2005 World Series

The 2005 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2005 season. The 101st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Chicago White Sox and the National League (NL) champion Houston Astros.^[1] The White Sox swept the Astros in four games, winning their third World Series championship and their first in 88 years. The series was played between October 22–26, 2005.

Home field advantage was awarded to Chicago by virtue of the AL's 7–5 victory over the NL in the

The Chicago White Sox finished the regular season with the best record in the American League at 99–63. The 2005 White Sox led their division wire to wire and only lost one game in the postseason. After starting the season on a tear, the White Sox began to fade in August, when a 15+1⁄2 game lead (for the AL Central division title) fell all the way to 1+1⁄2 at one point. However, the Sox were able to hold off the

Manager Ozzie Guillén then led the White Sox to a World Series victory, their first in 88 years. Slugger Frank Thomas was not on the post-season roster because he was injured, but the team honored his perennial contributions to the franchise during Game 1 of the Division Series against the Boston Red Sox when he was chosen to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. "What a feeling," Thomas said. "Standing all around the place. People really cheering me. I had tears in my eyes. To really know the fans cared that much about me – it was a great feeling. One of my proudest moments in the game."^[2]

The White Sox completed the 2005 postseason with an 11-1 record. The Sox also won the last 5 regular season games and thus closed out the 2005 campaign winning 16 of the last 17 games played, a record finish unmatched in all of MLB history.

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros won the Wild Card for the second straight year, once again clinching it on the final day of the season. The Astros embarked on a memorable

Chicago (AL) won the series, 4–0.

Matchups

Game 1

Playing in their first World Series home game since 1959, the White Sox took an early lead with a home run from Jermaine Dye in the first inning. After Mike Lamb's home run tied the game in the second, the Sox scored two more in the second when Juan Uribe doubled in A. J. Pierzynski after Carl Everett had already scored on a groundout earlier in the inning. The Astros responded in the next inning when Lance Berkman hit a double, driving in Adam Everett and Craig Biggio. In the White Sox half of the fourth, Joe Crede hit what turned out to be the game-winning home run. In the bottom of the eighth, Scott Podsednik hit a triple with Pierzynski on second off of Russ Springer for an insurance run. Roger Clemens recorded his shortest World Series start, leaving after the second inning with 53 pitches, including 35 for strikes, due to a sore hamstring that he had previously injured (which had caused him to also miss his last regular season start) as the loss went to Wandy Rodríguez. José Contreras pitched seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits for the win. Before exiting, Contreras allowed a leadoff double by Willie Taveras with no outs. Neal Cotts entered the game in the top of the eighth inning. It marked the first time in five games that the White Sox had gone to their bullpen. Cotts pitched +2⁄3 innings before Bobby Jenks was called upon by manager Ozzie Guillén to relieve him. Guillen signaled for the large pitcher by holding his arms out wide and then up high. In the postgame conference, the Sox manager joked that he wanted to be clear he was asking for "The Big Boy." Jenks returned in the ninth to earn the save, giving the White Sox a 1–0 lead in the series.

Game 2

On a cold (51 °F (11 °C)) and rainy evening,

Game 3

Game 3 was the first World Series game played in the state of Texas. Before the game, it was ruled by Commissioner Bud Selig that the retractable roof would be open at Minute Maid Park, weather permitting. The Astros objected, citing that their record in games with the roof closed was better than with the retractable roof open. Selig's office claimed that the ruling was based on the rules established by Houston and were consistent with how the Astros organization treated the situation all year long, as well as the weather forecasts for that period of time.

The game would become the longest World Series game in length of time (5 hours and 41 minutes) and tied for the longest in number of innings (14, tied with Game 2 of the 1916 World Series and Game 1 of the 2015 World Series) until it was surpassed by Game 3 of the 2018 World Series. Houston struck early on a Lance Berkman single after a Craig Biggio lead-off double in the bottom of the first off Chicago starter Jon Garland. A White Sox rally was snuffed in the second inning; after Paul Konerko hit a leadoff double and A. J. Pierzynski walked, Aaron Rowand lined out into a double play. Houston scored in the third; Adam Everett walked, was caught in a rundown and got hit by the ball on a Juan Uribe throwing error, then scored on a Roy Oswalt sacrifice bunt and a Biggio single. Two batters later, Morgan Ensberg singled Biggio home. Jason Lane led off the Astros' fourth with a home run to left-center field. It was later shown in replays that the ball should not have been ruled a home run, hitting to the left of the yellow line on the unusual wall in left-center field.

