It shouldn’t have worked. The White Sox had failed three sacrifice bunts, a couple of base running blunders, and a costly error on a routine double-play. Plus, doing it without their top two lefties, Colson Montgomery and Munetaka Murakami, the odds were stacked against the SouthSide. Magic was in the air in Guaranteed Rate Field when top prospect Braden Montgomery became just the fifth player in MLB history to hit a walk-off home run in his Major League debut, smashing the first home run Braves closer Rasiel Iglesias has given up this season. The sequence completely ignited the city of Chicago, leaving the fans to wonder: can the White Sox stand up to the best clubs in the business?
The emotional high collides with a massive narrative tonight as former franchise ace Chris Sale returns to Guaranteed Rate Field. Sale enters tonight with a stellar 8-4 record and 2.23 ERA, making his case for the NL Cy Young award. While the veteran will look to shut down the SouthSide, his Braves will have their hands full with AL Cy Young candidate Davis Martin. The 29-year-old putting together a phenomenal season of his own with an 8-2 record and a 2.61 ERA. With a win tonight and a Guardians loss, Chicago will be the front-runners of the AL Central for the first time since April 2022.
This month has been and will continue to be the ultimate test for our Chicago White Sox, who have already faced two NL East powerhouses in the Braves and Phillies. If they can continue to compete today and tomorrow, they can use this momentum of a huge series win against the league’s best record as they will look ahead to the defending champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
If the White Sox can continue to prove that they can hold their own against MLB powerhouses, they could carry this momentum all the way to late June. The team will face off against an Aaron Judge-less Yankees and follow that up with a series against the Cleveland Guardians; Chicago could be playing with house money, massive momentum, a roaring fan base, and a slew of talent all over the field and across every farm system. This brutal stretch isn’t a death sentence; it’s the ultimate proving ground to see if the kids from the South Side can truly hold their own against the best.
The White Sox don’t need to win any of these future series I bring up, and I’ll still be happy. With the slew of injuries the Southside is dealing with, it’s truly magical to watch these young kids ball out at the highest level. With time, the entire sports world will soon realize that the White Sox are building an empire here in the AL Central. We are just blooming much sooner than even fans have expected. I’ll get into that next article, don’t miss out on the Sale return to Chicago tonight, because every night the White Sox are the most exciting team to watch in baseball.
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