I must admit that I was a bit turned off after the players went on strike in 1994, ending a season where the White Sox were in first place and poised to make the playoffs and finally win a World Series title.)
I've seen some great championship teams during that time period such as, e.g., the 1984 Tigers, the 1986 Mets, the 1989 A's, the 1998 Yankees, and the 2001 Diamondbacks. All were great teams but none were as good throughout the season and during the playoffs as the 2005 White Sox. While some of those teams had a couple awesome pitchers (such as the 2001 Diamondbacks led by the great Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling), none had an entire pitching staff of starters and relievers as good as this year's White Sox. The "Four Horsemen" of Jose Contreras, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, and Freddy Garcia were awesome starters and the bullpen of Cliff Polite, Neal Cotts, and big Bobby Jenkes, to name a few, was unbelievable.
The scary thing is that they'll be even better next year when 2005 rookie Brandon McCarthy is pitching every 5th day. I predict they'll win at least 105 games in 2006 and capture another World Series title. As annoucer Ken "Hawk" Harrelson would say, "You can put it on the board ... YES!!!"
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