Despite clear improvement and a competitive start to 2026, the White Sox are still being treated like MLB’s worst team by national outlets stuck in outdated narratives
For many years now, the Chicago White Sox have been a punching bag in commentary about Major League Baseball.
After a brief flash of success, the previous White Sox core had a simultaneous fall from grace that resulted in the franchise losing 100 games in three consecutive seasons from 2023 to 2025, along with setting the record for most single-season losses in baseball history with 121 during the 2024 season.
They are perennial losers. They have one of the cheapest owners in the sport. And of course, they play in a major city with another team that commands all the mainstream attention.
So if you're looking for a team to dunk on, the White Sox have traditionally been low-hanging fruit. But in 2026, they've begun to shake that label.
From an infrastructure standpoint, the White Sox are beginning to catch up with the rest of baseball. They've made significant advancements in the front office, developing their use of analytics, hiring respected baseball minds from outside the organization, and creating a more modern approach to how they build a roster.
Through successful draft picks, player development wins, and a few trades that have paid off, the White Sox now have a fun, young roster that’s playing a much more competitive brand of baseball. There’s plenty to be excited about in the farm system as well.
It brings me great joy to say that the White Sox are no longer a bottom feeder, but someone might want to inform The Athletic about what’s been going on, because apparently some folks over there have been sleeping under a rock.
In the latest power rankings published by The Athletic, they conducted another weekly assessment in which local and national baseball writers rank the teams from first to worst.
The White Sox were ranked 30th. Dead last.
Yet somehow, the write-up that accompanied the ranking was entirely positive, highlighting Munetaka Murakami and how he’s currently on pace to hit over 50 home runs in a season for the first time in White Sox franchise history.
As for why they were ranked 30th in the league, there was no reason, no justification, nothing other than praise for the White Sox baseball minds for acquiring Murakami and getting their scouting report exactly right.
Let’s face it, the White Sox are ranked last because it’s force of habit, and because the people contributing opinions to this list clearly haven’t been paying attention to what’s been going on on the South Side.
The White Sox are 20th in runs scored this season. They’re 9th in home runs, 22nd in ERA, and 15-17 overall, which is better than or equivalent to seven teams in the American League and six teams in the National League.
The White Sox have MLB’s current home run leader and a 24-year-old shortstop in Colson Montgomery who ranks in the top 20 in home runs and fWAR across baseball.
They also have a starting pitcher in Davis Martin who ranks seventh in baseball in ERA at 1.95.
Quite honestly, any respectable ranking would have the White Sox much closer to 20th than 30th. But if you’re not paying attention, of course you wouldn’t know.
There’s obviously still a lot that needs to be improved before the White Sox are fully ready to contend. And whether ownership is willing to take the steps necessary to get there is another conversation entirely. But if you’re looking at this team, with as much upside as they’ve shown, sitting 1.5 games out of first place in the AL Central and just 0.5 games out of an AL wild card spot, and you want to tell me they’re still the 30th-ranked team in the sport, I’d tell you you’re either not paying attention or too biased to see the truth right in front of you.