How Chicago White Sox can shock baseball, make playoffs
If the Chicago White Sox want to surprise everyone this season and make a postseason run, they’ll need crucial contributions from their young stars.
Looking at the way the Chicago White Sox have rebuilt their franchise over the past year or so, the future seems very bright on the South Side.
They have several top everyday prospects, including two guys in Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert that could roam the outfield for years to come.
And they have a wealth of young pitching talent, starting pitchers like Lucas Giolito already in the major league mix and the explosive Michael Kopech waiting in the wings.
Give this a couple of years, and this team could start rolling through the American League Central on the way to the World Series the way the Chicago Cubs are doing now.
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In the meantime, though, don’t tell the Chicago White Sox that they’re not supposed to do much of anything this season. Because they’re not buying it, especially new veteran relief pitcher Joakim Soria. Here’s what he said yesterday at Spring Training, according to the Sun Times’ Daryl Van Schouwen.
"“Baseball is a different animal, and you never know if this is going to be the year,’’ Soria said. “If everybody has the best year of their career, we can go on a good run.’’"
On one hand, yeah, sure. If everyone does that, of course the White Sox can go on a run. Every team thinks that coming into a season. More often than not, that’s not the way things go down.
That said, at a time when no real games have been played, can we truly count it out? Can the Sox actually sustain a run throughout the course of a 162-game season with this young squad? Not likely, but it’s not impossible.
Here are a few things that would have to happen in order for the Chicago White Sox to actually make noise in the AL Central a year or two earlier than everyone expects.