FLICKR

I can’t decide if it seems like yesterday or a century ago, but today marks the seven-year anniversary of when the Chicago White Sox were crowned World Champions. There is something special about that 2005 squad that is hard to forget. Winning the championship obviously helps fans to never forget those guys, but it’s more than that. That team had no business winning anything, yet it was one of the greatest teams in baseball history.

I can hear you scoffing at me right now. It’s cool. I get it. But look at the facts proving why the 2005 White Sox were one of a kind:

**Broke the 1955 Dodgers’ record for consecutive games with a lead to begin the season with 37
** Went  wire-to-wire in first place. Only 5 teams (’27 Yankees, ’55 Dodgers, ’84 Tigers, ’90 Reds and ’05 Sox) on this list.
** Went wire-to-wire in first place, lead their league in wins, and sweep the World Series. Only 2 teams (’27 Yankees and ’05 Sox) on this list.
** Finish the season with a 16-1 record. The only team to top this is the 1970 Orioles team with 17-1.
**Four White Sox starters pitch consecutive complete game wins in the post season. The ’05 Sox are the first team to do that since the ’27 Yankees.
**35-19 in 1-run games
**52-22 within the division
**Three White Sox relievers (Cotts, Hermanson, Politte) all had ERA+ of over 200 (100 is average).  Their worst full-time reliever, Luis Vizcaino had an ERA+ of 121.
**Four White Sox starters had ERA+ over 115.  The only one who was under 100 was Orlando Hernandez.  I believe “The El Duque Inning” against Boston will give him a pass

Seriously, though, this team was terrible on paper. When I went to Chicago for my best friend’s bachelor party this year, we saw that one of our buddies had a signed 2005 White Sox World Series jersey. I thought to myself: “wow, this must be really valuable”. Then, I starting thinking more about the real worth of that jersey. There are only three autographs worth a darn (Frank Thomas, Paul Konerko, and Mark Buehrle), so how did this team win again!?

In closing, I shall use two amazing movie quotes from two entirely different movies to sum up the 2005 Chicago White Sox:

Derek says it’s always good to end a paper with a quote. He says someone else has already said it best. So if you can’t top it, steal from them and go out strong. “Heroes will be remembered, but legends never die.”

The 2005 Chicago White Sox will always be legendary to me.

 Bryan is a featured writer for Rant Sports. Although he concentrates on MLB, you can see him covering a multitude of things across the Rant Sports Network.