White Sox showing they can do it ... next year.(Chicago Tribune)

CHICAGO _ If you're prone to fits of hope, then I would suggest emotionally investing in something more feasible than the possibility of a White Sox playoff berth. Personally, I'd get behind the movement to abolish natural disasters, but that's just me.

Right now the American League postseason picture looks like this: Cleveland, Minnesota, the New York Yankees, Boston, Seattle, Oakland, Anaheim and a clumsy photographer's thumb in the corner. The Sox are the thumb messing up a perfectly good group shot.

It's delusional to think the Sox are headed for the postseason, even after their 11-8 victory over the Indians on Friday night. They trail first-place Cleveland by 7{ games in the American League Central, but the latest intelligence says the calendar has turned to September.

It is, however, perfectly OK to judge the value of this season by this series. Three days from now, ask yourself this question: Have the Sox learned to play with the big boys, even if it is too late?

If the answer is no, then this season will have been like walking down the up escalator. If the answer is no, it means the Sox did only a little more than what was expected, given all their injuries, and nothing more.

If the answer is yes, then there is good reason for huge expectations_for next season. It will be, as coaches like to say, something to build on, especially with Frank Thomas and the Sox's cast of torn labrums expected to return. Even David Wells is making noise about coming back next season, though that could have been a belch.

Give the Sox this, at least: For one night, they beat a good team. Royce Clayton_you remember him_jacked a three-run homer in the eighth to give the Sox an 11-8 lead in a seesaw game. It was enough. For one night, the Sox could look in there mirror and tell themselves that, yes, darn it, they are good.