Miguel Vargas keeps stacking up the milestones in a season that has become the engine of the Chicago White Sox’s push into the final week.
The 26-year-old has put together a career year for the South Siders, arriving at 33 home runs, 88 RBIs, 31 doubles, a triple and 20 steals while scoring 101 runs. He’s hitting .251/.362/.482 with a 5.3 WAR and 135 OPS+, and in the process has become just the third White Sox player ever to post at least 30 homers and 20-plus steals in the same season. He’s also the only White Sox player in history to pair that with at least 20 doubles and 100 runs.
That production has made him the clearest reason Chicago enters the season’s final week on the edge of its first winning record in five years. The White Sox also have a chance to reach the playoffs for the first time in that span, and even to claim their first AL Central title since then.
Vargas didn’t ease off over the past week, either. He batted .348 with a double, three homers, nine RBIs and two steals, earning his second career MLB Player of the Week award. The first-time All-Star helped Chicago win four of its seven games during that stretch.
His biggest swing came in Saturday’s 3-1 win, when he launched his team-leading 33rd homer to open the bottom of the sixth. The shot to the left-field bleachers helped lock in the final 3-1 score.
Vargas has been more than just a bat in the lineup. Defensively, he has held his own and shown plenty of hustle on balls hit in his area. He’s also flashed quick reactions at third base, including on a play in the top of the fourth during that same Saturday win.
It all adds up to a season in which Vargas has been central on both sides of the ball, and one that has the White Sox in position to chase both a winning season and a playoff berth.
As a small coincidence, Chicago White Sox CHSN reporter Brooke Fletcher’s husband, Jake Cronenworth, was also Vargas’ Player of the Week counterpart in the NL.
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Former White Sox Players Are Fueling A Playoff Push Chicago Can Feel
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Sheets is on the injured list but expected back for the postseason, while Hays has carved out a part-time role after being designated for assignment by the White Sox. Harris has become an everyday piece for San Diego after a series of transactions that also involved the White Sox and Astros, giving the Padres another useful bat at just the right time. For Chicago, it is the kind of reminder that roster churn does not always end when a player leaves town, especially when those players suddenly become part of a contenders most important stretch. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Wild Card Cushion Suddenly Feels Less Comfortable
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For Chicago, that means the cushion in the wild card standings can no longer be treated like firm ground. Houstons path depends on a combination of its own remaining games and results elsewhere, with Texas, Toronto and Baltimore all part of the larger postseason puzzle, but the White Sox are the team most directly in the crosshairs. The margin is still there for now, yet it is the kind of lead that can shrink quickly when one contender is playing with multiple routes and every game around them starts to matter. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Suddenly Have A Breakout Problem Fans Will Love
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The good problem is that Chicago may not have an easy path to fitting both players into the same long-term picture. Their skills overlap in some ways, the roster already has other young options in the pipeline, and the White Sox could eventually have to sort out whether either player settles into a platoon, a utility role or becomes part of a bigger trade discussion. [Read more 🡒]