Boasting an 80% postseason probability and a favorable remaining schedule, the South Siders look to bury recent losing seasons and secure their first division crown since 2021.
The Chicago White Sox are in the driver’s seat to win their first American League Central title in five years.
The White Sox haven’t won the division since the 2021 season when they went 93-69. Since then, the Cleveland Guardians won in 2022, the Minnesota Twins in 2023, and the Guardians again in 2024 and 2025.
The South Siders have definitely come a long way since their last AL Central title. They went 81-81 in 2022, 61-101 in 2023, a miserable 41-121 in 2024, and 60-102 in 2025. Now, this group could get back to the postseason.
Chicago entered Sunday’s series finale against the Twins with a 4 ½ game lead in the AL Central. They currently have a 72-63 record, and the gap between them and the Guardians has definitely gotten a bit bigger recently.
The White Sox remain the clear favorite to win the division. FanGraphs gives them an 80.1% chance of winning the AL Central. The Guardians come in with a 17.6% chance, the Twins have a 1.4% chance, and the Tigers have a 0.8% chance to win it.
Things would need to go really wrong for Chicago to not win this division. The White Sox are also the heavy betting favorite to win the AL Central on both FanDuel and DraftKings. They have -475 odds to win it on FanDuel and -650 odds to win it on DraftKings.
The White Sox will have every opportunity to win this division when it’s all said and done. They are the clear favorites and have an extremely favorable schedule down the stretch. None of their final 28 games are against a team above .500 at this point in the year.
Here’s how the final month of the schedule will go for the White Sox:
August 30: Twins (64-72)
August 31-Sept. 3: Astros (68-68)
Sept. 4 - Sept. 6: Twins (64-72)
Sept. 8 - Sept. 10: Pirates (66-71)
Sept. 11 - Sept. 13: Cardinals (68-69)
Sept. 14 - Sept. 16: Guardians (68-68)
Sept. 17 - Sept. 20: Tigers (63-72)
Sept. 22 - Sept. 24: Royals (62-75)
Sept. 25 - Sept. 27: Rockies (52-84)
The White Sox's two big remaining series over the next month are against the Astros beginning on Monday and the Guardians in mid-September.
If the season ended today, the White Sox would finish with a first-round bye in the postseason. But the Astros are only 4 ½ games behind Chicago for that bye. That four-game series could be big in deciding which team gets the No. 2 seed in the postseason.
That Guardians series could have huge implications as well. Cleveland never seems to go away and is just 4 ½ games behind the White Sox for first place. If the Guardians cut that deficit in half by September 14, things could get really interesting.
Still, the White Sox are in the driver’s seat to win the division.
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