At the start of the 2016 season, the Chicago White Sox were stuck in a triple play drought. They hadn’t turned a triple play during the regular season since September of 2006. Another year and the drought would hit a decade. Fast forward three months, and not only is the drought over, Chicago is swimming in triple plays.
The White Sox are a bunch of triple-play-turning wizards
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First, the White Sox turned a first-of-its-kind triple play in April. Thanks to some poor baserunning, Chicago recorded the first ever 9-3-2-6-2-5 triple play.
We're gonna need a bigger scorecard ...
— MLB (@MLB) April 23, 2016
@WhiteSox pull off insane 9-3-2-6-2-5 TRIPLE PLAY.https://t.co/hiSCSzXy9k
Quite the way to break the streak, and the White Sox were only getting started. Less than a month later they were back at it again, this time in more conventional fashion.
.@WhiteSox have turned TWO triple plays this season.
— MLB (@MLB) May 19, 2016
It’s May … https://t.co/J8wV00CXT0https://t.co/1PR01sYwbc
Chicago went the entire month of June without turning a triple play, blasphemy by their recent standards. But, they were back at it AGAIN on Friday, tripling off the Braves.
No, this isn't a replay.
— MLB (@MLB) July 9, 2016
The @WhiteSox turn their THIRD triple play of 2016. Mercy: https://t.co/GyLnAjFdfChttps://t.co/4kknLGQINu
Three triple plays in a single season and it’s not even the All-Star break yet. Chicago is the first team since 1979 to turn three triple plays in a single season. MLB teams combined to turn a total of four triple plays in 2015. The White Sox might double that number at this rate.
Oh, and just for good measure, they also turned a triple play in spring training.
Teams may get runners on base against the White Sox, but don’t get too excited. What seems like a prime run-scoring opportunity is really just Chicago setting up another triple play.
