The Chicago White Sox expected some growing pains in 2026, but ongoing defensive lapses and fundamental mistakes are costing them games. That's all too familiar for the organization in recent years.
For most Chicago White Sox fans, the team’s rough start to the 2026 season has been frustrating to watch...and not just because of the record.
The White Sox are 1–5 through their first six games. But a slow start, in itself, isn’t entirely unexpected. This is still a work in progress. Learning how to win after losing 100 games in three consecutive seasons doesn’t happen overnight. And if we’re being honest, there’s still a clear talent gap between the White Sox and true contenders across Major League Baseball, particularly on the pitching side.
Losses were always going to be part of the equation. That’s not the main issue at hand.
What’s far more frustrating—and frankly, more concerning—is that the White Sox are still lacking in the fundamental areas of baseball.
Despite cycling through three different coaching staffs since 2021 and repeatedly emphasizing fundamentals in their offseason messaging and acquisitions, Chicago continues to play sloppy baseball. And that’s one of my biggest concerns about this 1-5 start. I’ve seen this movie before.
If you look at the defensive numbers since 2021, the pattern is impossible to ignore. Whether it was the 2021 team that won the AL Central, the 2024 team that lost a record 121 games, or anything in between, one constant has remained: the White Sox do not defend well.
They’ve been a bottom-10 team in overall defensive value every year. And ironically, the one season they made a concerted effort to build a defense-first roster—2024—they finished dead last in both defensive runs saved and total defensive value.
After that disaster, the organization moved on from Pedro Grifol and hired Will Venable ahead of the 2025 season. The early returns on Venable have been generally positive, but the results on the field haven’t followed defensively.
In 2025, the White Sox ranked 25th in defensive runs saved, 25th in outs above average, 28th in errors, and 28th in overall defensive value. And even after overhauling much of the coaching staff this offseason to better align with Venable’s vision, the same issues persist.
To open 2026, the White Sox rank dead last in defensive runs saved as a team.
Yes, it’s a small sample size. But the issues themselves are not new.
The lack of defensive and baserunning fundamentals has already shown up in multiple games and has directly contributed to runs for the opposition. There have been outfield miscommunications, routine fielding mistakes, and ill-advised throws that miss cutoff men and allow extra bases.
On Saturday, the Milwaukee Brewers went 7-for-7 on stolen base attempts. Catcher Edgar Quero, after starting 3-for-3 on ABS challenges on Opening Day, has gone just 1-for-7 since. That’s a sharp drop-off and nowhere near good enough.
In both losses to the Miami Marlins, rallies were sparked by White Sox defensive miscues. And for a team that already lacks high-end pitching, giving opponents extra outs is a recipe for disaster.
At some point, it forces you to question both the evaluation process and the way players are being instructed and prepared.
I was encouraged by Venable’s first season and optimistic about the organization’s renewed focus on improving around the margins. But it’s equally fair to be disappointed by how little actually looks different.
The White Sox may have more talent than they did in 2024, but many of the same issues that doomed that roster—and the previous core before it—are still present.
This organization wants to follow the model of teams like the Brewers, Rays, and Guardians: clubs that operate near the bottom of the league in payroll while remaining consistently competitive through smart evaluation and execution.
But those teams win because they are disciplined. They win in the margins. They don’t give away runs, they take them. They play clean defense, run the bases well, and maximize their pitching through preparation, development, and self-scouting.
That’s the blueprint. And it’s one the White Sox simply are not executing.
You can’t cut payroll and cut corners on fundamentals at the same time. Teams with elite talent and massive payrolls might be able to survive sloppy play due to the sheer talent on the roster. The White Sox are not one of those teams.
Until this organizational flaw is addressed, the result will remain the same. There will be more underwhelming seasons, with too many winnable games slipping away.