The White Sox finished 2026 looking like a team on the rise, but their playoff exit also laid bare the work still ahead. Chicago has a young core and a front office that has pushed the roster forward, yet the divisional-round loss to the Cleveland Guardians exposed some gaps that can’t be ignored this offseason.
If there’s a blueprint sitting in plain sight, it’s in the two clubs still standing: the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers. Both organizations have been run with a steady hand for years, and now one of them will have a chance to win its first championship. More than that, both teams show what a complete, durable roster looks like from top to bottom.
The biggest lesson starts on the mound. Milwaukee and Tampa Bay have not just strong starting rotations - they have pitching depth everywhere.
The Brewers finished with a 3.22 bullpen ERA, second-best in 2026, and did it despite moving on from pitchers such as Josh Hader, Devin Williams, and Freddy Peralta over the years. Their staff, powered by young arms like Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson, helped fuel a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.
Tampa Bay followed a similar model. The Rays built an elite rotation with Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez, Freddy Peralta, and others, while Bryan Baker led the American League in saves. Their bullpen also featured several breakout names, giving them the kind of balance Chicago still lacks.
That’s where the White Sox have to catch up. Sean Burke gives them a quality ace, and the bullpen has a solid base, but the rotation doesn’t have enough depth.
That’s expected to be one of the main priorities this winter. Chicago doesn’t need just one more arm; it needs multiple starters who can raise the whole group.
The offense needs a different kind of lesson. The White Sox led the American League in runs during the regular season, but that production didn’t translate to October. A lineup built around power - with names like Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas, and Colson Montgomery - can carry a team for long stretches, but the postseason demands more than home runs.
Chicago learned that the hard way against Cleveland. The White Sox struck out 75 times in a five-game series, and that kind of swing-and-miss doesn’t travel well in the playoffs. They need more ways to score when the ball isn’t leaving the yard.
There is already something to work with. Sam Antonacci, Chase Meidroth, and Tristan Peters give the lineup a foundation. The next step is making the group more willing to move runners and take the small gains that matter in October.
That’s another area where the Rays and Brewers stand out. Both clubs finished near the bottom of the league in home runs during the regular season, yet both were near the top in runs scored.
Tampa Bay got 42 home runs from Junior Caminero, while Jonathan Aranda and Yandy Díaz were next at 22. Milwaukee was led by Jake Bauers with 26, and only two teammates topped 20.
That’s how clubs like this keep winning. They take sacrifice flies, they turn in RBI groundouts, they run better, and they strike out less.
It doesn’t mean the White Sox should stop hunting damage. It does mean they have to get much better with runners in scoring position.
If they do that and add the pitching depth they’re missing, Chicago can climb to a different level. The lesson from the last two teams standing is clear: in baseball’s biggest moments, the best-built teams are the ones that can beat you in more than one way.
In Other News...
White Sox Face A Crucial Scouting Decision In Chris Getzs Rebuild
The White Sox are still in the middle of a rebuild that has leaned heavily on getting the draft and player development right, and that makes the vacancy in amateur scouting especially important. Chicago announced that amateur scouting director Mike Shirley is no longer with the organization, leaving another key front-office chair open as the club works to stabilize the pipeline of young talent.
The move comes after Shirley had been placed on administrative leave while the team conducted an internal investigation, and the search now turns to who will guide the next wave of draft decisions. An internal answer is very much in play, with crosschecker JJ Lally viewed as a potential candidate, giving the White Sox a choice between continuity and a broader reset in a department that matters plenty to Chris Getzs long-term plan. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Roster Crunch Could Force Tough Decisions Sooner Than Expected
The White Sox are already staring at a familiar offseason headache: a 40-man roster that is sitting at 46 players, with six more on the 60-day injured list who will need to be added back after the season. Even before winter business really begins, that means the front office is headed toward a squeeze, and the usual calendar markers are coming fast. The Nov. 17 Rule 5 protection deadline and the Nov. 20 non-tender deadline often force clubs to make decisions quickly, especially when they are trying to sort out who belongs on the roster and who does not.
Chicagos situation is made trickier by the number of pitchers still working back from Tommy John surgeries, leaving several futures hanging in the balance as the club plans its next round of moves. The added wrinkle is the possibility that a MLB lockout could freeze the market and complicate the normal flow of offseason transactions, which could leave the White Sox with even less flexibility than usual. For a team already facing a roster crunch, the timing of those decisions may matter as much as the decisions themselves. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Suddenly Have An Infield Problem Fans Will Welcome
The White Sox spent the winter talking about something they have not always had enough of: options. After a 2026 playoff season, general manager Chris Getz said the organization now has surplus talent across the big league roster and the upper levels of the farm system, with players such as Miguel Vargas, Colson Montgomery and Sam Antonacci giving the club flexibility to move pieces around as needed. Add in the continued development of top prospects Roch Cholowsky and Caleb Bonemer, and Chicago suddenly has more infield possibilities than it can comfortably fit into one lineup.
For a team trying to build on its breakthrough season, that kind of problem is exactly the sort you want. It gives the front office room to consider positional shuffles, balance short-term fit against long-term growth, and decide which players belong in the same lane and which ones do not. Getz made clear the organization is weighing multiple roster paths, and the next question is less about whether the White Sox have enough infield talent than how they will sort it all out. [Read more 🡒]