<P> The 2005 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2005 season . The 101st edition of the World Series, it was a best - of - seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Chicago White Sox and the National League (NL) champion Houston Astros; the White Sox swept the Astros in four games, winning their third World Series championship and their first in 88 seasons . Although the series was a sweep, all four games were quite close, being decided by two runs or fewer . The series was played between October 22--26, 2005 . </P> <P> Home - field advantage was awarded to Chicago by virtue of the AL's 7--5 victory over the NL in the 2005 MLB All - Star Game . The Astros were attempting to become the fourth consecutive wild card team to win the Series, following the Anaheim Angels (2002), Florida Marlins (2003) and Boston Red Sox (2004). Both teams were attempting to overcome decades of disappointment, with a combined 132 years between the two teams without a title . The Astros were making their first Series appearance in 44 years of play, while the White Sox had waited exactly twice as long for a title, having last won the Series in 1917, and had not been in the Series since 1959, three years before the Astros' inaugural season . </P> <P> Like the 1982 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers, the 2005 World Series is one of only two World Series in the modern era (1903--present) with no possibility for a rematch between the two opponents, because the Astros moved to the AL in 2013 . However, the Brewers did meet the Cardinals in the 2011 NL Championship Series . The Astros would return to the World Series in 2017 as an AL franchise, where they would win in seven games against the Los Angeles Dodgers . </P> <P> The Chicago White Sox finished the regular season with the best record in the American League at 99--63 . After starting the season on a tear, the White Sox began to fade in August, when a ​ 15 ⁄ game lead fell all the way to ​ 1 ⁄ . However, the Sox were able to hold off the Cleveland Indians to win the American League Central Division by six games, sweeping Cleveland in three games on the season's final weekend . In the Division Series, the White Sox swept the defending champion Boston Red Sox . The League Championship Series began with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim winning Game 1, but a controversial uncaught third strike in Game 2 helped the Sox start a run and win Games 2--5, all on complete games pitched by starters Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Freddy García, and José Contreras, clinching their first American League pennant in 46 years . </P>

Last time chicago white sox won the world series