Twice in the last two weeks, Minnesota bloggers have stated something to the effect that the Sox have gone into their annual fade. Now this came as a surprise to me since I followed the Sox closely the past few years and could have sworn they were a better second half team. It’s not the finishes that have killed them but rather their poor starts.
So I went ahead and took a look at their monthly splits going back to the 2000 division championship team. Below are the records for the Sox for games after August 1 with their overall record in parentheses.
2000 31-26 (95-67)
2001 32-26 (83-79)
2002 30-24 (81-81)
2003 29-24 (86-76)
For the past 4 years, the Sox have had a winning record over the last two months of the season. The only year in which their winning percentage over the last two months was worse than their overall percentage occurred during the 2000 division championship season.
The only year in which you could argue they faded was last year when they lost 2 out of 7 against the Twins in September. But overall, they went 41-27 after the All-Star break and it would be hard for me to characterize that as “fading”.
SethSpeaks goes as far as saying the Sox choked which implies that they should have won and were facing an inferior team. I wholeheartedly agree but am surprised to hear that from a Twins fan.
So to recap, this annual Sox fade only exists in the minds of Twins fans who seem oddly obsessed with what happens on the South Side of Chicago. I say oddly, because even though they pay attention they can’t get simple some facts straight.