subsequent Series through 2013 except for 2009 produced lower ratings. The record-low 2012 World Series, another four-game sweep, averaged 7.6 (3.5 points lower than 2005's rating) and 12.7 million viewers (4.4 million fewer viewers than 2005). Aftermath Neither team advanced to the post-season in 2006, but both the White Sox and the Astros were in the Wild Card race until the final weeks of the season, with the White Sox finishing with 90 wins, the Astros with 82 wins. The White Sox made their first post-2005 postseason appearance in 2008, while the Astros would not return to the postseason until 2015, their third season as an American League team and would not return to the World Series until 2017, their fifth season as an American League team. Both teams met in the 2021 American League Division Series, their first match-up in the post-season since the 2005 World Series (and the first since the Astros moved to the AL). Houston won the series 3–1. This was the city of Chicago's first professional sports championship since the Chicago Fire won MLS Cup '98 (which came four months after the Chicago Bulls' sixth NBA championship that year). The next major Chicago sports championship came in 2010, when the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks ended a 49-year Stanley Cup title drought. With the Chicago Bears' win in Super Bowl XX and the Chicago Cubs' own World Series championship in , all Chicago sports teams have won at least one major championship since 1985. Meanwhile, the Astros themselves made it back to the World Series in , but this time as an AL team, where they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games, resulting in Houston's first professional sports championship since the 2006–07 Houston Dynamo won their back-to-back MLS Championships. However, Houston's 2017 World Series victory became controversial due to the sign stealing scandal that was made public in 2019. Closer Brad Lidge and utility player Eric Bruntlett went on to play on the Philadelphia Phillies' 2008 World Series-winning team, while outfielder/first baseman Lance Berkman won a World Series in with the St. Louis Cardinals. Aaron Rowand and Juan Uribe both won a second World Series title together as members of the San Francisco Giants. See also 2005 Asia Series 2005 Japan Series References External links 2005 Postseason Schedule at MLB.com World Series World Series Chicago White Sox postseason Houston Astros postseason World Series World Series