1983 Chicago White Sox went from under .500 in mid-June to divisional winner
The 1983 Chicago White Sox had a rough start after two months of baseball. The team was 25-27 through 52 games, matching this year’s White Sox record as of Tuesday afternoon. The team would rebound in late June, going on several winning streaks of 5 or more wins in a row. By the end of the season, the White Sox managed to win 99-games. The 1983 White Sox manager, Tony La Russa.
The team didn’t always win with ease during that streak. “They’re winning ugly,” Texas manager Doug Rader said of the White Sox. As of early June in 2022, the White Sox season has started ugly like the season 39-years ago. And a lot of the games the club has won have been nailbiters. The White Sox have built some early leads, only to see the bullpen bring the game to disaster.
White Sox have faced adversity this year
The White Sox had high expectations headed into the 2022 campaign. After winning the division in 2021, White Sox fans were hoping the team could take the next step and make a run to the World Series. Since March, the White Sox have been plagued with injuries.
Powerful bats like Eloy Jiménez, Tim Anderson, and Luis Robert, have been rehabbing. Needed arms like Joe Kelly, Lucas Giolito, and Lance Lynn, have been often absent on the mound. These injuries have caused the White Sox to look out of sync this season, and the losses have mounted in the early part of the schedule.
The Team should get healthier
Fortunately, the White Sox should get Lynn, Jiménez, Anderson, and Kelly back within a month a so. If the Sox are going to contend for a playoff spot, they will need these players back. The White Sox need to preserve what they can until the All-Star break, and then make their move. The team is currently 5-games behind the Minnesota Twins.
Hopefully, the White Sox can catch a break, and the Twins can start losing some games this week so the White Sox can stop losing ground. The Twins play fierce competition with series versus the New York Yankees (39-15) and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (31-23). The White Sox don’t have it easy with their series beginning Tuesday. They will face the Los Angeles Dodgers (35-19) at home.
How far can this year’s Chicago White Sox go?
Even if the White Sox manage to get swept by the Dodgers—and let’s hope they don’t—the team would still be on pace with the 1983 team. That year, the White Sox would lose four in a row, going 25-31, before the team started to get on their winning ways.
The team then finished strong and made the ALCS before running out of gas against the Baltimore Orioles. It was the White Sox’s first postseason appearance since the 1959 World Series. This year’s team has yet to show it has the fire to get to the playoffs. When the elite arms and bats return, we’ll see if the White Sox have the ability to turn their season around. They have the talent to win enough games.
The White Sox will have to do this with good starting pitching and hot bats. The offense has always had the potential to put runs on the board, there’s no reason for the team’s run differential to be this bad. A long baseball season evens most things out, and I’d assume runs will come in bunches for the White Sox.
If they can create a little magic, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the 2022 White Sox go further into October than the 1983 club.
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