White Sox playoff run ends in a 'bummer,' but South Side fans cherish unexpected ride

A rainy night in Cleveland during a winner-take-all Major League Baseball playoff game couldn’t save Chicago a second time. Droves of fans filled Ravona Theatre to watch the White Sox fall 2-0 to the Cleveland Guardians in Game 5 of the American League Division Series. Despite losing the final three games to drop the series, fans remained prideful in the team's unexpected postseason run. "Nobody in the entire country expected them to even make the playoffs, and we all believed in them from the start," said CJ Sheng, who lived and died with every pitch alongside his father, Carl. "We lost tonight, but it's not a losing season." Several fans enjoyed the opportunity for the team — and the South Side — to get more of a national attention after feeling like the Cubs, their North Side neighbors, were "the main team in town." "We really get to show them (the country) the team, the park, the environment, the fandom," Carl Sheng, 57, said. "I think it's pretty special." Andrew Vikre remained confident and optimistic for most of the game, even after a fourth-inning two-run home run by Guardians star Jose Ramirez that proved to be the difference. "I thought it was gonna be a storybook ending, but the magic kinda ran out," Vikre, 38, said. "Overall the team was a lot of fun, but still a bummer for sure." Vikre, in attendance from DeKalb, was at both Sox home playoff games against Cleveland in hopes of seeing history. "I almost didn't go again on Thursday...I'd regret not being there," Vikre said. "They haven't clinched a series at home in like 120 years. I might as well be there to see it." “Let’s go White Sox” chants broke out several times as the game stayed deadlocked with no runs on either side through the first three innings. As the Sox closed in on a third consecutive shutdown inning, fans inside the theater stood in excitement and roared in celebration after starting pitcher Sean Burke recorded a strikeout to conclude the third. The excited crowd instantly went quiet after the home run that put Cleveland ahead. Several fans acknowledged Ramirez's continued success against the Sox throughout the series. "I still believe in them," Vikre said with a calm demeanor. "I think they can still do it." White Sox fans Erik Ruiz (left) and Joseph Morua (right) at a watch party at Ramova Theatre in Bridgeport for Game 5 of the American League Division Series. Isabella Falsetti | Sun-Times Joseph Morua and Erik Ruiz grew up as Cubs fans, yet found themselves among dozens of White Sox fans at Ramova Theatre to watch the winner-take-all showdown. After immersing themselves in the South Side, both through the community and Sox games, the team became an important part of their Chicago fandom. "It shows the grittiness of the South Side," Ruiz, 32, said of what the team's postseason run has meant for the city. "We're really like the underdogs," Morua, 31, said. "This team really embodies what it means to grind it out, put the work in and get the results." "From past experience, Cleveland doesn't do well in the rain," Morua said in reference to the Cubs winning the 2016 World Series in Cleveland after a brief rain delay in Game 7. "As long as it keeps raining, I think we got a shot." The crowd found its energy again after a key defensive play by the Sox in the fifth inning to get Petey Halpin out at third on a hit he placed in the right field corner. Fans were dancing and cheering as they awaited a pitching change after the Sox loaded the bases in the top of the sixth inning, but their excitement was short-lived after slugger Munetaka Murakami struck out to end the team’s threat. Though the theater was energetic, excitement slowly gave way to nervousness as the game reached its later stages. Still, fans remained hopeful. “It's crunch time,” Morua said. “Cleveland has controlled the tempo of the game, and it's up to us to take it back.” Much of the crowd stayed nervously seated during the ninth inning despite efforts from some fans to get them to stand up. After the Sox final three batters struck out to end the season, most fans rushed straight for the exits. The spacious theater was nowhere near as crowded or energetic as hours prior, but fans still stuck around to soak in the roller-coaster experience. "It felt like you were at a White Sox game," CJ Sheng, 28, said. "It always felt like we were in it with the energy."