The Chicago White Sox need a winning stretch of baseball

The Chicago White Sox cannot maintain any consistency this season. That is one reason they are one of the most disappointing teams in baseball.

They are two games under .500 and sit behind the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central Division. This was a team predicted by many to run away with the division.

Instead, a mix of injuries, poor defense, inconsistent pitching/hitting, bad base running, and suspect coaching have dug the White Sox a hole that they may not be able to get out from.

When the Sox struggled through the first three months of the season, one of the reasons for optimism was that it was still early.

Now, we are past the halfway point of the year and the All-Star break is fast approaching. The Sox still sit below .500 so the “it’s early in the season” excuse is now out the window.

While the Chicago White Sox have trudged through this season, thankfully they are still in the AL Central Division. They are just five games back of the first-place Twins which keeps their postseason hopes miraculously alive.

If they were in any other division, they probably would have been sunk by now. The AL Central is weak and that is why the White Sox can still have their sights set on the playoffs.

The catch is the Chicago White Sox need to put together a winning stretch.

The Chicago White Sox seem to have this pattern of playing decent baseball for a spurt and then they follow it up with losing stretches.

They started July by sweeping the San Francisco Giants. The Sox followed that up by losing two of three to the Twins. Minnesota almost swept the White Sox but a late rally in the series finale salvaged at least one win for the Southsiders.

The Sox then followed that up by dropping the first two games of a four-game set to the Detroit Tigers. Luckily, they took the final two games over the weekend to manage a split.

This tango of winning and losing will not get the Sox truly back in the playoff hunt without an actual winning stretch of baseball. The way the White Sox have played feels like they cannot pull off an eight-game win streak or win nine of ten games.

It does not help the cause when the offense has struggled to hit home runs which was one of last year’s calling cards. As a team, they have under 70 home runs.

That does not mean the Chicago White Sox cannot pull off a good stretch of baseball. In the last couple of games, they have started to hit the long ball. They still have some extremely talented hitters to get things going offensively.

The problem is they still have to find a way to overcome their poor defense, inconsistent pitching, and Tony La Russa’s managing.

The Chicago White Sox are catching the Cleveland Guardians at the right time.

The Sox kick off the week with a four-game stretch in Cleveland against the Guardians. They have only beaten Cleveland once this season so that needs to change.

The good news is the Guardians are in the middle of a funk. They have dropped eight of their last ten games to fall a game below .500. Before that stretch, Cleveland was five games over .500 and breathing down the Twins’ necks for the division lead.

The Guardians’ poor stretch started by losing two of three to the New York Yankees. Then they were swept by the Tigers and the hapless Kansas City Royals just took two of three from them.

Cleveland has been outscored 57-34 during this ten-game slump. The White Sox have a shot at winning a few games here.

The alternative is the Guardians get well against the Chicago White Sox which digs them deeper in the hole.

The Sox cannot afford to be in a deeper hole record-wise when they have to travel to Minnesota after the Cleveland series. The Sox get the Twins for four games before the All-Star break which is tough.

Opportunity or misfortune awaits the Chicago White Sox. With the way things have been going this season, expect misfortune but if the Sox want to live up to the preseason hype, they have to take advantage of this opportunity.