30 MLB Teams in 30 Posts - 2022 Edition: #5

Welcome back to the next post in my 30 MLB Teams in 30 Posts countdown (plus the contest - see the bottom of the post for details on that).

#5:  Chicago White Sox (Previous Rankings - 2019, 2020: #9, 10)

Putting together lists such as this one where I try and rank all 30 MLB teams in terms of my personal preference is always a bit tricky.  What do you do about teams such as the Chicago White Sox?  Ostensibly, I don't actively watch the White Sox play (at least not purposely).  I don't actively collect any of their current players.  Heck, I don't even hate the other teams in their division...(a benefit that the Rays get since I generally dislike both Boston and New York).  

No, the White Sox make it into this year's Top 5 for three reasons.  None of the reasons are particularly good (I'll admit), but that's the way the list fell this year.

#1:  The White Sox will, to me, forever be known as Frank Thomas' team.  That's indicative of the era of baseball that I grew up during - the 90s basically.  The "Big Hurt" was the face of the White Sox and one of the star players in all of MLB.  Thomas' 1990 Topps "no name error" card will forever be a card I remember, though I never pulled one myself.  

#2:  The White Sox have a lot of interesting, young talent.  I appreciate teams with good, young players for the most part...I might even overvalue such a thing (see #9 Pirates, #8 Guardians, and #7 Rays for three recent examples of that).

#3:  I seem to draft White Sox onto my fantasy team at a rather high clip.  Any player on my fantasy team is a player that I instantly start rooting for.  Unfortunately for me (and the White Sox), I haven't had good luck keeping the White Sox player(s) on my team healthy (this year it's Yoan Moncada who's hurt, last year I had Eloy Jimenez and Luis Roberts who both missed a lot of time).  

So yeah, a bit of nostalgia, a dash of interesting young players, and just enough reason to care thanks to my fantasy team.  That's one way to make it into this year's Top 5!

Oh yeah, one more bonus reason to root for the White Sox.  They aren't the Cubs.

My 2022 MLB Rankings (so far):

#30:  St. Louis Cardinals

#29:  New York Yankees

#28:  Boston Red Sox

#27:  Washington Nationals

#26:  San Francisco Giants

#25:  Chicago Cubs

#24:  Milwaukee Brewers

#23:  Miami Marlins

#22:  Atlanta Braves

#21:  Texas Rangers

#20:  Arizona Diamondbacks

#19:  Philadelphia Phillies

#18:  New York Mets

#17:  Baltimore Orioles

#16:  Los Angeles Dodgers

#15:  Los Angeles Angels

#14:  San Diego Padres

#13:  Oakland Athletics

#12:  Colorado Rockies

#11:  Houston Astros

#10:  Minnesota Twins

#9:  Pittsburgh Pirates

#8:  Cleveland Guardians

#7:  Tampa Bay Rays

#6:  Detroit Tigers

#5:  Chicago White Sox

#4:  ??

Contest entries to date (see here for details):

Fuji 36

Crocodile 36

Brett Alan 34

John Sharp 32

bbcardz 29

hiflew 25

Matt 24

The Lost Collector 23

Night Owl 14

Mike Matson 13

Jafronius 5

Nick Vossbrink 4

Wilson 3

Adam Kaningher 2

Alan Deakins 2

madding 1

Wrigley Wax 1

Elliptical Man 1

Up next, we stick with the American League.  Seriously folks, there are only four teams left - how can I have a reasonable clue here?  Okay, okay.  How about this one:  Up next is a team from a city that I've visited but I've never been to that team's baseball stadium.  I did watch (arguably) one of the biggest non-baseball, non-football sporting events on TV while in that city.