If the AL Central is like an apartment building, then the Chicago White Sox spent the last few years as a shut-in neighbor with some smelly, unidentifiable substance leaking out from under their front door. It was best to stay as far away as possible. But after the first few months of the 2026 season, the windows have been cracked and the rooms aired out. If you come knock on the White Sox's door with an open mind, there's a good chance they'll welcome you in and give you an enjoyable evening in their company. And it won't smell nearly at all.
The latest collision of "White Sox" and "happiness" came Tuesday night on the South Side, with the Atlanta Braves in town for the start of a three-game series. The Braves' garish, tasteless 45-21 record dwarfed the Sox's humble, earthy 34-31 mark, and Chicago was missing its thundering rookie slugger Munetaka Murakami to injury, so it wouldn't be fair to expect too much out of this meeting. But after Atlanta got out to an early 4-0 lead, the pitching tightened up and the Sox got the hits they needed to send it into extras. There was a two-run Miguel Vargas dong in the third, then a single/HBP/single combo in the fourth, and finally walk/single/single in the seventh. (This was a retro-themed local broadcast for the Sox, by the way, with old-fashioned graphics and Bob Costas of all people on the play-by-play call.)
Atlanta got their run on their top of the 10th, and Raisel Iglesias, who entered this game with a 0.87 ERA, picked up the first two outs in the bottom half. But then Braden Montgomery, a right fielder making his MLB debut at a position where nine different starters have featured for Chicago this season, stepped up to the plate hoping to add to the RBI hit he'd earned in the fourth. The 23-year-old looked at a 90 mph meatball down the middle, and with the count 0-1, Iglesias tried to sneak that same thing by him again. Big mistake. Montgomery flicked the pitch into the left field corner, and on a warm Midwestern night its flight extended beyond the fence for the game-winning home run. That hit only goes yard in two out of 30 ballparks, but this is the only place that matters.
“I guess from here on out, it’s all downhill?” Montgomery said after the game. But looking at the AL Central and the league as a whole, it's actually getting easier to feel optimistic about the White Sox's chances of making the playoffs. At +9, they've got the best run differential in the division, and they're only a half-game back of Cleveland with no serious challengers underneath them. If that doesn't work out, they're currently in the second wild card slot, three games up on the 33-35 Blue Jays. It has not been a banner year for the American League so far, but that only makes the White Sox's improvement stand out more dramatically.
It's genuinely been restorative to pull for the White Sox this year, particularly when the team's played in front of their home fans. Opening Day ended with replacement-level Derek Hill bunting home the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, then coming around to score on the next PA. A couple of walk-offs later, facing the Tigers at the end of May, bit player Rikuu Nishida bunted Detroit into a defensive meltdown to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, and in extras Vargas sent one sailing into the seats for the 4-3 win. When was the last time a White Sox game looked this fun to attend?
In the early days of the season, it was the excitement around Murakami's power and the promise of a Pope hat giveaway that fueled some curiosity around the White Sox. But with Murakami out of the lineup, and Leo XIV pontificating across the ocean, Chicago still boasts reasons to pay attention. Davis Martin looks like he's taken a big leap forward as the team's ace. 24-year-old Grant Taylor has proven an effective stopper out of the bullpen with his fastball/curveball duet. And at the plate, both Vargas and Colson "Angel From" Montgomery (no relation to Braden) are young faces with the potential to mash.
I'm not saying this can't or won't all go downhill in an instant, or that a 14-20 record on the road is something to ignore. But compared to last year's 102-loss Sox, or the year before's 121-loss Sox, or the year before's 101-loss Sox, Chicago's team is putting together a first half worth celebrating. Go to hell, Cleveland!
