They had their first winning season since 2012. And they returned to the postseason for the first time since 2008.
They led the American League Central for 22 days and had the best record in the AL for a few days in September before slipping to the No. 7 seed for the playoffs. Instead of hosting a wild-card series, the Sox wound up in Oakland, Calif., to face the second-seeded Athletics.
The Sox won the opener 4-1 on Tuesday but couldn’t close out the best-of-three series, falling 5-3 on Wednesday and 6-4 on Thursday.
“It’s a tough one to swallow, but we’ve got to keep going," shortstop Tim Anderson said after the Game 3 loss.