Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Chicago White Sox are neck-and-neck with the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central despite a recent walk-off loss.
- Manager Will Venable credits last season's second-half turnaround for the team's current belief and resilience.
- Shortstop Colson Montgomery and the young core continue to drive the team forward, proving their success is no fluke.
It sounds like a script from a schmaltzy Disney movie. A Major League Baseball team has three horrendous seasons in a row and becomes a punchline in the sport, but then that same franchise suddenly wins a championship, and everyone lives happily ever after.
The Chicago White Sox had the pitiful part down well, going 60-101 in 2023, 41-121 in 2004 and 60-102 in 2025. The ’24 team set the MLB record for losses in a single season. Now, though, the White Sox are working to pull off the hard part, which is winning a worst-to-first championship. They are giving it a pretty good shot.
White Sox neck-and-neck with Guardians in AL Central race
The White Sox are just .0004 percentage points behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians despite Thursday night’s gut punch loss in the opener of a four-game holiday weekend series at Progressive Field. Brayan Rocchio walked it off for the Guardians with a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off of Grant Taylor.
“We don’t think much about prior stuff,” White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery told FanSided. “We’re all kind of past that stuff, and we're kind of looking just to build for the future, or build on wat we did in the second half last season the , brought in some new pieces and we’re more happen thinking about what’ gone ion in the past.”
The seeds of contention for the White Sox were planted at the start of the second half last season. Chicago scored 27 runs in a three-game sweep of the Pirates in Pittsburgh coming out of the All-Star break and went on to go 28-37 in their final 65 games, Such a record would be unacceptable in most big-market cities, but it qualified as a ray of hope on South Side of Chicago following a 32-65 first half.
“With the way last season ended, we aren’t surprised by our success,” Montgomery said. “We’ve worked hard and our record isn’t a fluke. We’ve played well. We’re not just some Cinderellas.”
White Sox manager Will Venable has a difficult time pinpointing exactly when he felt his team could become contenders. Like Montgomery, though, Venable also believes the White Sox have carried their success too far in despite Thursday’s loss.
“I'm not sure that there's a single day in which you can point to,” Venable said. “I just know that last year, certainly developed a belief in the group, not just myself, but the group in themselves, and that built over the offseason and that built throughout spring training. We were challenged early in the season with a (1-5) start, and the guys responded well. So, I think just every day there's just continued growth, continued belief that our club is a good club, and I think we've had that for a while, and, we'll keep it going.”
White Sox surviving without slugger Munetaka Murakami
The White Sox’s backbone is a core group of 26-and-under hitters that includes Colson Montgomery, left fielder Sam Antonacci, third baseman Miguel Vargas, catcher Kyle Teel, right fielder Braden Montgomery and second baseman Chase Meidroth.
The White Sox could use a top-of-the-rotation starter like the Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal or the New York Mets’ Freddy Peralta, or a closer such as the Boston Red Sox’s Aroldis Chapman. Yet White Sox general manager Chris Getz must value the cost of going for it in 2026 against being patient, as Chicago seems set up to be contenders at least through the end of the decade.
"Do you trade a Colson Montgomery for a couple of months of Freddy Peralta? I just don't see us doing something like that," a White Sox source said. "We've spent too much time building this thing up."
The White Sox added help in the offseason to bolster their young core of players, most notably signing Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami to a two-year, $36 million contract in free agency. Murakami has proven to be a bargain by hitting 20 home runs in 57 games. He has been on the injured list since May 30 with a right hamstring strain, though he could be ready to begin a rehab assignment in the Minors next week.
The White Sox were 30-27 with Murakami in the lineup but still have a 15-14 record without him.
“I’m really proud of the group, and I think it just speaks to just how this group's been able to stay consistent, is that they don't really overreact to any one thing, and that could be a tough loss from the day before, for example,” Venable said. “That could be a great win from the day before, losing a key player, whatever it might be. “They're just really consistent and kind of flush whatever happened in the past and are excited to come to the ballpark and give every ounce of energy they have.”
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