Hannah Filippo joins Brett Ballantini to discuss the unexpected holiday bounty of Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami signing with the White Sox.

The pair address the pros and cons of the move, as well as the anticipated effects the signing will have on the team, roster and front office. And yes, Brett mostly manages proper name pronunciation but, interestingly, turns Murakami's nickname from MoonAY into MoonEE throughout.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fresh off of her journey to the Winter Meetings, Hannah Filippo joins Brett Ballantini to provide details on the Take the Field event. We cover her first impressions and takeaways, team meetings and whether or not the event met her high expectations (A: yep!).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brett Ballantini is joined by our pre- and post-Rule 5 South Side Sox writers, Hannah Filippo and Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, in an attempt to wrap our heads around what just happened with the White Sox at the Winter Meetings. That's not easy to do, as the White Sox gained a prime young arm in Jedixson Paez — but lost one much closer to the majors (and thus a more viable a Rule 5 pick) in Peyton Pallette.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, wrap up the year by praising the White Sox player/team executive of the year (hint: He’s known by just a three-letter first name and some Roman numerals) for his work in getting the team the first pick in next summer’s draft, then admitting they don’t know how to pronounce the name of the most likely player to be that pick.

As for actions that have already happened, there’s a polite shrug of the shoulders for most offseason actions so far. The exception being mystification at using up two of your allotted 13 pitcher slots for 2026 on a couple of Rule 5 picks who have never played above Single-A, one of whom only threw 14 innings last year – the mystery basically being solved by, “Well, it’s the White Sox.”

Then there’s the perpetual chat about what to do with Luis Robert Jr. and any other trade prospects, by which we mean Kyle Teel.

Plus, best wishes for the new year for all White Sox fans, because we need all the best wishes we can get.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On episode 26 of Ladies’ Night Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Kristina Airdo, Hannah Filippo and Allie Wesel share their reflections, standout moments, and what it meant to be part of a night celebrating women in sports.

Last Wednesday, they attended the Chicago White Sox’s Game Changers Summit, an event celebrating underrepresented voices in sports. The evening featured a live recording of Sidelined with Brooke Fletcher and Dani Klupenger, who were joined by special guest and Chicago-area native Kylen Mills for a candid conversation about storytelling, representation, and the evolving role of women in sports media.

Special thanks to Sheena Quinn, the Sox’s VP of public relations, for inviting us to witness this inspiring discussion firsthand.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The season now over for even the good teams, duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, delve into events of November – yes, there are some! We lead off with Justin Ishbia's in-person invitation to the Pope to throw out the first pitch for the first game at the new White Sox stadium (which, of course, does not exist and is unlikely to), though the invite could all just be a con job by the Sox to try to get holy intervention for a few billion bucks from taxpayers. From the Vatican it’s on to trades made November 18, not exactly blockbusters but worthy of note; catching a few thoughts on catchers; the latest prospect rankings, led by Noah Schultz and Braden Montgomery; and winding up with the possibility of no 2027 season and the likelihood the man working the hardest to destroy the season and baseball will be Jerry Reinsdorf, who now seems to not only hate players and fans, but the game itself.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brett Ballantini hosted Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Hannah Filippo and Joe Kiang-Resis to review our 2025 season predictions. Yes, forecasts from those not joining the podcast were also lauded ... and mocked.

Highlights and lowlights from each prognosticator:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an audio-only joint, Malachi Hayes joined Brett Ballantini to discuss the inspiring (?) second half of the White Sox season and forecast what's to come for the club in the offseason:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bayleigh and Chrystal wrap up the season with their own baseball postmortem, and look ahead to the playoffs and 2026 season.

Here is what was discussed:

You can follow Bayleigh on Twitter and Chrystal on Bluesky.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and (while he’s in Chicago acting in Ashland Avenue at the Goodman Theatre) next room correspondent, Will, do the expected evaluation of the 2025 White Sox season: the good, the bad, and the not-quite-as-ugly as the past two years.

They also delve into the firing of four coaches the day after the season ended, most notably the dismissal of pitching coach Ethan Katz, who seemed to have done a very good job with a young and not particularly talented staff, many of whom were castoffs from other teams. What do Chris Getz and Will Venable have in mind? All they let on was the usual p.r. b.s.release, which no reporter with access to the team has bothered to follow up on.

And, of course, because the podcast was recorded the morning before the start the playoffs, they make their predictions for the Wild Card round, not all of them totally sensible, but, what the heck, why not go with the gut. Or heart. Or anything but brain.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices