Chicago White Sox considered pretender by Sports Illustrated

Tim Capurso of Sports Illustrated wrote an article highlighting a few surprise teams. He rated teams as either pretenders or contenders, and the White Sox were one of the teams discussed. Capurso listed Chicago as a pretender and gave the following reason as to why:

“The White Sox are far from a perfect team. The bullpen has holes and the starting rotation, aside from staff ace Davis Martin, isn’t particularly deep. But when you can slug the ball the way the White Sox have been, and enjoy the benefit of playing in one of baseball’s worst divisions in a weak AL, you have a real shot at the postseason. It’s almost impossible to write them off given the state of the AL. That said, I believe the White Sox will have a difficult time catching the Guardians in the AL Central, and they may have more competition from the likes of the Blue Jays, Twins, Rangers, Mariners and A’s for a wild card spot.”

The White Sox enter Tuesday’s game sitting 3.5 games behind the Guardians for the AL Central lead. They are also holding the second AL Wild Card spot with a 27-26 record. They have not been afraid of calling prospects up, but they need to see some bullpen help. Chicago could be aggressive ahead of the trade deadline if they are able to stay in this position. It will be intriguing to see if they are going to be able to be a contender or a pretender as the season goes along.