** For those of you that didn’t note the tongue-in-cheek tone here (including my shoutout to the luckiest prediction ever at BP), you’re missing the point. My idea was that PECOTA, a computer program that knows nothing of intangibles or expectations, got one right. This isn’t about the White Sox alone; about fifteen other GM’s missed their expectations. The question is why. Was it injuries, like the A’s or Marlins? Was it team chemistry, like the Dodgers? Was it one game somewhere along the line, like the Brewers or Mets?
The fact is that those GM’s probably don’t know any more about the results than PECOTA does, but that they’re in their war rooms right now, trying to figure out not only what happened, but how they can keep it from happening next year. The White Sox have shown that a flag may fly forever, but that you can go from hoisting a pennant to be hoisted on a petard all too quickly.
As for those of you that wrote in with insults, Ozzie’s more creative. And louder.