White Sox offense was never as solid as we thought originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
At 29 games in, the White Sox sit loosely in second place at 16-13 in the American League Central, 0.5 games behind Cleveland and ahead of Kansas City. It’s no shabby start. But for a team that touts statistically one of the best offenses and starting rotations in the league, the current reality feels particularly bland.
For one, the White Sox are having way too much trouble putting together winning streaks. They’ve only won more than two games in row once this season and have only won one series so far out of 10 (though two of those series have yet to be decided due to rain postponements). That’s not a great sign for a team with self-imposed World Series expectations – when you get to the postseason, it’s kind of big deal to actually win a series.
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So how does a team with a top-three lineup and a top-five rotation in all of baseball find itself hovering around .500 through its first 29 games? Well, that’s because stats are not always as black and white as they appear, and the White Sox offense might not be exactly what it appears to be, either.
On paper, the lineup is solid. The White Sox have the third-highest batting average (.254) and the second highest on-base percentage (.338) in baseball, and rank Nos. 11 and 10 in runs and hits, respectively. But those numbers don’t tell the whole story, and when you focus in on how and when the offense scores it’s runs, the results are flagrantly telling.
Through the first six innings of the ball game, the White Sox have the highest batting average in Major League Baseball (.282), and rank No. 2 in hits, as well as runs scored. But in the seventh inning on? The White Sox rank dead last in batting average (tied with Detroit), hits and runs scored. Dead last. In the three major offensive categories, the White Sox are the worst team in baseball after the sixth inning. This is the main indicator of why the team is where it is. When you only play well for a little over half the game, you’re only going to win a little over half of the time.
Their next issue is that they aren’t exactly “the comeback kids.” When the White Sox are trailing, they rank 25th in the league in batting average, 30th in hits and 29th in runs scored.
We are well less than a quarter into the season, and at some point, each team will endure some sort of hideous pattern of play. But the problems mentioned here aren’t mechanical tweaks or cold streaks that can be canceled out by good pitching. World Series-caliber teams score runs late in games. They fight back with grit and gusto when they’re down, and they are certainly able to string together more than a win or two at a time.
It’s true, where the White Sox are at isn’t bad. But until the team fixes its fundamental issues on offense to look as good on the field as it does on paper, it certainly isn’t good.
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