With 45 games remaining, the Chicago White Sox have positioned themselves well in the tiebreaker race against their AL Central rivals.
With the new collective bargaining agreement negotiated prior to the 2022 season, Major League Baseball eliminated Game 163.
In the past, if two teams were tied for a playoff spot or a division lead at the end of the regular season, they'd match up in a one-game playoff. Winner gets in, loser goes home. And it created some highly memorable moments over the years.
Chicago White Sox fans will remember Game 163 well from the 2008 season, a year in which the White Sox and Minnesota Twins found themselves tied at 88-74 after the completion of 162 games. The White Sox hosted the Twins in the infamous "Blackout Game" that year, winning 1-0 and being crowned AL Central champions.
With the new rule change, Game 163 is no more. Instead, ties in the standings are broken by an established set of tiebreakers. And because the new schedule allows every team to play every team at least once over the course of the regular season, head-to-head record is the primary tiebreaker in any playoff deadlock.
The importance of that tiebreaker cannot be emphasized enough for the White Sox in 2026. The AL Central race may come down to the wire. Entering play on Tuesday, August 11, the White Sox have 45 games remaining on their schedule and currently hold a 3.5-game lead in the division over both the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers. The Cleveland Guardians also remain in the mix, 4.0 games back.
In what should be a very tense and narrowly decided division race, every game matters. And if you win the tiebreaker, it may as well be an extra game of cushion in the standings. If the White Sox have the tiebreaker over the Guardians, for example, while they technically might be 4.0 games ahead, the Guardians would have to make up an entire 5.0 games in order to have the upper hand on Chicago. As of now, the White Sox have positioned themselves well with a chance to win the tiebreaker over each of their AL Central challengers. But it will require them to take care of business in divisional games down the stretch.
Remaining Division Games Will Determine Tiebreaker
With the new schedule, every divisional opponent plays each other 13 times. AL Central matchups account for 52 of the 162 total games on the White Sox schedule. That odd number also means it is impossible to split the season series. That, of course, is barring a game cancellation, which would be made up anyway in the case of a playoff race.
It takes seven. Seven wins in the season series to secure the tiebreaker and gain the extra game in the standings against each opponent. And here's how the White Sox currently stack up.
With their series win over the weekend, the White Sox are now 6-4 against the Guardians this year. They'll have one more series with Cleveland from September 14 through September 16, and will need to win just one of those games in order to secure a season series win and the tiebreaker.
The White Sox also have the advantage over the Minnesota Twins, 4-3, at the moment with six games remaining. All six of those games will be played within a span of 10 days, from August 28 through September 6.
Chicago just needs to split 3-3 with Minnesota to maintain its tiebreaker advantage.
Then there's the Detroit Tigers, possibly the team that is most threatening to the White Sox right now. The Tigers were a preseason favorite in the AL Central and are loaded with talent even after moving Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize at the MLB trade deadline. They've won seven of their last nine games, have the best run differential in the American League, and are quickly gaining ground in the division.
Most importantly, they have the most games remaining against the White Sox.
The season series is currently 3-3. The White Sox swept the Tigers at Rate Field back in May, then turned around and got swept at Comerica Park in June. This coming weekend, the White Sox will host Detroit for a three-game series and look to gain the advantage in the season series. But it could be the four-game set in Detroit at the end of September that ultimately decides the White Sox's fate.
With seven matchups remaining, the White Sox need to go 4-3 against the Tigers the rest of the way to get the tiebreaker.
I'd encourage White Sox fans not to underestimate the importance of the tiebreaker or these divisional games the rest of the way. Every one of them could be the difference between making the playoffs as AL Central champions or sitting at home once the postseason begins. With just 45 games to go, if the White Sox can play close to .500 baseball and earn the tiebreakers over AL Central opponents in the process, they're going to be a tough team to catch. But all of that is a very big if. And this weekend provides the White Sox with a critical opportunity to set the tone.
