The Chicago White Sox are one win away from clinching a spot in the American League Championship Series. They'll look to complete that task on Wednesday afternoon when they host the Cleveland Guardians at Rate Field. The White Sox haven't been to the ALCS since 2005 and are coming off three straight 100+ loss seasons.

Their turnaround has been one of the best stories in baseball this season. They are underdogs who are likable and play hard, what could be better than that?

Not much.

And Seattle Mariners fans are taking notice. Recently, I've seen some sentiment online that suggests people wish the Mariners could play like the White Sox moving forward. Again, they are likable and they are winning, so it's easy to say that.

But when you break down the numbers, how do these teams really compare? Why are the White Sox being universally praised and why are the Mariners being referred to as a colossal failure?

The bullpen ERA is certainly a major feather in the cap of the White Sox, as the M's bullpen cratered down the stretch, but in general, the Mariners pitching staff is/was better than the White Sox.

Let's move to the offense:

So, so far, the White Sox offense is actually (generally) less desirable than the Mariners. Once again, the Mariners actually have the edge in some very important categories. The Mariners made more overall contact and were more active on the bases.

So where is the separator? How are the White Sox still playing and completing one of the greatest baseball stories of our lifetime, and why are the Mariners being talked about as one of baseball's biggest disappointments?

It's pretty simple: The ability to walk - and hit home runs. That's the difference in these two teams.

The White Sox drew the fourth-most walks in baseball and hit the fifth-most home runs. The Mariners drew the 10th-most walks in baseball and hit the 16th-most home runs.

That's the difference.

As I discussed on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast:

"I told you even recently, the ability to hit home runs serves as a great, great mascara, right? It covers up a lot of things. The White Sox don't do a whole lot actually better than the Mariners, but what they did better was walk and hit the ball out of the ballpark. They had 29 more home runs than the Mariners did this year. Twenty-nine. Their OPS was tied for 10th. The Mariners' OPS was 27th.

So when we point to what do the Mariners need to do in 2027 to be better, well, obviously, the defense has to be better. The Mariners cannot be any good, cannot be very good with their defense being as poor as it was in 2026. But what else do they need to get better at? They need to get better at slugging again.

We're going to talk about the bench, and we're going to talk about the bullpen, and we're going to talk about better years from the rotation, and whoever the manager is, we're going to talk about their impact positively or negatively, and all of those things are deserved. But the defense has to get better, and the power has to get better.

It is why so much of what happens on next year or what happens next year, even with all of that other stuff, so much of it comes down to what does Cal Raleigh do? What does Julio Rodriguez do? What does Dom Canzone do? What does Josh Naylor do? Like, those guys have a lot riding on their plate because as you have seen, a White Sox team that is not particularly great across the board is one win away from the ALCS. Why? Because they walk, and they hit the ball out of the ballpark."