After three straight 100-loss seasons, the improbable White Sox are headed back to the postseason

By DAVE SKRETTA, AP

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — After becoming the first team in major league history to follow consecutive 100-loss seasons with a playoff berth, nobody would have begrudged the White Sox for spilling over the dugout railing Thursday and celebrating wildly on the field in Kauffman Stadium.

Instead, they matter-of-factly formed a handshake line, as if their 9-1 win over the Royals was any 'ol mid-summer matinee.

They were saving the party for the clubhouse.

The White Sox clinched no worse than one of three AL wild-card spots with the rout in Kansas City, and in the plastic-draped visiting locker room, the bottles of Moët were stacking up quickly. Miguel Vargas was drenched, Munetaka Murakami was beaming and a team expected to finish last in the AL Central was relishing in a most improbable postseason appearance.

“This means a lot for us,” Vargas said. “We've been chasing this moment for a long time. It's special for us. It's special for the whole organization. This is a special group of guys, and this is the most fun we can have.”

That might be a bit of hyperbole. The White Sox could be replicating — or, one-upping — the celebration this weekend.

That's because they still have their sights set on a division title. The White Sox began the day just a game back of Cleveland, which was finishing a three-game set in Boston later Thursday. Chicago was headed home for three games against last-place Colorado, while the Guardians were getting ready to fly to Kansas City, where they wrap up their regular season this weekend.

Maybe that's why the White Sox showed some restraint in celebrating their postseason berth right in front of the Royals.

They could still use a little help from them.

“They know what this is about,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “This comes with the expectation that this was going to happen, which is really cool. They're definitely letting loose right now, we'll have a fun plane ride, but then back to business tomorrow.”

It was a charmed all-around day for the city of Chicago. Just as the White Sox were securing a postseason pass, the Cubs were tying up a 2-1 win over the Marlins, clinching a wild-card spot of their own in the NL playoffs. Both Chicago teams reached the postseason for the fourth time after 1906, 2008 and 2020.

The Cubs made it last year, too, when the White Sox were busy losing 102 games and seemed to have little reason to hope.

It wasn't just that the White Sox were two years removed from losing 121 games, setting a post-1900 record, or that no team had made the playoffs after consecutive 100-loss seasons — let alone three in a row. But even midway through April, they were making good — err, bad? — on most folks' expectations, starting 6-13 and looking every bit the part of a perennial loser.

But then their youngsters starting slugging, and the White Sox started piling up wins.

Murakami, who signed a two-year, $34 million deal in December — after the White Sox paid a $6,575,000 posting fee to the Yakult Swallows — has 33 homers and drove in his 74th run Thursday. Vargas has been receiving some MVP hype after hitting 33 homers of his own and driving in 92. And Colson Montgomery, who on Thursday tied Mark Reynolds' season record of 223 strikeouts, has masked all those whiffs by hitting 31 homers and driving in 87 runs.

“W’s are all that matters,” Montgomery said, Champagne and beer dripping from his goggles in the middle of the pandemonium. “You see this? This is all that matters. Whatever I can do to help the team, that’s all I care about.”

Chicago's trade of left-handed ace Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox in December 2024 also has paid long-term dividends.

Three players that the White Sox landed in the deal — Kyle Teel, Chase Meidroth and Braden Montgomery — were in the lineup Thursday, and all played a big role in helping the White Sox clinch the 12th postseason appearance.

Teel homered, reached base five times and scored three runs. Meidroth had a couple of hits, extending his on-base streak to 15 games. And batting last in the order, Montgomery had a hit and scored during a three-run second inning that broke open the game.

It was 6-0 after two innings and 8-0 after four. And pretty soon, plastic tarps were going up in the visitors clubhouse, an almost unfathomable party just 90 minutes away.

“This is what the White Sox is. We come together,” Murakami said, “and this is not the end. We’re going to start from here.”

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