White Sox clinchers come in all shapes and sizes, and the list runs from the franchise’s earliest pennant days all the way to the modern playoff era.
The first one dates back to 1900, when the Sox beat Cleveland on Sept. 21 to lock up the first American League pennant. A year later, a Boston loss at Detroit on Sept. 21 clinched the club’s first official A.L. pennant.
The 1906 season brought another layer of history: a Washington loss on Oct. 3, while the White Sox were rained out in St. Louis, sealed the pennant two weeks after the Cubs had already wrapped up theirs, setting up the first all-Chicago World Series.
That same 1906 team finished the job in the World Series, beating the Cubs 8-3 in Game 6 at South Side Park to secure the franchise’s first title. The Cubs had won a record 116 games, making the Sox the upset champions.
In 1917, Red Faber was central to both clinchers. On Sept. 21 at Fenway Park, he got Babe Ruth to hit into a game-ending double play in a 2-1 win that clinched the Sox their fourth pennant, third official A.L. pennant.
Then on Oct. 15, Faber won his third game of the series in a 4-2 victory over the New York Giants in Game 6 at the Polo Grounds to clinch the World Series.
The 1919 pennant came in dramatic fashion at Comiskey Park, where Joe Jackson’s walkoff single in the ninth lifted the Sox to a 6-5 win over St. Louis and delivered the flag on Sept. 24.
A few decades later, Gerry Staley induced a game-ending double play in Cleveland on Sept. 22, 1959, and the Sox rode that 4-2 win to an American League pennant.
The division era brought its own set of clinchers. In 1983, Harold Baines delivered a walkoff sacrifice fly that scored Julio Cruz and gave the Sox a 4-3 win over Seattle at Comiskey Park on Sept.
- In 1993, Bo Jackson’s go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth powered a 4-2 win over Seattle at “New” Comiskey Park on Sept. 27 and clinched what would be the last A.L.
West Division title before realignment.
The Sox also clinched in unusual fashion in 2000, when a Cleveland loss in Kansas City on Sept. 24 secured their first Central Division title while they were losing in Minnesota.
The 2005 club stacked clinchers one after another. A 4-2 win on Sept. 29, with Freddy Garcia earning his 14th victory and Paul Konerko hitting his 40th home run, sealed the Central for the wire-to-wire Sox.
Then came the postseason run: a 5-3 win at Boston on Oct. 7, with Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez turning in one of the great relief innings of all-time, gave the Sox their first postseason series win since 1917. A 6-3 Game 5 win in Anaheim on Oct. 16 brought the franchise its first pennant since 1919, powered by a fourth consecutive complete game, this one from Jose Contreras.
And on Oct. 26 in Houston, Jermaine Dye’s RBI single was the difference in a 1-0 sweep-clinching win, with Paul Konerko handling the last out for the fourth straight clincher in 2005.
In 2008, Jim Thome’s homer carried the Sox to a 1-0 win over Minnesota in a one-game playoff for the Central Division title at then-named US Cellular Field on Sept. 30. That victory capped a stretch in which the Sox had beaten three different opponents just to force the playoff.
More recently, the Sox got a playoff berth in 2020 with a 4-3 win over Minnesota on Sept. 17 at empty Guaranteed Rate Field in the pandemic-shortened season. In 2021, a 7-2 win at Cleveland in the first game of a doubleheader on Sept. 23 clinched the Central and gave manager Tony La Russa his 13th and final division title.
The most recent entry on the list came in 2026, two years after the Sox lost a record 121 games. A 9-1 win at Kansas City on Sept. 24 clinched at least a wild card berth, with David Sandlin throwing six sterling innings as the Sox kept battling Cleveland for the division crown.
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