Being in the worst division is the only reason the Chicago White Sox still have playoff hopes

The Chicago White Sox have been under .500 for all but six days this season.

Yet, the Sox are still 4.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins for first place in the AL Central.

This recent string of winning has allowed the Southsiders to nab third place in the division. Since this team still has hope, do not expect a much teardown by the trade deadline.

The Chicago White Sox are nine games under .500. They started the season 8-21. They have a -52-run differential. Seven other teams have a worse record than Chicago’s American League team.

Since the AL Central is the worst division in the Majors, the Sox still have hopes of making the playoffs.

This team would be dead and buried if they were in any division.

Well, not every division. The NL Central is almost as bad as the AL Central.

The Minnesota Twins keep finding ways to get above .500 and then drop below it. The Cleveland Guardians cannot score runs. The Detroit Tigers could overachieve for so long before their injury issues finally caught up with them. The Kansas City Royals are in the middle of a rebuild.

The Chicago White Sox might have the most talent on paper in the division, but they have never played up to those standards since July of 2021. The team struggles to catch the ball, get consistent pitching, and score enough runs to string a big enough win streak to take control of the division.

The Sox have just five hitters with a wRC+ over 100. The Houston Astros have nine. The Tampa Bay Rays, the best team in baseball, have 10.

That shows you the gulf the Sox offense has between them and the American League’s best.

The Toronto Blue Jays are third in the AL East, but they only have a 4.3% chance of winning their division according to Fangraphs. The Blue Jays are six games above .500.

The White Sox are eight games under. 500 and they have a 7.4% chance of winning the AL Central per Fangraphs.

Even though the White Sox have a better chance to win a division title than the Blue Jays, Fangraphs gives the Sox only a .2% of winning the World Series.

The AL Central is so bad that 85 wins are probably sufficient to win the division title. That means the Sox must go 56-39 for the rest of the season. They also need the Twins to win no more than 51 games and the Guardians’ victory total to no higher than 54 for the remainder of the season.

It also means the Sox have to play winning baseball with a cooked Lance Lynn starting every five days.

It also means the Sox need to go on this run without knowing if they will get a dominant Dylan Cease or Michael Kopech start or an outing where they get shelled. The Sox also need to play winning baseball when they still make errors at inopportune times. They had a chance to win their third consecutive series against the Miami Marlins on Saturday, but a bad defensive play in the ninth inning by Tim Anderson dashed those hopes.

Another poor ninth inning on Sunday cost the Sox a chance to win the series again. Not being able to do things right in the margins is another reason it is hard to believe the Sox will win the division.

Then again, this division is so bad that just being not as bad as the Twins and the Guardians for the rest of the season might be good enough to win the AL Central.