{"id":754596,"date":"2026-07-18T00:24:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/754596\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T00:24:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:24:34","slug":"chicago-white-sox-3-questions-in-return-from-all-star-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/754596\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox: 3 questions in return from All-Star break"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable enjoyed the time away during the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I was thinking about today, and just the excitement to be back playing games today, because these guys work so hard and play so hard and give you something entertaining every day in the game,\u201d Venable said before Friday\u2019s game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. \u201cJust excited to be back and watching them play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sox entered Friday sharing a piece of first place in the American League Central with the Cleveland Guardians. It\u2019s the 13th time in franchise history the Sox started the \u201csecond half\u201d in first place and the first time since they held an eight-game division lead in 2021.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s team created plenty of buzz throughout the first 95 games, from the home run trio of Munetaka Murakami<\/a>, Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery to the steady play of the likes of outfielders Sam Antonacci and Tristan Peters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And the players are looking forward to resuming action.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all excited for the second half,\u201d the All-Star third baseman Vargas<\/a> told the Tribune on Friday. \u201cWe\u2019ve got goals set and we want to reach them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are three postbreak questions facing the Sox.<\/p>\n

1. What are some keys to carrying over the momentum following the break?<\/p>\n

Leading up to the All-Star break, the Sox emphasized remaining focused on the now. The team bounced back from being swept by the Boston Red Sox by sweeping the Athletics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The message beginning the second half, Venable said, is \u201cjust reminders about the things they\u2019ve committed to and have created a standard around. I think that\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Sox manager Will Venable watches right fielder Braden Montgomery bat against the Athletics on July 10, 2026, at Rate Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Venable knows distractions are always around the corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe distraction of the All-Star break was what we had to deal with then,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd now, guarantee it\u2019s going to be trade-deadline stuff, and everyone talking about what we should do or where we\u2019re at when really all we need to do is do everything we can to win today. That\u2019s all that\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose distractions will always be there, but we\u2019ll just find ways to keep the guys focused on the task at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. How active will the Sox be at the trade deadline?
\n\"WhiteWhite Sox general manager Chris Getz, right, talks with a friend before a game against the Royals on June 26, 2026, at Rate Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Speaking of making deals, the Aug. 3 trade deadline is approaching. And for the first time in several years, the Sox could be a buyer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel really good about where we\u2019re at, and candidly it\u2019s one series at a time,\u201d general manager Chris Getz said last week. \u201cWe\u2019ll prepare for all different scenarios and we\u2019re going to look for opportunities to help this future now and for the future, whether that be now or further along.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pitching tends to be in demand for contenders.<\/p>\n

Trades might not be the only avenue for help. The Sox have dipped into their farm system on multiple occasions this season, and pitchers such as Tanner McDougal are taking steps to be ready if called on. The hard-throwing right-hander recently began working out of the bullpen for Triple-A Charlotte.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the purpose of impact on the major-league team, Tanner is going to be in a situation where he\u2019ll pitch out of the pen with the abilities to go multiples and pitch two out of three days,\u201d director of player development Paul Janish said on July 9. \u201cThose are things he hasn\u2019t done before so we want to make sure we get him exposed to those things before he comes up and does them.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. What will it take to return to the postseason?<\/p>\n

The 2021 team that held a lead at the break went on to win the division and stands as the most recent Sox club to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n

For this year\u2019s team to remain in contention, Venable said: \u201cWe have things on the field that we\u2019re going to need to clean up. We\u2019re continuing to evaluate our processes and systems for everything that we\u2019re doing and really just want to make sure that we don\u2019t forget the things that got us here. Just committing to the things on the field and in our preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sox know there\u2019s plenty of baseball remaining. Venable credits the group for not looking too far ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it\u2019s about just doing those things that we can control and making sure that\u2019s top of mind,\u201d Venable said. \u201cAnd these players have just done a great job of really flushing yesterday\u2019s results and having a great attitude and coming to the ballpark ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable enjoyed the time away during the All-Star break. \u201cBut I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,138,49,2561,4071,10448,4154,4,73,17709,19072,70,30019,396,93650,2562,998],"class_list":["post-754596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-white-sox","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chicagowhitesox","tag-chris-getz","tag-colson-montgomery","tag-miguel-vargas","tag-mlb","tag-munetaka-murakami","tag-sam-antonacci","tag-tanner-mcdougal","tag-toronto-blue-jays","tag-tristan-peters","tag-white-sox","tag-white-sox-second-half-questions","tag-whitesox","tag-will-venable"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116938137049200010","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754596","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=754596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}