The Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals had played a brilliant National League Championship Series in 2004, with the Cardinals coming out on top in seven games. It was so good that it was worth a sequel—and in this case, the sequel really was as good as the original.
The 2005 Chicago White Sox were an organization caught in the middle—they’d been consistently at .500 or better since their last division crown in 2000, but they’d never won 90. They were just good enough to give hope and just flawed enough to destroy it, while the small-market Minnesota Twins racked up three straight AL Central titles.
If we take the broader historical view, the South Side Sox hadn’t given their fans a World Series title since 1917 and had not even reached the Fall Classic since 1959.
This article offers a snapshot of 2005 sports, a year that saw a seven-game NBA Finals showdown, 6-seed magic in the NFL playoffs and some great pitching in baseball’s postseason. The year was marred by a NHL lockout that canceled the entire season, and the year was ultimately defined by two big showdowns for college championships.