THE GODS ARE BRINGING JUSTIN ISHBIA TO THE WHITE SOX, AS I WROTE ON SEPT. 24

Hallelujah! Even if a coup of Jerry Reinsdorf is necessary, Ishbia can take control of an ugly franchise — $5.4 billion in net worth — and keep the Sox in Chicago, where he is buying up shares at 47

From Section 121 on the South Side, in a seat that was predestined as the White Sox neared their 121st loss, I prepared a prophetic sentence last Sept. 24. I heard the fans who chanted “One twenty one! One twenty one!” and shouted “Sell the team!” Up in his suite, in a ballpark obsolete for decades, Jerry Reinsdorf looked down on his misery.

Here’s what I wrote that night on Substack: “Justin Ishbia, who is razing hell on a Winnetka beach while building a $44 million mansion, might want to buy the ballclub as his brother, Mat, runs the Phoenix Suns.”

So credit me. The sale that needed to take place quickly, to have any chance of saving the Sox in Chicago, is happening as I predicted. Ishbia already owns a stake in the team and will purchase enough shares from limited partners, as The Athletic reported, and at some point wants to take over the team as Reinsdorf approaches 89. Ishbia is abandoning his chase of the Minnesota Twins and wants local blood. Of course, the internal Sox blowout engines are shooting down such thinking, with Reinsdorf ordering his longtime publicist to quiet the Ishbia talk.

“Similar to an opportunity in 2021, White Sox limited partners have received an offer from a third party to purchase their shares in the team, providing liquidity for the limited partners on their long-term investment in the club,” communications boss Scott Reifert said. “This offer to limited partners has no impact on the leadership or operations of the Chicago White Sox and does not provide a path to control.”

A coup would be a fine way to bury Reinsdorf, right?

We aren’t waiting until he’s 95 before removing him from his creepy lordship. Wake up, old man. It’s over, at long last, with the Sox plummeting into one of the ugliest trash heaps in baseball history. Politicians are refusing public money for a stadium. Few fans are left to root for “one twenty two!” this year. Only a week ago, an Illinois appellate court ruled in favor of the former lead athletic trainer — Brian Ball says he was fired because he is a homosexual — and returned his sexual discrimination case to a jury mode.

There is nothing for Reinsdorf to do but sell, acknowledge he stayed 15 years too long and leave for Arizona on a one-way flight. He is fortunate a Chicago billionaire has bigger interest in the city’s second team and would be a welcome presence in discussions with Gov. JB Pritzker, who would be thrilled if Ishbia uses his $5.4 billion in net worth for a stadium project. He shouldn’t worry about his North Shore beach as much as The 78 neighborhood, where officials are waiting for someone else to talk business. Only if they say no should Ishbia consider another home, such as Nashville. At least he’s here to say hello and can open his portfolio at 47.

But first, Reinsdorf must dispose of his shares and give up vast control. Is that even possible for someone who thrives on command — he fronts Global Security Innovative Services, a “consulting and business advisory firm” that conducts investigations — and has tried to rule the local and national media for decades? He didn’t rule me, as he tried with nauseous odors, and I’m happy to run him out of town. He’s almost gone. The Sox should lose 125 and present him with the baseball.

And if Ishbia is in charge, it makes sense that his brother would become an investor. So Mat is struggling as majority owner of the Suns and hasn’t made winners of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. He and his brother are Chicago idols already.

“The beauty of baseball is that it’s not about a star or two,” Justin told The Athletic last fall. “It’s truly a team sport, and it’s a team sport over a long period of time. It’s a grind and it’s a discipline. It’s life. Life is the discipline of doing the same thing over and over again consistently. And that’s what the long summer of baseball is all about.”

He knows the game. He knows the Sox. He knows Chicago.

Better still, he knows how to bump off Jerry Reinsdorf.

Why his name entered my mind last Sept. 24, I can’t explain. But I wrote it, not bad for a columnist who was called “a pissant” by You Know Who.

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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.