What the Hell Is Going on Here?

Let's be honest...White Sox fandom is a painful pursuit. The 2005 team wins the first franchise World Series in 88 years, and this example of relative competence is completely forgotten about in the national media because it takes 108 years for the more-popular Cubs to win one. As if that's a good thing, 108 years. What's more, the team hasn't made the playoffs in 12 years or had a winning record since 2012.

But enough about the past. 2019 was better, and offseason additions point to 2020 being a great year! Can't wait for the 2020 seas...fuuuuuuck.

Going into the season, the White Sox have a 27.9% chance to make the playoffs (Fangraphs pre-season playoff odds). 27.9 fucking percent!!! This is the highest preseason expectation since probably 2008 or so! I, for one, refuse to let the 2020 spring and possibly summer pass without some good White Sox baseball.

Which leads to the current experiment. MLB has made the past two seasons of MLB.TV available free for everyone. Which is not the most compelling gift for South Siders. But...what would happen if you chose the best daily White Sox game results from each day of the past two seasons? Could you make a playoff team? A division champion? Can you even reach .500?

We're about to find out. Starting from March 28 and going forward every day, we're going to create a 20182019 season and see if we can make the "20,182,019" White Sox good. On each day, the process will be this:

1. Choose the best result for the White Sox on that calendar day, from either the 2018 or 2019 season
2. If there is only one game on that calendar day from either season, that's the one we choose
3. For days when there are either wins or losses in both 2018 and 2019, the game with the most favorable score difference will be chosen, unless only one of them is a divisional game, in which case divisional wins will always be chosen and non-divisional losses will always be chosen
4. All results from that same calendar day will be tallied and tracked as theoretical season standings.

So, for your (or perhaps, just my) entertainment, join me on this hopefully boredom-slaying endeavor. White Sox! White Sox! Go Go 20,182,019 (or, 20MM) White Sox!