The Fall Classic is a sight to behold.

Baseball is played at its highest level. History is made. Champions are crowned. Opinions fly like fastballs.

That last thing was especially true. The Dodgers won an all-time classic Game 7 to win the World Series over the Blue Jays to repeat as world champs and punctuate an expected re-coronation.

“To do what we’ve done in this span of time is pretty remarkable,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after winning the World Series. “I guess let the pundits and all the fans talk about if it’s a dynasty or not.”

There was one opinion I knew wouldn’t age well. The Dodgers were in the World Series after sweeping the Wild Card round, winning 3-1 over the Phillies in the Division Series and sweeping the Brewers in the NL Championship Series. They had a 9-1 postseason record.

The World Series was supposed to validate the Dodgers as the best postseason team in MLB history. Plenty saw a sweep of the Blue Jays coming; Toronto nixed that by forcing this series to go seven games.

That’s extra validation for the 2005 Chicago White Sox.

Twenty years later, they still had one of the best postseason runs of all time that reverberates in the city of Chicago.

“When you’re at 10 years or before, you’re just going so fast,” White Sox first baseman and captain Paul Konerko said during the ’05 World Series reunion on July 12. “You got young kids, you’re just moving, you don’t really think about it too much.”

This remains one of my favorite stories to tell.

The White Sox were clinging to a 1-0 lead in Game 4 of the 2005 World Series. Jermaine Dye just singled home Walt Harris. Not long after, I was given the order.

Go to bed.

Yeah, the White Sox were three outs away from winning the 2005 World Series when my mom told me to go to bed. It’s the kind of parental move that turns into a villain origin story.

Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there.

I got to experience the White Sox winning the World Series because my dad, in the classic heroic moment, pulled me into the other room to watch the final innings. That includes Juan Uribe’s defensive heroics. It includes Bobby Jenks closing out a win. It includes getting tackled after Konerko caught the final out.

A true moment for the storybooks.

I still remember it, clear as day.

I still let my mom hear about it 20 years later.

Over the course of the summer, as I relived some of these memories with other White Sox fans and with former players from that team, it’s validating to see how well this championship has aged.

The modern setup of the MLB playoffs virtually ensures a one-loss postseason run will never happen again. Even though the national media basically forgets the White Sox won in 2005, the city hasn’t. Reliving 2005 this summer was a reminder of how great that team was.

“You’re grateful for it more now than you were, say, at five years after, 10 years after,” Konerko said.

Now, 20 years later, it’s one of the beloved moments in Chicago sports history. The 2005 White Sox weren’t the 2025 Dodgers. They sure as all get out didn’t have the payroll. They didn’t have a Shohei Ohtani, either.

They did have Konerko, Jon Garland, Joe Crede, Mark Buehrle, and more very good players who came together with career years to win a championship.

I got to chat with Garland. He talked about the anticipation of waiting for that final out. Just sitting, watching and waiting for that last ruling.

He said it felt like minutes before the ump ruled Orlando Palmeiro out. Who says regular kids and professional baseball players couldn’t feel the same way?

When it was finally over, the White Sox had a team-wide celebration. I had a two-man celebration with my dad. It’s what inspired a kid to really get into sports.

I often think about how many other kids felt the same? How that World Series was a slippery slope into different Chicago fandoms and understanding how great sports are.

That’s what did it for me.

“This is the one – really the last, say, few years – where you start to understand and appreciate, I guess, the magnitude of what it was and how just connected you are with all the guys that you did it with,” Konerko said.

For that, the 10-year-old in me thanks you.

I get to remember one of the greatest postseason runs of all time. There’s no comparing it.