White Sox Look Like Legitimate Threat To Win AL Central

May 4, 2026; Anaheim, California, USA; Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami (5) in the dugout after defeating the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Chicago White Sox, despite signing Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami, didn’t enter the 2026 MLB season with the most lofty of expectations. The Sox were looking to establish a culture and let young players develop in a season that would serve as a building block for the future.

Through the first 45 games of the season, however, the White Sox are looking dangerous. Murakami has delivered since arriving in the Windy City, crushing 14 homers thus far, including another in Monday night’s win over the Los Angeles Angels on the West Coast.

“It was going to come sooner or later,” said Murakami of his first big league double, which also came on Monday night, through interpreter Kenzo Yagi. “So I’m really happy about the result.”

It’s not just Murakami giving opposing pitchers headaches, either.

“If you see that the whole lineup now, it’s so deep,” third baseman Miguel Vargas said, who hit his seventh home run on Monday “Any guy can give you a really good at-bat, a single, an extra base hit, a stolen base. That’s our identity right now. The hustle on the bases too has been unbelievable.”

Chicago is now 7-3 over its last 10 games, and just 0.5 GB of first place in the always tightly contested AL Central.

Most shocking of all during this stretch of success, however, might be the success the pitching rotation is seeing. The Sox have gotten arguably the best starting pitching in the MLB since early April.

“You can look at the dugout and figure that out,” said starting pitcher , who notched his fifth win of the season on Monday. “We’re not hiding that we’re having the best time. This is a group that in Spring Training we knew we could do something cool and feel like we were building toward something.