Friday, August 7, 2026 — under two months left in the regular season.
Two years ago the Chicago White Sox went 39-121, setting the post-expansion record for losses in a season. On Friday morning, MLB’s updated playoff picture had them holding a first-round bye.
That is not a typo, and at this point it is no longer a fluke.
How Far They’ve Come
The White Sox entered Friday at 59-53, leading the American League Central with Cleveland and Minnesota in pursuit and Detroit still within range. They haven’t been in first place this deep into a season since 2021.
What makes it stranger is that the year started exactly as everyone expected. Chicago opened 0-3, then 1-5, then 6-13. Then something turned: a 15-8 run vaulted them into first place, and from mid-April onward they played at a pace that was among the best in the American League.
They’ve since survived stretches of schedule that were supposed to bury them — the Braves, Dodgers and Yankees in succession — and kept the lead through all of it.
The Murakami Effect
The headline addition was Munetaka Murakami, the 26-year-old Japanese slugger who arrived with 246 home runs in 892 NPB games and multiple MVP awards behind him.
He has more than delivered. Murakami has combined enormous power with elite plate discipline — the walk rate is the tell, and it’s the thing that suggested his production would translate rather than evaporate against major league velocity. He leads the AL Rookie of the Year field, and he hit his 26th home run in Sunday’s win over Cleveland.
The remarkable part is how much of this season Chicago managed without him. Murakami missed a long stretch with a hamstring strain, and the White Sox climbed into first place anyway.
It’s Not a One-Man Team
That’s the argument against dismissing this as a fluke.
- Colson Montgomery — the shortstop has become the franchise cornerstone the organization hoped for, pairing genuinely elite defense with power that ranks among the best at his position.
- Miguel Vargas — a legitimate middle-of-the-order bat after years of being a prospect other clubs gave up on.
- Chase Meidroth — the most recent contributor to a lineup that keeps producing from unexpected places.
- The bullpen — Venable has run a committee at the back end with Seranthony Domínguez, Grant Taylor, Bryan Hudson and Sean Newcomb, and it has worked.
The Manager
Will Venable took the job on October 31, 2024 — his first as a major league manager, at arguably the least appealing moment in the franchise’s modern history.
He is now the clear favorite for AL Manager of the Year, and the case is straightforward. Chicago doesn’t have the most talent in its division. What it has is a team that plays hard for nine innings every night, wins close games, and doesn’t fold after bad weeks. That is a culture result, and Venable and GM Chris Getz built it.
Where the Risk Is
Pitching depth remains the concern. Shane Smith, a 2025 All-Star and this year’s Opening Day starter, struggled badly, got demoted, and has been working back from biceps tendinitis. The rotation behind the top arms is thin, which is why Chicago spent deadline week chasing controllable starters, pursuing Reid Detmers among others.
They also lost catcher Kyle Teel to a high ankle sprain that could sideline him up to three months — a significant subtraction for a club whose margin for error is small.
And the AL Central is genuinely competitive. There’s no room for a prolonged slump.
The Bigger Picture
The 2026 American League has been strange. Tampa Bay has separated from everyone by a wide margin, and behind the Rays sits a scrum of teams that would have been ordinary in most seasons. That environment created an opening, and Chicago walked through it.
Whether they hold on for eight more weeks is an open question. What isn’t open anymore is whether this is real. A team that lost 121 games in 2024 has spent four months proving it can beat anyone, and it’s doing it with players it developed rather than players it bought.
That is the best story in baseball this year, and nobody saw it coming.
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