The White Sox rallied in the top of the fifth, true to their "Win Or Die Trying" mantra of 2005, starting with a

Game 4

Before the game, Major League Baseball unveiled its Latino Legends Team presented by Chevrolet.

The fourth game was the pitchers' duel that had been promised throughout the series. Both Houston starter

Things got a little sticky for the Sox in the Astros half of the eighth when reliever

This game would be the last postseason game for the Astros as a member of the NL, as they would move to the AL in 2013, and not appear in a postseason game until the 2015 American League Wild Card Game. They also became the only team in the MLB to win both the National and American League pennant after they defeated the New York Yankees in the 2017 ALCS.

The last two Series games technically ended on the same day, Game 3 having concluded after midnight, Houston time.

The 1–0 shutout was the first game with a total of one run scored to end a World Series since the

This was the second consecutive World Series to be won by a team that has the word "Sox" in its nickname, after the Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. This also happened in 1917 and 1918. Furthermore, it was the second year in a row in which the Series champions broke a long-lived "curse." In one of those ways that patterns appear to emerge in sporting events, the White Sox World Series win in 2005, along with the Boston Red Sox win in 2004, symmetrically bookended the two teams' previous World Series winners and the long gaps between, with the Red Sox and White Sox last Series wins having come in 1918 and 1917, respectively.^[8]

Composite line score

2005 World Series (4–0): Chicago White Sox (A.L.) over Houston Astros (N.L.)

The winning margin of six runs tied for the lowest for a four-game sweep; the only other time was in 1950.

Media

As per their contract, Fox Sports carried the World Series on United States television. Joe Buck provided play-by-play for his eighth World Series while analyst Tim McCarver worked his sixteenth.

ESPN Radio was the nationwide radio broadcaster, as it had been since 1998. Jon Miller and Joe Morgan provided the play-by-play and analysis. Stirring major controversy, ESPN has, on at least two occasions, publicly failed to acknowledge the White Sox as the 2005 World Series champions.^[10]

Locally,

With an overall average of 11.1, 2005 set a record for the lowest rated World Series of all-time. The prior lowest was 11.9, set by the 2002 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Anaheim Angels (importantly, this series went 7 games, and the 2005 Series went 4).

Following the 2005 World Series, however, every subsequent Series through 2013 except for 2009 produced lower ratings. The record-low 2012 World Series, another four-game sweep, averaged 7.6 (3.5 points lower than 2005's rating) and 12.7 million viewers (4.4 million fewer viewers than 2005).^[11]

Aftermath

Neither team advanced to the post-season in 2006, but both the White Sox and the Astros were in the Wild Card race until the final weeks of the season, with the White Sox finishing with 90 wins, the Astros with 82 wins. The White Sox made their first post-2005 postseason appearance in 2008, while the Astros would not return to the postseason until 2015, their third season as an American League team and would not return to the World Series until 2017, their fifth season as an American League team. Both teams met in the 2021 American League Division Series, their first match-up in the post-season since the 2005 World Series (and the first since the Astros moved to the AL). Houston won the series 3–1.

This was the city of Chicago's first professional sports championship since the

Closer Brad Lidge and utility player Eric Bruntlett went on to play on the Philadelphia Phillies' 2008 World Series-winning team, while outfielder/first baseman Lance Berkman won a World Series in 2011 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Aaron Rowand and Juan Uribe both won a second World Series title together as members of the 2010 San Francisco Giants.

See also

• 2005 Asia Series
• 2005 Japan Series

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2005 World Series.

Wikinews has related news:

• Chicago White Sox win 2005 World Series baseball championship

• 2005 World Series at Baseball Almanac
• 2005 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com
• The 2005 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) at Retrosheet
• History of the World Series - 2005 at The Sporting News. Archived from the original in May 2006.
• 2005 Postseason Schedule at MLB.com Archived December 12, 2020, at the Wayback Machine