hogan873

Yeah, but compared to JR, Ishbia might be the Pope.

Time will tell. It's early. Cleveland is 5-5 in their last 10 but 12-8 in their last 20. The Sox are 7-3 in their last 10 and 11-9 in their last 20. Cleveland is the better team and has the better chance to win the division. But right now, the Sox are playing about as well as them.

I think they have a better chance to win the division than a wild card. The AL Central is bad, and I don't see any team (the Sox included) going on a tear and breaking away from the pack. There are probably enough other teams in the AL that will start playing better and possibly add at the trade deadline to get a wild card. All that said, I'm not sure the Sox are quite there to be a playoff team, or at least not a team that would go anywhere in the playoffs. As you said, there are still holes. And this is a young team that will likely be streaky. They could do some minor adding at the deadline, but I don't see anything dramatic happening.

TA certainly had some injury issues, but his personal life was a mess and that carried over to the field. He became less of a shadow of his formal self. Starting a flight, and then promptly getting KO'd didn't help matters.

It's actually okay to love the team, appreciate the job Getz and Venable have done, AND think JR is a bad owner. This team, that still has a very low payroll, is playing very well because of the players and coaches. JR had to be convinced to take a no-brainer gamble on Murakami, and look what happened. He has even more money to roll around in while scheming ways to not spend it. Team - Awesome Venable and coaches - Doing a great job Getz - Getting better, learning on the job...still under-qualified JR - Still a shitty owner

William's The Conquerors The 2026 White Sox - Now Schlub Free! Bridgeport Bombers

I would say Venable is getting A LOT out of the team he has. There's talent, for sure, but it's young, raw talent for the most part. The few veterans sprinkled in are helping on and off the field. Grichuk fit right in, Benintendi (despite being bad at baseball) seems to be well liked, Hill is having the time of his life, and Kay is helping a young pitching staff. Don't overlook the fact that the culture of this team has been completely overhauled with the last of the *ahem* problems traded away during the off season. And I firmly believe that Murakami has been a huge part in bringing this team together. It's amazing that a guy with limited English and Spanish fits in so well and already seems to be a leader in the clubhouse. Venable will get a lot of credit, deservedly so, but this group of players is so tight and truly seem to like each other. That, along with the growing talent, is producing an exciting team to watch.

This seems to be a big difference from previous years' teams. Of course, they were almost always playing teams better than them, but they seemed to lose more games to crappy teams and occasionally play well against good teams. The 2026 Sox have been steadily decent to good and are for the most part beating bad teams. If the team keeps playing like this, they have a chance to play .500ish ball in June and be near the top of the (bad) devision.

It was really nice to see Sandlin not get flustered after the lead-off home run. He didn't just brush it off, he completely shut down the Twins after that. It has been so long since the Sox had a player as exciting as Murakami. He's exceeding pretty much all expectations, and you know there are multiple teams kicking themselves. By the way, how did he hit a 432 foot opposite field home run with such a casual swing? How about Meidroth with the power? What a great win. Let's hope they saved a few runs for the final game.

I don't think there was anyone who didn't see that coming. Looks like a bad trade for both parties. The Sox at least dumped the salary and have a maybe in Pauley.

Maybe we should be less concerned with his bunting ability and more about the fact that he was asked to bunt with two strikes.

As well as this team is playing and surprising many, I'm not sure they will be in a position to consider adding at the deadline. Nor do I think they'll be sellers. I could see a few minor trades, maybe to add a starting pitcher. But I'd hate to see them trade some of the future for a moderate upgrade for the near future.

Well, Robert isn't playing...but Acuna is putting up a negative WAR. So, neither?

My standard is watching fun baseball. The past few years, there wasn't much fun to watch. This team is fun and much better than expected. Sure, they're in a shitty division and realistically wouldn't be within striking distance of first place in any other division, but being in the hunt makes it even more fun.

Man, how could I forget Martin. He's one of the best pitchers in the league right now, quietly. Hopefully Smith can get some of that magic back and make it to the big league team again.