When you’re having a historically awful season, the poll voting over at South Side Sox is going to reflect some strange choices. But really, it doesn’t take historically awful to create interesting winners; with three straight seasons of disappointment (yeah, .500 in 2022 was disappointing, remember those quaint days?), each summer has brought colorful winners. This year alone, we have had “The Fans,” who remain in our MVP Top 10 for the sheer endurance it’s taken to stomach this godawful baseball.

The latest quirky choice, both by popular vote and utterly poor performance from the players on the field, is interim manager Grady Sizemore. Sizemore made an immediate impression on fans with a humble approach, bright enthusiasm, handsomeness, and … well, not being Pedro Grifol.

Now, at the rate Grady’s Boys are still losing, Sizemore may not be not-Grifol for much longer. But for the moment, let’s enjoy what we have, while we have it.

2024 South Side Sox Players of the Week
Eloy Jiménez (February 23-March 2)
Eloy Jiménez (March 3-11)
Chuckie Robinson (March 12-19)
Michael Soroka (March 20-27)
Garrett Crochet (March 28-April 3)
Gavin Sheets (April 4-11)
The Fans (April 12-18)
Korey Lee (April 19-24)
Tommy Pham (April 25-May 2)
Garrett Crochet (May 3-8)
Garrett Crochet (May 9-16)
Corey Julks (May 17-22)
Garrett Crochet (May 23-30)
Paul DeJong (May 31—June 6)
Garrett Crochet (June 7-13)
Erick Fedde (June 14-21)
Drew Thorpe (June 22-26)
Luis Robert Jr. (June 27-July 4)
Drew Thorpe (July 5-11)
Korey Lee (July 12-25)
Brooks Baldwin (July 26-31)
Davis Martin (August 1-7)
Grady Sizemore (August 8-16)

Top 10 MVP Standings
Garrett Crochet (119.6)
Korey Lee (53.5)
The Fans (43.7)
Jonathan Cannon (43.4)
Drew Thorpe (40.4)
Chris Flexen (25.1)
Gavin Sheets (23.7)
Nicky Lopez (19.1)
Danny Mendick (15.5)
Corey Julks (15.1)

Top 10 Cold Cat Standings
Luis Robert Jr. (-41.8)
John Brebbia (-36.5)
Andrew Benintendi (-31.6)
The Offense (-27.4)
Jerry Reinsdorf (-26.5)
Andrew Vaughn (-25.2)
The Entire Roster (-24.7)
Steven Wilson (-24.1)
Touki Toussaint (-22.3)
Dominic Fletcher (-19.7)

Davis Martin, in only three or four games this season on the South Side, has crept into the MVP Top 10, very impressive. But let’s not bury the lede here: Would you ever, ever, ever have thought that Luis Robert Jr. (12th in MLB MVP voting just one season ago) would be topping out Cold Cats?!?

Writer Standings

It must be said: Before recapping two (!) wins in this past week, Year of the Hamster had fallen percentage points behind Hannah LaMotta in the standing and equaled her all-time record of 13 straight losses.

If you’re interested in seeing more of Mitch’s work, or if you’d like to purchase original drawings or prints, contact him via Twitter (@soxsketcher), Instagram (@southsidesharpie), or by e-mail at southsidesharpie@gmail.com. Thanks for supporting local artists!

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Grady Sizemore art: Mitch Ransdell/Sox Populi