Catcher Edgar Quero recalled saying during spring training that the White Sox have a really good team.
It sounded nice but maybe not realistic. They had lost at least 100 games in three consecutive seasons and seemed years away from being decent, let alone really good.
Maybe Quero knew something before the rest of the baseball world. Or maybe he and the Sox were faking it until they made it.
Either way, almost two months into the season, the Sox look real.
Quero’s two-run homer in the 10th inning Sunday gave the Sox a 9-8 victory over the Cubs. In front of a rowdy and split crowd of 38,608, the Sox completed a 7-2 homestand, their best of at least nine games since an 8-2 run in late June and early July 2008.
“It means a lot for everybody in the clubhouse,” Quero said. “It means a lot to win this series. It means a lot for everybody, especially since we are playing really good baseball. I’m happy for this team.”
The Sox haven’t had much to be happy about for years. They’re a franchise in the middle of their second massive rebuild in a decade, and little was expected of them in 2026 other than some progress.
But this homestand showed they might be ahead of schedule. In the nine games, they proved they can win in a variety of ways. There was the tense 2-1 victory last Sunday against the Mariners, the sweep of the Royals, in which the Sox scored six runs in each game, and the power display Saturday, when they hit five home runs.
Then there was the resilience they showed Sunday, when they trailed 3-0 and 4-1 but stayed in the game.
“They’ve just continued to play all nine innings, every single pitch,” manager Will Venable said.
That the Sox’ homestand ended with a series win over the Cubs — their first since 2022 — gives them more momentum before they head west to play the Mariners and Giants.
“Obviously, the rivalry is a big thing,” said Tristan Peters, whose three-run homer in the eighth inning gave the Sox a 7-4 lead. “We know that they’re a good team, but we also believe that we’re a really good team, too. And we just proved that.”
The Sox clearly aren’t perfect. If they’re going to contend in the American League, they’ll need to help the bullpen, which hurt them Sunday when Seranthony Dominguez gave up Michael Conforto’s game-tying, three-run homer in the ninth. Despite Davis Martin’s emergence, the rotation could use at least another proven arm. And there’s no proof that the lineup can keep producing the way it has for a full season, perhaps under the pressure of a playoff race when each at-bat gets more intense.
Yet, as the homestand highlighted, the Sox have earned some trust. And even if they don’t make a run, things feel much better than they have recently. The Sox look like a franchise that’s going the right way after years of burning goodwill with fans.
The victories also feel legit. These Sox don’t have to tell themselves they’re capable of winning or convince rightfully skeptical outsiders.
“We’re bringing in the right guys, we’re bringing in great leadership with our coaching staff, we’re bringing in great teammates,” shortstop Colson Montgomery said. “The whole ‘fake it till you make it’ thing, it can be true and it can be contagious. Once you start winning, it’s like, ‘All right, this is real, it’s not fake.’ I think what we have going on here is real.”