When I wrote the game thread for last Sunday’s eventual loss, I described the vibe of the 2026 White Sox as something akin to the “Ricky’s Boys Don’t Quit” team that, in 2019, gave fans their first glimpse of post-rebuild promise after two years of triple-digit losses. Now, after three years of triple-digit losses, I’m going to amend that statement. Perhaps it was the record-setting futility of 2024, or perhaps it was the third consecutive year of being the worst team in Major League Baseball. Whatever
it is, as difficult as it might have been to believe a few weeks ago, I feel comfortable in saying that this team feels a lot better than whatever 2019 was.
The Sox have put five straight Ws in the win column since last Sunday, and now, they have a chance to display a .500 record beyond April for the first time since the end of the 2022 season. Since his promotion earlier this month, Noah Schultz has looked every part of the top-of-the-rotation starter that fans have spent years hoping he would be. Sean Burke hasn’t allowed an earned run over his last two starts, and Davis Martin seems to have learned how to leverage his deep arsenal into an All-Star caliber run on the mound to begin the season. The fact that Munetaka Murakami has lived up to every inch of his potential almost distracts from the fact that Colson Montgomery’s power surge last summer seems to have been very much not a fluke and that he remains one of the league’s best shortstops, even if the rest of baseball hasn’t quite caught up to it yet.
Whether they can turn this little run into a full-blown winning streak has yet to be seen, but a three-game sweep of a good Padres team would go a long way towards inflating the perception that the White Sox might kind of, sort of, maybe, actually be back. Here’s the lineup that Will Venable is sending out today in an attempt to do so:
This is just me, but I have a sneaking suspicious that Sam Antonacci in the leadoff spot is something we’re going to get used to for the rest of the summer. The fact that the team is approaching .500 while routinely running out lineups like this one is part of why I believe this early-season surge isn’t just a flash in the pan.
Here’s what San Diego manager Craig Stammen is sending out to counter Anthony Kay and friends:
There was a fair amount of noise linking Padres starting Griffin Canning to the White Sox this past offseason; we can only hope that the Sox will make him regret his choice in free agent destination today. First pitch is scheduled for at 3:10 p.m. CT, live from San Diego. If you want to join us, broadcasts are available on CHSN (TV) and WMVP AM 1000 (radio) like always!
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