We’re just over a month into the 2026 season, and the White Sox are playing competitive baseball, sitting just 1.5 games out of first place in the AL Central. Despite their recent hot stretch, is the team starting to get the respect it deserves entering the month of May?
Of course, the midweek sweep of the Angels and a strong showing in San Diego should help the Sox climb the power rankings. But until the rest of the week plays out, here’s how the national media views the team.
Munetaka Murakami is becoming an object of immense fascination around baseball. Sure, he is tied for the MLB lead in homers, but it’s how he has done so that is so intriguing. He has 11 homers and zero other extra-base hits: Yordan Alvarez, the guy he’s tied with for the homer lead, has nine doubles. Murakami is 14th in total bases, which is hard to do when you are leading in homers. Will Leitch/MLB.com
The South Siders shocked the Diamondbacks with eight home runs and 22 total runs scored in that series victory in the desert. However, those bats were much quieter for the return home against the Nationals, with both losses coming in extra innings. Munetaka Murakami did hit three more home runs this week, though, bringing his total to 11. Could he wind up with more home runs than Chicago’s win total? Kerry Miller/Bleacher Report
If a bad team wants to start turning things around, it needs to start winning home series. The White Sox have lost eight of their last nine games at home.
Here come the White Sox! Well, relatively speaking, but winning two series against the A’s and Diamondbacks is nothing to sneeze at. I’m skeptical that Munetaka Murakami’s current tear is anywhere near sustainable – his contact numbers are the sort of thing you just don’t see from successful MLB hitters – but he’s combining with Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas to give Chicago a lineup with some surprising bite. And between Davis Martin, Sean Burke and top prospect Noah Schultz, there’s at least a semi-viable pitching staff. Baby steps!
Weirdest first MLB homer of all-time? Weirdest first MLB homer of all-time.
This play was WILD 🤯
Sam Antonacci's first career home run is INSIDE THE PARK after the ball made contact with the ball boy and Diamondbacks LF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. gave up on the play pic.twitter.com/aSK681KvXF
The White Sox allowed the fifth-most runs and scored the fifth-fewest runs in MLB, so take your pick at which issue stands out most. We’ll focus here on the late-game pitching; Chicago has blown nine saves — second-most in MLB — and have a 5.58 ERA and 1.67 WHIP in the seventh inning or later, both of which rank in the bottom four in MLB. Rowan Kavner/Fox Sports
Before Murakami came stateside, his scouting report was, and I’m paraphrasing here, “He’s going to hit dingers and he’s going to strike out.” Well, he currently leads the AL in strikeouts and the whole dang sport in home runs. Good job, scouts. You nailed this one.
With 11 home runs in 122 plate appearances, Murakami is on pace for (we can do that legitimately now, right? April’s almost over? OK, I’m just gonna go for it) … 54 home runs. (Editor’s note: Murakami hit home run No. 12 in Chicago’s delayed nightcap.)
The last member of the White Sox to hit over 50 home runs was … nobody. Albert Belle holds the franchise record, with 49 in 1998. While I was looking this up, I found a good trivia question: In 1993, Frank Thomas became the first member of the White Sox to hit more than 40 home runs in a season. Who held the record previously?
(There’s really no good place to hide the answer since we’re at the bottom of this article, so here ya go: It was 37, set by Dick Allen in 1972 and later tied by Carlton Fisk in 1985.) — Weaver Grant Brisbee, Chad Jennings & Levi Weaver/The Athletic
Munetaka Murakami, MLB’s home run leader resides on the South Side of Chicago, as the White Sox are reaping the benefits of industrywide skepticism that Murakami’s epic raw power would translate to the big leagues right away. Not once in their franchise history have the White Sox had MLB’s home run leader at the end of the season, and they haven’t had the American League home run leader since Dick Allen in 1974. Murakami has a lot of work to do and a lot of super sluggers to fend off to get there, but his hot start has been one of the best stories of the season.
All the attention — rightfully so — has been on Munetaka Murakami ‘s home run binge. But the White Sox have received nice contributions from two other foundational young players in their infield: Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery. Vargas, a headliner in the trade that sent Michael Kopech to the Dodgers in 2024, has struggled to find his footing in the big leagues over these past four years but is currently OPS’ing .805. Montgomery, a first-round pick out of high school in 2021, has picked up right where he left off as a rookie last year, slashing .236/.336/.495 with eight home runs and solid shortstop defense.
As a group, Chicago’s outfielders rank 28th in the league in fWAR (-0.3), with the fifth-lowest slugging percentage (.341). None of the team’s three most often-used outfielders—Andrew Benintendi, Luisangel Acuña and Tristan Peters—has been close to league average offensively. The trio has combined for five extra-base hits, and while Benintendi has four of them, he’s also been one of the game’s worst defenders over the last four years.
My name is Joe Binder, and I’m the founder of Sox On 35th. Originally from Pennsylvania, my passion for the White Sox began at an early age thanks to the 2005 World Series run and name of my Little League team. Now living in Florida, I oversee all operations while working alongside a talented and diverse staff. Come sit back, relax and strap it down with us!
Yahoo sports also had them rated 30th. I think they are better than 30th but a majority teams in MLB are hanging with in a few games of .500 so far.
https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/mlb-power-rankings-dodgers-reign-at-no-1-followed-by-braves-yankees-padres-and-cubs-195045806.html?.tsrc=1317&ncid=crm_-2078449-20260429-1–A&bt_user_id=xxsPmTV%2FLcxCN1qKXz3J72%2BVPRrjH0QQ7sqriZP1e7LlJjq0fxuwFmvITaenNKpazZ6X3zNBDFJa%2FAG4ReisITkDNiCfYU6JwV6AMose4vhPUS7VuWYEe5GdKoPBjwym&bt_ts=1777468633201&guccounter=1
Good shout! Just added them to this list