Jason Collette of RotoWire and FanGraphs joined Chrystal to talk Tampa Bay Rays baseball, preview the series, and catch up on what's happening around the league.

Here is what they talked about:

You can follow Jason on Bluesky. He also has a weekly column for all your fantasy baseball needs on RotoWire. Lastly, you can listen to his podcast The Sleeper and the Bust on FanGraphs.

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In the 13th episode of the 2025 season, Sox Populi/South Side Sox writer/podcaster Delia Ritchie joins host Melissa Sage-Bollenbach to discuss several topics related to baseball, sports, and our beloved — or despised, depending on the day — South Siders. Whether you're a die-hard White Sox fan or not, there's something for everyone. So, sit back, relax, and grab your favorite beverage because the girls hit a home run conversing about all things, including:

It's hard to believe there are only 65 games left in 2025. Thank you so much for sticking with us. We look forward to continuing our conversations with some fantastic ladies in the second half!

Don't forget to check out the Sox Populi YouTube channel (and please subscribe) or listen on Megaphone below.

If you love our White Sox coverage, consider supporting us on Patreon to keep the writing and podcasts going strong!

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Graves is back this season to talk about the Pirates and help break down the upcoming series with Chrystal. The Pirates and White Sox both sit at the bottom of the Central Division and have plenty of unfortunate similarities, and Graves does a great job of pointing out their commonalities.

Here is what Chrystal and Graves talked about:

You can find Graves on X and Bluesky.

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The White Sox headed into the All-Star break needing just a .754 winning percentage the rest of the way to avoid a losing season. So with that in the bag, duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, look to matters of the field, including the draft.

The Sox are gaining a lot of praise from professional evaluators for first-round pick Billy Carlson, an infielder from California who no doubt will have the huge success of their last California infielder first-round selection. Of course, that particular success has come in just the last month, not during the four-plus years Andrew Vaughn spent as a failure before getting traded to Milwaukee.

Then there’s the All-Star game itself, which did not feature Adrian Houser and his 2.9 bWAR in less than half a season, but instead had Shane Smith as the Sox representative, apparently chosen by people who last saw a game on June 10 — since when Smith has given up 23 earned runs in 18 1⁄3 innings.

In more crucial off-field matters, the two ooh and aah over a story eight teams have shown interest in Luis Robert Jr. and his 67 OPS+, but have more hope a decent set of prospects could be had for Houser or Mike Tauchman — or maybe some combination of all three. Or maybe some contender will take Robert if they can also have the recipe for the Campfire Milkshake.

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Patrick joined Chrystal again to briefly discuss what's going on with the Guardians and help break down the series.

Here is what they talked about:

You can find Patrick Ellington Jr. in many places! You can follow him on Bluesky and/or Twitter. I would also recommend reading his work on Substack.

You can also read his work on Baseball Prospectus and SABR.

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The gals on our minors crew abandoned us for June, so it's Joe Resis joining Brett Ballantini for a snapshot of the Sox minors that focuses heavily on the big names at the top of the system:

Please support our White Sox writing and podcasts.

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The 12th episode of the 2025 season features host Melissa Sage-Bollenbach and her guest Robyn. We're truly grateful to Robyn for agreeing to share her fandom journey with us and discussing several topics related to our beloved — or, depending on the day, despised — South Siders. Whether you're a die-hard White Sox fan or not, there's something for everyone. So, sit back, relax, and grab your favorite beverage because the girls hit a home run conversing about all things baseball, including:

Don't forget to check out the Sox Populi YouTube channel (and please subscribe) or listen on Megaphone below.

If you love our White Sox coverage, consider supporting us on Patreon to keep the writing and podcasts going strong!

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

Stephanie joined the podcast to chat with Chrystal about the Rockies and help preview the upcoming series. As a fan of both teams, Stephanie has the rare insight on cheering for historically bad teams, with only one World Series championship in her lifetime between the two.

Here is what Stephanie and Chrystal talked about:

You can follow Stephanie on Bluesky.

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Duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, took the cowards’ way out this week and recorded Sharing Sox before said Sox began a series at Dodger Stadium. Their prediction for that series may not be pretty, but the White Sox face no real pressure to win, as compared to when they next travel to Colorado and need to do well in order to avoid embarrassment.

As for individuals, the chat naturally spent a lot of time on Luis Robert Jr. and the possibility there’s no possibility of getting more than a basket of used baseballs for him by the trade deadline, despite at least one professional analyst saying he does have value, honest. That just as naturally led to discussion of other trade chips, such as they are, with pessimism anything could be had for Andrew Benintendi without eating bazillions of salary dollars. But there's optimism that some lesser lights who have played like brighter lights, such as Mike Tauchman and Adrian Houser, might do very well on the market, along with relievers Mike Vasil and Steven Wilson.

That in turn led to a look at Baseball-Reference’s team Wins Above Average by position chart, in which Sox starting pitchers and catchers fare well (Top 10), the much-maligned-before-the-season bullpen comes in about average (16th) and every other position rates 25th or worse. Once again, thank you, Colorado Rockies.

Oh, yeah — we expressed admiration for Chase Meidroth, had our usual disagreement about the value of Miguel Vargas, continued to wonder how to evaluate the mysterious pluses and minuses of Lenyn Sosa.

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Tavi, who gives tours of Dodger Stadium, joined Chrystal to share insight, fun stories, and to help preview the upcoming series.

Here is what was discussed:

You can find Tavi on Bluesky and follow her Instagram for behind the scenes baseball stadium pictures.

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