CHICAGO - To most baseball fans, the team appearing in its first World Series since 1959 is known as the Chicago White Sox. But to a growing, adoring Latino fan base, the players are also known as “Las Medias Blancas.”

The White Sox feature a roster filled with Spanish-speaking players and a Venezuelan manager whose accent is as hearty as a plate of arroz con pollo.

They also have a front office who reached out to the Latino community with the first Spanish-language radio broadcasts in six years and events such as “Dia Del Ninos” (Kids Day).

Adriana Rodriguez, a 20-year Chicago college student and longtime Sox fan, said she admires the team for its perseverance.

“They represent what I’m for: the underdogs. The people who don’t get the recognition they deserve and have to fight for what they believe in,” she said. “As a Latina, I feel like I have to do that everyday.”

The White Sox are ahead 2-0 heading into Game 3 Tuesday night against the Astros in Houston. Before Game 4 Wednesday night, Major League Baseball will present a Latino Legends Team, chosen by fans.

Chicago’s playoff roster features 10 players and staff from Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic, including pitchers Jose Contreras and Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez (both from Cuba) and Freddy Garcia (Venezuela).

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The White Sox have enjoyed a healthy Latino fan base for years — at least partly because the Chicago area is home to one of the largest Mexican communities in the country. But this season, the team’s front office counted a spike in Latino attendance at the ballpark.

Traditionally, an average of between 4 and 6 percent of the fans at U.S. Cellular Field are Latino, White Sox spokesman Scott Reifert said. That number increased during the regular season this year to between 6 and 8 percent.

“It’s been a big boom,” Reifert said.

The rise was no accident, however, with the team making specific marketing efforts aimed at Latinos.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, a Venezuelan native, gives Spanish-language interviews and commentary to local, national and Latin American media outlets.

In addition to the radio broadcasts of the games in Spanish, a newly formed Latino advisory committee helped organize events at U.S. Cellular Field, such as Kids Day and a college night that featured reggaeton, hip-hop and other music popular with Latino youths.