MLB Standings: Don't Look Now but the White Sox Are Playing .500 Baseball

Wednesday night's slate of MLB action featured some crisp action and tremendous pitching resulting in no shortage of late-inning drama. Five of the contests were one-run affairs and top hurlers like Shohei Ohtani and Jacob Misiorowski continued to build on their excellent seasons. The latter was unfortunately forced out of an eventual Brewers loss with an injury, joining the Yankees' Max Fried, who was also pulled early. Top-level hurlers have been bitten by the injury bug early this season and the next one always feels right around the corner.

The scalding-hot Braves continued their winning ways and now have taken four straight decisions. They share the longest current winning streak in baseball with the White Sox. Chicago's 6-5 victory over the Royals kept them in second place in what's looking like a very winnable American League Central and ran their overall record to 21–21.

Now, it's not exactly headline news when a baseball team has managed to play .500 baseball through 42 games. In the White Sox' case, though, it sort of is. This is the first time the franchise has been at the breakeven mark 40 games or later into a season since 2022. It's the first time they've been .500 at any point of the season since they started 2–2 last year.

Chicago finished exactly 81–81 in 2022. Things got worse a year later when they limped to a 61–101 record. In ’24 they were one of the worst baseball teams to ever take the field as evidenced by a 41–121 record. Last season improved to 60–102, which is a very sad sentence.

It looked as though it would be more pain and suffering for the downtrodden club right out of the gates this campaign. A 6–13 start suggested another lost season, but Will Venable side has responded in a big way by putting together a 15–8 stretch.

While the ceiling may not be sky-high for the White Sox, there is great news. It doesn't really have to be if the AL Central is going to be this bad. Currently the Guardians are atop the division with a 24–21 record. The Twins and Royals are 19–24 and not expecting big things. Detroit may be the biggest disappointment in baseball to this point at 19–24 and the wheels are falling off.

What will it take for the eventual Central champion to prevail? Eighty-five wins? Eighty-four? The White Sox are very much in play and that's a pleasant change for those fans who have sat through abject failures for a long, long time.