Why Hendriks thinks MLB will hate the 2022 White Sox originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
GLENDALE, AZ – If the Houston Astros are the most hated team in baseball, Liam Hendriks expects the Chicago White Sox to join them this season. Not for the same trash-banging reasons that made the Astros Public Enemy Number One throughout the game. Instead, when you take the field against them, Hendriks hopes that you’ll feel the White Sox wrath, not only on the scoreboard, but in your entire body and soul.
“Getting knocked out by (the Astros) last year and everything that’s happened in the past, it’s tough, but we’re pretty much going to be unanimously one of the most hated teams in baseball and that’s completely fine,” Hendriks said on the White Sox Talk Podcast. “It brings it back to the White Sox of old where everyone didn’t know what was happening and were terrified to play us, and that’s what we’re going to get back to.”
If spring training is all about setting a tone for the season, Hendrik’s message should be heard loud and clear inside the White Sox clubhouse.
As defending AL Central champions, they already have a target on their backs in their division. But are teams like the Rays, Yankees, Red Sox and even the Astros going to look across the field with mutual disdain for the South Siders?
“I think with the personalities that we have, the amount of flair we’re going out there with, the kind of energy levels we’re going to show, I think it’s a very good possibility,” Hendriks said.
With two-time World Series champion Joe Kelly reportedly on his way to the White Sox, they have added another lethal arm to the bullpen. Plus, a competitor who doesn’t mind getting under the skin of his opponent. And if you’re a White Sox fan with a full tank of disgust for the Astros because of their cheating scandal and knocking the White Sox out of the playoffs last season, you and Kelly have something in common.
He can’t stand the Astros, either. That’s probably an understatement.
“He’s a character and it fits our team dynamic very, very well,” Hendriks said about Kelly.
Outside of Chicago, Hendriks doesn’t care about winning a popularity contest. He wants victories. Lots of them. How will the White Sox go about it? I think we get the idea.
“You put a chip on our shoulder,” Hendriks explained. “It’s the same thing with TA (Tim Anderson). When you disrespect us, it just makes us bite a little bit harder.”
