{"id":699920,"date":"2026-05-15T21:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T21:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/699920\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T21:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T21:42:19","slug":"white-sox-on-pace-to-shatter-mlb-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/699920\/","title":{"rendered":"White Sox On Pace To Shatter MLB Mark"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago White Sox<\/a> have a storied history. They\u2019ve been around for over 125 years<\/a>, so they should.<\/p>\n

Recent history, however, has not been as kind: three straight 100-loss seasons, including a 41-121 record in 2024, the fifth-worst win percentage (.253) in the Modern Era \u2013 which started in 1901.<\/p>\n

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But something\u2019s going on over on the south side. We\u2019re 42 games into the season, just 25% through 2026, and the White Sox are 21-21, and even .500. They haven\u2019t been even this late into a season since 2022.<\/p>\n

Even if the Sox keep pace and only finish at .500, that could be good enough to get into the playoffs. Right now, the Cleveland Guardians<\/a> lead the AL Central at 24-21. The Sox are 1.5 games behind. Every other team is below .500.<\/p>\n

They’re competitive, fun to watch, and showing signs of a real rebuild payoff rather than tanking.<\/p>\n

How did the Sox do it? Here are a few reasons:<\/p>\n

Murakami was signed in the offseason from Japan to add power to a light-hitting Sox lineup. Mission accomplished so far, to the extreme. He ranks third in all of MLB in home runs<\/a> with 15, behind only Kyle Schwarber<\/a> (17) and Aaron Judge<\/a> (16). He\u2019s betting only .226 but ranks seventh in the league in walks.<\/p>\n

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Related: The Next Shohei Ohtani May Already Be Stateside<\/a><\/p>\n

He’s exceeding expectations as a middle-of-the-order force.<\/p>\n

More From Lindy’s Sports:<\/p>\n

Murakami isn\u2019t the only one, as the Sox rank fourth in baseball in dingers. Shortstop Colson Montgomery<\/a>, just 24, has 11 of them and second baseman Miguel Vargas<\/a>, 22, has nine.<\/p>\n

Davis Martin<\/a> has been excellent (5-1, 1.62 ERA through eight starts), providing quality starts and wins. Top prospect Noah Schultz has arrived and shown flashes despite a 4.91 ERA in limited innings.<\/p>\n

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Sean Burke<\/a> is in his second year as a rotation fixture, allowing two runs over 19.1 innings in three straight starts this season.<\/p>\n

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The staff ERA is 4.27, 18th in baseball through May 13. They were 28th just two years ago.<\/p>\n

Chicago has done it with prospects and young players from the three-year rebuild, while adding depth and limiting holes in the order and in the field and proved catastrophic at times.<\/p>\n

Last year, Montgomery was the only players on the roster with a WAR above 2.0. Five players with at least 145 plate appearances were in the negative. Those players mostly aren\u2019t here anymore.<\/p>\n

A culture shift under manager Will Venable emphasizes competitiveness. They’re scrappier in close games, with better run differential and timely hitting compared to past seasons.<\/p>\n

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Indeed, as bad as last year went in Venable\u2019s first season, it was 18 games better than the year prior.<\/p>\n

In 2022 during their last .500 start, the White Sox finished 81-81. If they finish with that record in 2026, it would be an improvement of 40 games and crush the greatest one-season turnaround in MLB history. The Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> improved 35 games in 1999.<\/p>\n

Related: MLB Insider Names Diamondbacks Veteran as Potential Trade Option<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Lindys Sports<\/a> on May 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the MLB<\/a> section. Add Lindys Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago White Sox have a storied history. They\u2019ve been around for over 125 years, so they should.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[106,22,5,49,51,10448,5285,81,4154,4,73,88156,2003,286,998],"class_list":["post-699920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-aaron-judge","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-baseball","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-colson-montgomery","tag-davis-martin","tag-kyle-schwarber","tag-miguel-vargas","tag-mlb","tag-munetaka-murakami","tag-recent-history","tag-sean-burke","tag-sox","tag-will-venable"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116580774888947697","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}