You can’t be blamed if you’ve already forgotten the White Sox’ scintillating start to the second half.
They hit the cover off the ball coming out of the All-Star break and did something recent Sox teams haven’t done often: They won, going 10-4.
It wasn’t a sign of things to come, however. They’re 6-18 since.
With fewer than 30 games remaining on the regular-season schedule, the rebuilding Sox are looking for some momentum to carry into 2026.
But on pace to finish with 100 losses for the third straight season, what does “finishing strong” look like if the wins won’t come?
“We feel like every day that we’ve been together, starting in spring training, we’ve made positive steps in building our culture in the way that we hold each other accountable, the standards that we’ve set, and we get to continue to grow that every day,” manager Will Venable said Saturday. “We get to protect that throughout the rest of the summer, and that’s going to be something that’s really important to us, finishing strong.
“Maybe if the bottom line doesn’t look great, these guys have had some really good individual seasons that they can finish strong and create momentum for themselves going into the offseason.
“These guys have done such a good job this summer building that connective, cohesive group that goes out there and competes. For us to finish strong, we just have to continue to do that every day.”
Behind-the-scenes accomplishments aren’t nothing, considering Chris Getz’s rebuild is a complete organizational overhaul. But they’re unlikely to spark much hope that 2026 will be wildly different, even if 100 losses are a whopping 21 fewer than the record-setting number from a year ago.
When it comes time to review the season, team brass is sure to trumpet what went right during that post-break surge, when the Sox looked like a different team.
The second half has been dramatically better than the first, offensively, with the Sox taking a second-half team OPS of .764 into Saturday night that dwarfed their .639 number from before the All-Star break.
Unfortunately for them, that hot streak turned out to be just that, a streak, even if it struck as something a little more special on the win-starved South Side.
Positives have been particularly difficult to come by recently, with injuries to center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and infielder Miguel Vargas weakening the lineup, demotions for young starting pitchers Jonathan Cannon and Sean Burke and third-string catcher Korey Lee being used as a late-game reliever in multiple blowout losses.
The Sox had one of their worst performances of the year in Atlanta during their most recent road trip, blowing a 10-4 lead in a loss to the Braves. They returned home and coughed up a 4-0 lead in a loss to the Royals before surrendering double-digit runs in three straight defeats, outscored 32-7 by the Royals and Yankees.
That’s a tough stretch leading into the season’s final month.
The Sox undoubtedly will have positives to take from the campaign, no matter how it wraps. Rookie position players Colson Montgomery, Chase Meidroth, Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero, along with Vargas, have formed a nice core, while Shane Smith made the All-Star team and elbowed his way into the conversation about the team’s rotation of the future.
But unless they catch fire again, they will have to dig well below the surface to find the momentum they’re looking for heading toward what could be another rebuilding year in 2026.
“We believe that we’re creating momentum throughout this summer, and we have created momentum,” Venable said. “We want to finish the summer strong to take that into the offseason, knowing that that’s positive for an organization and everyone involved in it.
“Certainly, these players that are here are going to be part of the future, and making sure they finish strong and giving them the opportunity they need to help us make decisions in the future on these guys is important.”