I have been a White Sox fan forever. I’ve been to countless games and watched them on tv for a long time. But for nearly a decade, it has become harder and harder to watch my beloved team. The last playoff appearance for the White Sox was in 2008, in which they lost to the Tampa Bay Rays in 4 games. Their last World Series victory was in 2005. Chicago is a great sports town. And the Sox have been close to my heart since I started watching baseball. My loyalty as a Major League Baseball fan will always be to the White Sox.

That is why I hate to see my team lose a hundred games year after year. Every Opening Day I get my hopes up and I think this is where things start to pick up. But around this time of year I am brought back to Earth and the season already feels lost by early to mid-May. The White Sox are currently in last place in the AL Central.

I look around the rest of major league baseball and the last two World Series Champions were teams whose fans are in my position. The Cubs and Astros lost a lot of games in the years before they won it all. Sports Illustrated had an article in 2014 proclaiming the Astros would win the World Series in 2017. These multi-year processes that might become a trend in Major League Baseball is something I want to see in the South Side of Chicago.

If it can work for Houston and the Cubs, then it begs the question, how many years will it take for the White Sox to become a championship caliber team? I’ve heard from Cubs fans that it was worth the wait in 2016. Especially since their last world championship was in 1908. The White Sox drought has only been 13 years so far. I already long for the days of playoff baseball. It’s been a rough 10 years since the Sox were last in the playoffs.

Fans have become more and more frustrated. The team has been stuck in a rut. In the time since their last playoff appearance, 3 teams in their own division have made it to the World Series. The Tigers in 2012, the Indians in 2016, and the Royals in 2014 and 2015, winning it all in ’15. To say that I am jealous as a fan is an understatement. To see other teams in the division have major success can be frustrating to a fanbase, even the most loyal ones.

Changing the stadium name to Guaranteed Rate Field doesn’t help anyone. If you ask me, it is the worst stadium name among all 30 major league baseball teams. I still don’t understand the name change. It doesn’t flow well like Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, and yes, even Wrigley Field. An old school name like Comiskey Park would be more appropriate for a city and a fanbase that is desperate for a winning team.

Now there is an upside. There are young players who can bring a winning style to the South Side. Jose Abreu has been a consistent hitter since he came into the majors. The one-two punch of shortstop Tim Anderson and second baseman Yoan Moncada make the infield dangerous. And designated hitter Matt Davidson is having one of his best years thus far in the majors. The bright spots give fans a glimmer of hope for the future of the team. I don’t plan on waiting 108 years before another World Series title. I hope the White Sox don’t plan on it either. In the years to come, I hope to see a winning baseball team on the South Side once again.