At the risk of jinxing it, the Chicago White Sox might just be scratching themselves into the playoff hunt. After a truly putrid 13-27 start over the first quarter of the season, the White Sox have sneakily played solid baseball for the last two weeks, going 7-3 over their last 10 games. To a degree, this makes sense. Chicago's cruddy record belied the true caliber of their roster; Luis Robert is a darkhorse MVP candidate and Dylan Crease was the Cy Young runner-up last year while Tim Anderson, Andrew Benintendi, Yasmani Grandal, Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito have all been All-Stars. As such, according to White Sox starter Michael Kopech, their recent hot streak isn't a fluke, but rather water finding its level for a talented team.
“We know that we can win this division,” Michael Kopech said to James Fegan, the team's beat writer for The Athletic. “Last year we didn't live up to our potential. To say the least, we know the kind of team we are. With the stretch that we're about to finish off, I think we can put ourselves in a good position.”
While a 13-27 start would usually preclude any postseason aspirations, the White Sox have the good fortune of playing in the AL Central, the weakest division in the majors. Accordingly, the 20-30 White Sox are still somehow just 5.5 games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins and have ample opportunity to make up the gap. To wit, the White Sox have already considerably closed the gap just this month, shaving three games off the Twins' lead since May 13th.
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