Sox Populi Pregame Podcast 7 — Ready or not, hello, 2023! — 2023-03-30

Brett Ballantini invites a half-dozen SSS friends, including debut podcaster Ryiin, Jordan Hass, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Malachi Hayes, Chrystal O’Keefe and Brian O’Neill, to chat about Opening Night in Houston: Did Brian’s terrific essay render this entire podcast moot? Suppose not — we didn’t stop recording after reading Starting it off on the sunny side, we discuss the things we are most excited about as the 2023 season dawns — including the likelihood and tolerance of José Abreu hitting a massive bomb against a former teammate at least once OK then, what about the White Sox still gives us the willies? Among many possibilities, a thin rotation and the possibility that Rick Hahn will control this team on the field by remote come to light  Speed round: How likely are the White Sox to pull a Baines ’89 and retire Abreu’s jersey immediately upon his return to Chicago with the Astros in May? At least two dog and one cat cameos on-screen We wind up our longer topics trying to find anything redeeming about the Houston Astros. Aside from Malachi’s rec for a book that strips that insipid organization bare, we didn’t Final speed round finds us discussing the player we are most looking forward to watching in 2023 Also: Tune in to tonight’s postgame podcast, up somewhat shortly after the end of the opener Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices