The 2024 Chicago White Sox are widely regarded as one of the worst teams to ever step foot on a professional sports field. Their 41-121 record set the modern record for most losses in a year, a mark unmatched since 1899 if the pre-modern era is included.
The White Sox became known for how gloomy their future was. The organization traded budding ace Garrett Crochet after that season and looked to only be trending downhill. If there was one thing the baseball world could agree on, it was that by all logic the White Sox were doomed.
However, baseball doesn’t always care about logic.
The 2026 White Sox are a completely different story. The sorry Southsiders suddenly budded into a team gunning for the playoffs, a position which they’ll look to secure in the final weekend of the regular season.
The beauty of the new-look Sox comes from the stories of the players. The roster mainly consists of players who were written off or rejected by most of the MLB world— that’s what makes them so easy to root for.
Miguel Vargas is prime representation of that redemption. Vargas was the No. 37 prospect heading into the 2023 season and was a possible next big thing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A year and a half of struggle later, the Dodgers decided they had seen enough and traded him to the Southside. The world seemed to give up on him. A picture of him sitting defeated on the field following a loss to the Oakland Athletics went viral, with the general sentiment surrounding him having been traded from the World Series favorite to possibly the worst team ever. One of the lowest moments of his career became the cover of the team’s season.
But as they say, when you hit rock bottom, you can only go up. Vargas improved in 2025 and exploded this season. His OPS of .844 leads the team and his 33 home runs is tied for the team lead, with his performance being enough to earn him an all-star nod. There is nobody more emblematic of the current White Sox than Vargas.
The other lead bat has been slugger Munetaka Murakami. Murakami was hailed as the big international free agent prize heading into this past offseason, but concerns began to build about his strikeout rate and lack of contact. As a result, Murakami slipped past the big-name suitors and into the hands of Chicago.
Though Murakami had a very slow September and there have been valid concers about his contact, his power has made up for it and more. He’s set to finish the season above an .800 OPS and will finish high in American League Rookie of the Year voting.
Outfielder Tristan Peters is another storied Sox member. Peters famously suited up for the Savannah Bananas back in 2021, though that contains some misconception as the team was still a collegiate summer league team at the time. Regardless, Peters was rejected by three different teams before arriving in Chicago and becoming an all-star in his first full season.
Randal Grichuk and Bryan Hudson were DFA’d and waived respectively, with the Sox taking flyers on both during the year. Now, both have become crucial parts of the roster as strong situational assets.
Chicago’s lineup is rounded off by homegrown talent and a few names from the Crochet trade. The bullpen has been their other solid piece, though that’s a part of baseball rosters which usually features starting pitching rejects.
The rotation features Sean Burke and Davis Martin, two homegrown talents who were written off earlier in their careers before playing well this year. While both are solid arms, neither projects as an ace and would be better in the middle of a rotation. However, the Sox do have a weak rotation, forcing the two of them to be the team’s top talent in the position.
While there is a scenario where they play the New York Yankees, it is more likely that the Sox will avoid the AL East side of the bracket and fall on the weaker side. Facing the three-seed would normally be a bad thing, but with the current standing of the AL it would be a blessing. There will be a clear path to the ALCS, but their relative inexperience could hold them back in the playoffs.
No matter what happens in October, there’ll be no team in the dance that has a better story than the White Sox do. With much of the roster being tossed aside at some point in their career, the White Sox’s journey this season has been nothing short of amazing.