After damn near a decade of getting genuinely good talent together on a baseball team and doing next to nothing with them, the White Sox have finally gotten to first place. They are tied with Cleveland at the top of the AL Central, in a week where the Twins are in St. Louis, the Indians are hosting Kansas City, and the White Sox are playing the Pirates.
If any of you had 'Twins repeat' on your cards, I have some very bad news for you.
And look, it's not like the Twins are bad this year. They're not. I just explained why not a few years ago. But after the dulling of the overall BOMBA movement they soared with last year, they're just not as compelling a ballclub. The White Sox, meanwhile, have three guys hitting over 10 home runs [Abreu, Robert and Jimenez], and all three are playing absolutely beautifully. They also have 3 guys with over 4 wins [Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel], and all three of those guys are having beautiful seasons as well. So the run to first place is pretty well-deserved, even if they have to share it with the Tribe.
And so many things that haven't worked in past incarnations of this team are just really gelling right now. Defensive talent? Adam Engel, Danny Mendick, Leury Garcia and now the returning Yolmer Sanchez are really sharp defenders. Contact-hitting? Abreu, Tim Anderson and Nick Madrigal all have great averages right now and aren't just hitting home runs. Less strikeouts? Only Yasmani Grandal has over 20. Solid back-half of the rotation? Dane Dunning is having a great rookie year and Matt Foster has become a very sharp starter as well. CLOSING PITCHING? Alex Colome is back to his old tricks as a solid ninth-inning man.
The only faults to this team are some injuries to people like Leury Garcia, Aaron Bummer and Carlos Rodon, whose presence could be used well but are being covered amicably. But this is a genuinely good Sox team with some extreme power and talent all around, and even though the Indians and Twins are also fighting for this division, I'd say the Sox have a nice shot. Besides, with Jose Abreu hitting the way he's hitting, most teams should be seriously re-assessing how they pitch to him.
Coming Tonight: Not even two weeks of rest could stop this guy from finally ascending to this team's leadership mantle.
They are an extremely fun team to watch now. I'm amazed at how well they have coped with the injuries because they've lost quite a few games from the regular line-up but haven't missed a beat.
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