The American League Central is a lovely division to travel through. No city is too far from the others.
For the White Sox, however, playing division rivals the last two years hasn’t been lovely at all.
In the miserable 2024 season, when the Sox lost a major-league-record 121 games, they went 10-42 against Central foes. They showed a modest improvement last season, going 18-34, but it was their fourth consecutive losing record in the division.
Look at them now.
After their 2-1 victory Sunday against the Tigers, the Sox are 11-3 in the division. The result gave them a sweep of the series, their second against a Central team, and came after they took three of four from the Twins.
You don’t need analytics to know a division title — and the accompanying playoff spot — go through a team’s division. And entering June, the Sox are only a game behind the first-place Guardians, the one division team they have yet to face.
‘‘These are games that we want,’’ said shortstop Colson Montgomery, who breathed life into a listless Sox offense with a solo home run in the seventh inning that tied the score.
To already have surpassed its Central victory total from 2024 shows how different this club is — not to mention how subpar the division is. But let’s focus on the Sox’ perspective.
‘‘Different team, different mindset,’’ Montgomery said. ‘‘We have all the confidence in the world. You gotta have that mindset that you can win, you can beat everybody.’’
They beat the Tigers on Sunday by seemingly waiting them out. After right-hander Keider Montero held them to two hits in six innings, the Sox exploited a Tigers bullpen that had blown a major-league-high 12 leads in the sixth inning or later.
‘‘We’ve shown all year that we’re a team that, if they get ahead, you can’t just stop,’’ Montgomery said. ‘‘We’re gonna be one at-bat away.’’
Montgomery’s homer came with one out against Drew Anderson, who subsequently got ripped for consecutive singles by Chase Meidroth, Jacob Gonzalez — whose first hit came in his big-league debut — and Tristan Peters, whose single put the Sox ahead.
‘‘I was looking for the changeup,’’ said Peters, who fouled off two fastballs and two curveballs before finally seeing that changeup. ‘‘He liked that pitch the other day when we faced him. I didn’t face him, but I was looking at other guys’ at-bats. So just trying to fight it off until I got my pitch.’’
The Sox’ bullpen had the opposite effect. After starter Sean Burke allowed one run in 5⅓ innings, Chris Murphy (who was called up Sunday), Brandon Eisert, Bryan Hudson and Tyler Davis combined to hold the Tigers to one hit the rest of the way. Davis earned his first career save. Closer Seranthony Dominguez had pitched in the last two games.
‘‘We learned last year with one-run games it’s not just about the bullpen; it’s about every phase of the game,’’ manager Will Venable said. ‘‘And as we’ve continued to progress in each of those departments, it’s all amounting to us having a better chance to win these closer games.’’
The Sox (32-27) are five games above .500 for the first time since Sept. 19, 2022, when they were 76-71. They won 18 games in May, their most in a month since May 2021, when they won 19 — and the Central.
While beating up on the teams below them is great, the Sox will need to maintain their edge when they finally face the Guardians in a series at Rate Field that begins June 22.
There’s still a lot of baseball to be played between now and then, including a brutal stretch against the Braves, Dodgers and Yankees. But by the looks of it, the Central is
becoming a lovely place for the Sox again.