I know this sounds strange after the September swoon, but the White Sox still have a real path to the playoffs.
That’s not me trying to talk myself into a fantasy. It’s the math, the schedule, and the way this team has handled adversity all season.
Chicago has been maddening since the month turned, and the last stretch has felt like one long punch to the gut. Still, the door is open.
The simplest way to see it is this: the Sox probably don’t need to catch fire. A 5-5 or 6-4 finish could be enough to reclaim the division, and it should also be enough to keep the wild card in play as a backup. Cleveland and the teams chasing Chicago would need to slip, sure, but this isn’t a case where the Sox need some wild miracle run.
There’s also reason to trust this group’s ability to steady itself. Chicago hasn’t lost more than four straight games all year, and that matters when a team is trying to shake off a bad stretch. The Sox have shown all season that they can absorb a rough patch and bounce back.
The offense should have a chance to straighten out, too. The Sox are 5-10 since September began, and two of their three best hitters, Colson Montgomery and Munetaka Murakami, have been struggling at the plate for a while now.
Montgomery has been off since well into August, and Murakami has also been quiet, with some concern about a weakness against fastballs that was already part of his scouting report when he came over to the States. If even one of them gets hot over the final 10 games, that changes the picture fast.
The same idea applies to the pitching. The starters were part of the slide, but Sean Burke, Davis Martin, and Anthony Kay have looked better lately. The bullpen, which had been bailing the Sox out, has had some recent issues of its own, so Chicago still needs that group to settle down.
There’s a chance the pressure works in the Sox’s favor, too. The sense around the team was that once the calendar flipped, the hitters started pressing.
That’s how slumps snowball: runners get stranded, the next at-bat gets tighter, the strikeouts pile up. With the Cleveland series now behind them, the spotlight hasn’t disappeared, but it has eased a bit.
A team that was better when it played loose could use that to its advantage.
Fatigue is part of the picture as well. Some people have pointed to a young Sox team looking worn down, but exhaustion doesn’t always stay in place.
Sometimes the grind hits hard and then, eventually, the body catches up. I’ve never lived through a major league season myself, but I’ve seen teams and athletes find another gear late.
It could happen here.
And while Cleveland’s September surge has fueled plenty of talk, the Guardians are only 8-7 in the month as of this writing. Their position has been helped by Chicago’s own collapse, especially the Sox going 1-5 against Pittsburgh and St.
Louis. That means Cleveland’s hold on the division is not some lock.
The schedule also gives Chicago a shot. Detroit comes to Chicago for four games, and that’s the toughest part of what’s left - the Tigers are hot and have an outside shot at the Wild Card, even if the Sox swept them in Detroit the last time they met.
Kansas City can be annoying, but not especially dangerous. Then comes Colorado, and the Rockies are terrible.
If the Sox split with Detroit and take the final two series, that gets them to 6-4, which probably does the trick.
Maybe this is partly about wanting to believe the season can still be salvaged after a mostly .500 run since May and a brutal September. Maybe it’s about not wanting to settle for “they’ll get there next year,” especially when next year is never promised and 2027 isn’t guaranteed either because of labor strife.
But the bigger point is simple: if a team has a realistic shot at the postseason, why shrug and move on? The White Sox still have that shot.
The schedule is manageable, the tiebreaker over Cleveland matters, and the division is still there for the taking. That makes the playoffs not just possible, but still likely.
In Other News...
White Sox Just Suffered The Kind Of Loss Fans Dread Most
For a night that started with a jolt of free offense, the White Sox ended up walking away with the kind of loss that lingers. They jumped on the Tigers for six unearned runs in the first inning and looked to be in full control, only for Detroit to answer with nine straight and turn an easy-looking game into an 11-8 defeat.
Kevin McGonigles triple helped fuel the comeback, but the other turning point was harder to ignore for Chicago. Center fielder Tristan Peters left with an injury, and from there the White Sox never fully steadied themselves, leaving a frustrating result that trimmed their division margin and kept the Wild Card cushion thin. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Let A Brutal Collapse Shake Up The AL Central Race
The White Sox had built what looked like a comfortable cushion behind Miguel Vargass two-run homer and an 8-2 lead, only to watch Detroit chip away and then completely flip the night. Hao-Yu Lee tied it with a home run, and the Tigers kept applying pressure until they had scored nine unanswered runs in an 11-8 win that suddenly made the four-game series feel a lot more precarious for Chicago.
The most damaging stretch came in the eighth, when Detroit put up five runs and finished the rally with a go-ahead run after a pickoff by Bryan Hudson. What had been a lopsided White Sox advantage turned into another reminder of how quickly a game can change in the AL Central, and now Chicago has to regroup after letting one slip away in a way that could linger beyond just one loss. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox May Have A Sean Burke Decision Taking Shape
A young pitchers strong season can change the conversation quickly, and Sean Burke has put himself into that category for the White Sox. Washingtons reported move toward extending Cade Cavalli only adds another point of comparison for Chicago, where Burkes performance this year has looked similar enough to invite a broader look at how the organization handles its emerging arms.
The White Sox have made clear their present extension focus is elsewhere, but that may not stay true for long if Burke keeps trending the way he has. For a club trying to sort out its next core, the idea of locking in young pitching later could become a more realistic and more important part of the roster plan. [Read more 🡒]