Chicago White Sox: Are They Mentally Tough Enough to Play in October?

As Jon Fromi from Bleacher Report noted Wednesday, the Chicago White Sox are at the SI line and in charge of their postseason chances.  With a two-game lead over the Detroit Tigers following a sweep of the New York Yankees, the White Sox will have no one to blame other than themselves if they are not playing the second week of October.

One large question looms:  Are the Sox mentally tough enough to see this thing through to the end?

Following the series with the Yankees and an off-day Thursday, the White Sox face the Seattle Mariners at home and the Baltimore Orioles and Tigers on the road.  In fact, they play the Tigers seven times in the next three weeks.

To be sure, the White Sox have the talent to win, but it is going to take a level of mental toughness that many of them have never needed before.

If recent performances are any indication, they have more than enough.

Following a three-game sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals, legitimate questions were asked.  Are the Sox out of gas?  Is this too much for them?  If they cannot beat the Royals, then how in the world are they going to be able to handle Derek Jeter and the rest of the vaunted New York Yankees?

They did not flinch, that’s how.

In the process, they have proven they can compete with the best. 

Now, the Yankees are without C.C. Sabathia and he is a large part of how well the Yanks are going to do in the playoffs, but the way the Sox have played, it wouldn't have mattered if he were pitching.

The White Sox do not know when to quit.  They play until the last out each and every day.  That cannot be taught.  It is a quality in the character of men that is without equal.

Steve Rosenbloom from the Chicago Tribune agrees.  He wrote on Wednesday that the “Sox have not seemed fazed…They assaulted the Yankees the way the Yankees are alleged to assault opponents.”

That’s right everyone, the White Sox can hang. 

Now, there is quite a bit of baseball left to play, and nothing has been decided, but the White Sox could have come home and given their division lead away.

They didn't, and if they lose this thing, it’s not because they are not mentally tough enough.  The White Sox proved against the Yankees they have the toughness to take this all the way.

@SuggestSmith