White Sox in first place, have eyes on long-term success

By the time the first pitch was thrown in Wednesday’s game against the Braves, the White Sox were in first place in the American League Central. By a hundredth of a point based on winning percentage, sure, but very few people can honestly say they expected this on June 10. And with Wednesday’s 2-1 win over the Braves, the White Sox secured first place by more than just a mathematical technicality.

But within the White Sox clubhouse, there was at least an expectation that they were capable of more than a small step forward from last year’s 60 wins. There have been some surprises even for the guys in the locker room, like the number of walk-off homers they’ve had already this season, including Braden Montgomery’s on Tuesday, but on the whole, this is a group that came into the season believing they could surprise a lot of people outside of the Sox clubhouse.

“We’re not really surprised at all of it because we kind of expected this, and this is what we wanted,” Colson Montgomery said.

With over 90 games left to play, there’s time for things to change. It’s possible the White Sox keep winning at this rate and reach the postseason a lot sooner than most expected, but it’s also possible that the natural crucible of the second half of the season brings the south side good times to a halt.

Even if that does happen, it won’t erase the fact that the White Sox have looked a lot better in the first half of the season than most people anticipated. Or that the future is even brighter; the number of debuts this season has been almost as dizzying as how well most of them have performed. Somehow overshadowed in Braden Montgomery’s first two games in the majors has been Jacob Gonzalez, who has filled in at first base well enough that missing Munetaka Murakami has not thus far been as damaging for the White Sox as expected.

All of those kinds of things have added up to the White Sox being where they are in the second week of June: solidly in first place.

“It’s significant in the sense that there’s been a lot of progress here and we have a group of guys in there that have come together and worked extremely hard to create a belief in themselves to go out on the field and make it happen,” manager Will Venable said.

As a byproduct of their success, the White Sox are making player decisions with the team’s long-term goals in mind. Colson Montgomery was out of Tuesday and Wednesday’s lineups with lower back tightness; a move that was characterized as precautionary. Montgomery said he felt something in his back while taking a swing about two weeks ago, and the discomfort eventually got to a point where he felt it necessary to say something to the Sox training and coaching staff.

In the past, Montgomery might have just played through it, but he said the decision to rest for a few days was based at least in part on the expectation that the White Sox season might not end after the 162 regular season games.

“It was just kind of getting ahead of it so it doesn’t linger and get anything worse,” Montgomery said, “because with our mindset and where we’re thinking now, it’s we’re looking to play long term and a long time this season, so we thought this was the best thing to do.”

Montgomery, his manager, and general manager Chris Getz all expressed optimism that Montgomery will be fine to return to the lineup soon. He might sit out Thursday’s finale against the Braves because there’s another lefty starter on the mound, but the decision to hold Montgomery out of the lineup — at least as it’s being presented publicly — is entirely precautionary and made with keeping him healthy for more important games in the fall in mind.

There are other byproducts of the Sox’ success. In the aftermath of Braden Montgomery’s incredible walk-off home run Tuesday night, Venable placed as much emphasis in his postgame comments on situational execution that he described as “honestly a disaster.”

There were two safety squeeze attempts that went awry for the White Sox on Tuesday, and even though they still won the game, Venable called out those moments — he placed the blame on himself for one of them — because by addressing those kinds of things, the White Sox can potentially hit another gear above what they’re already achieving.

“I think part of my job, and maybe for all of us, is to always look at how we can get better,” he said. “And certainly like every other team, we’re not going to be perfect, but we’re always going to strive to be able to execute all of our plays and know that there’s different opportunities for us to get better.

“If we execute more and more consistently, that does take your club to a different level and that’s something that we’re always going to go out and try to achieve.”

This level of attention to detail should always be present in a manager, but the details become even more important for a team that wants to be in first place not only in June but, more importantly, at the end of September.

“I think it just means we’re doing the things right. I think it shows that our culture is in the right spot,” Wednesday starter Davis Martin said. “It means that the guys know their roles. The guys are doing their jobs, off the field, making sure that we’re doing everything in the weight room, the training room, and prep to make sure we’re doing our jobs. And that doesn’t change, right? We have 95-ish games to go, and that just shows that whatever we’re doing right now is working.

“So continue to put your head down, continue to work, continue to do things right, and hopefully we pop up our heads sometime in September, and we’re in a good spot.”