Month in a Box: The White Sox in May 2026

Back on Opening Day, we challenged the White Sox to post a winning month any any point over the 2026 season. It shouldn't have felt like any sort of actual bar to clear, yet it felt like a reasonable first step for a team that hadn't been over .500 in any baseball month since May 2023, as well as a concrete objective for a GM averse of setting tangible expectations.

In May, the White Sox treated it like every bit like the laughable "goal" it yearned to be by going 18-10. They merely needed to win 15 games, and they reached that mark with an entire weekend to spare.

And while they pried loose a number of victories from the jaws of defeat, the fundamentals ultimately support the record. They posted a run differential of +32, scoring the second-most runs in the American League over the course of May, which was more than enough to support a 3.87 ERA that was slightly better than the 4.02 league average.

There are reasons for skepticism, be it a rotation that might be one injury away from collapse, or a record that's reliant on success at Rate Field, but between their ability to run away with leads while also winning some games they shouldn't have, it was enough for Chris Getz to publicly put forth the idea that the 2026 might be worth reinforcing after all. That's the power of the winning month.

WHITE SOX TEAM PERFORMANCE

• Record: 18-10
• Standings: Second, 1 GB
• Longest winning streak: 5, May 9-14
• Longest losing streak: 3, May 5-8
• Largest margin of victory: 13, May 27 vs. Twins
• Largest margin of defeat: 7, May 23 at Giants

HITTING LEADERS

• Batting average: .303, Tristan Peters
• On-base percentage: .382, Munetaka Murakami
• Slugging percentage: .556, Murakami
• wRC+: 159, Murakami
• Home runs: 8, Murakami
• RBI: 19, Miguel Vargas
• Walks: 19, Murakami
• Strikeouts: 34, Murakami
• Stolen bases: 8, Sam Antonacci
• fWAR: 1.1, Colson Montgomery

PITCHING LEADERS

• Wins: 4, Davis Martin and Anthony Kay
• Losses: 3, Noah Schultz
• ERA: 1.95, Kay
• Innings: 32⅓, Kay
• Strikeouts: 33, Martin
• Appearances: 14, Bryan Hudson
• Relief innings: 16⅓ , Sean Newcomb
• fWAR: 1.4, Martin

COMING AND GOING

• White Sox debuts: Randal Grichuk, Trevor Richards, Rikuu Nishida, David Sandlin, Jacob Gonzalez
• White Sox departures: Osvaldo Bido, Jarred Kelenic
• Going up: Tyler Schweitzer, Brandon Eisert, Jordan Leasure, Nishida, Tyler Gilbert, Gonzalez, Chris Murphy
• Going down: Schweitzer, Leasure

#SOXMORGUE

• Austin Hays: Left calf strain
• Jordan Hicks: Right lat strain
• Noah Schultz: Right knee patellar tendinitis
• Jordan Leasure: Right flexor strain
• Munetaka Murakami: Right hamstring strain

WHITE SOX HONORS

Most Valuable Player: Miguel Vargas

Montgomery technically finished with the fWAR lead by one-tenth of a win, and Murakami might have won it had he finished the month healthy, but Vargas wins out for being the most difficult White Sox to pitch to, as evidenced by his enviable walk-to-strikeout ratio and the team's highest Win Probability Added in the month of May. His 1.62 WPA for May was first on the White Sox by an entire win, and second in all of baseball to one of his best friends, fellow Vikings fan Michael Busch.

Least Valuable Player: Jarred Kelenic

The White Sox have seen far worse individual months, as Kelenic hit .231/.298/.327 over 57 plate appearances. Consider him a victim of rising standards, as he was designated for assignment without a firm plan in place for replacing him.

Most Valuable Pitcher: Anthony Kay

Kay entered the month with a 6.12 ERA after an April that could most charitably be described as "shaky," but that gave him the opportunity to lower his ERA in every single one of his six starts -- first to 5.70, then 4.89, then 4.61, then 4.17, and finally to 3.77. He also went at least five innings every single time, after completing five just once over his first six starts.

Last Valuable Pitcher: Erick Fedde

In contrast, Fedde only completed five innings one time in five tries. He had problems on all fronts, giving up eight homers with identical walk and strikeout totals (12 apiece) over 20 innings. The end result is a 9.00 ERA that was every bit as bad as it looked (8.90 FIP), but Schultz's injury gave him some more rope.

Fire Man: Grant Taylor

Outside of one high fastball to Rafael Devers, Taylor realized the White Sox's vision for him as a versatile relief weapon, whether he was handling bridge innings by himself or coming on to close out the ninth of a one-run game. He struck out 21 batters against 14 baserunners over 14 ⅓ innings, and didn't allow an earned run in 10 of 11 outings.

Gas Can: Trevor Richards

Jordan Hicks had more memorable blowups, but as shaky as it was to watch, he also had a streak of 10 scoreless appearances before it came crashing to an end against the Cubs. Meanwhile, Richards opened his White Sox career allowing four homers over his first seven games. All of his appearances just happened to take place in low leverage or mop-up situations, so it didn't necessarily matter how ugly it looked if he was able to complete the inning without another pitcher required. If he finished the month turning the corner, so much the better.

Bench Player: Randal Grichuk

After washing out in the same role with the Yankees, Grichuk provided an immediate lift for the White Sox against left-handed pitching, hitting four homers, slugging .610 and driving in 13 runs over the course of just 43 plate appearances.

Stench Player: Luisangel Acuña

Thanks to one sacrifice fly and zero walks or extra-base hits, Acuña posted the unlikely line of .129/.125/.129 over 32 plate appearances. Outside of the occasional pinch-running opportunity, he's fallen out of the other roles where he might actually contribute.

Gold Glove: Tristan Peters

Montgomery once again led the Sox with 5 Outs Above Average at shortstop, but Peters ran right along with him on a rate basis, finishing the month at 3 OAA. He made a handful of outstanding plays that underscore his value to an outfield that would be a jumbled mess without him.

Hands of Stone: Miguel Vargas

Vargas had a few high-profile miscues that stood out -- the two costly pop-ups lost in the sun in San Francisco, and an error on a routine play that opened the door for Michael Conforto's game-tying homer off Seranthony Domínguez against the Cubs. At least the White Sox offense was able to overwrite that one.

Timeline

M&M in the Month of May: The White Sox open a fresh month by maintaining their formula of Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery hitting the snot out of the ball in an 8-2 victory over the Padres in San Diego. (May 1)

Mr. Grich: It didn't work with Reese McGuire, but the White Sox make their second major league signing of a veteran off a DFA when they land Randal Grichuk for $1.25 million after being released by the Yankees. (May 4)

Rematch no match: Davis Martin outduels José Soriano for the second consecutive start to pull ahead of him in the ERA race, 1.64 to 1.74. (May 4)

First place has to wait: The White Sox miss out on a chance to lead the AL Central outright with a 4-3 loss to the lowly Angels in Anaheim. Granted, it would have only been after 36 games, and with a record of 18-18, but still. (May 5)

Bloodied and humbled: Chase Meidroth embodies the end to the White Sox's time in Anaheim during a rubber-match loss to the Angels, first dropping a fly ball in the sun, and then smashing his nose after face-planting on a dive into second base. (May 6)

Shut the damn door: In a 12-8 loss to the Mariners, the White Sox allow 11 of those runs after two outs. (May 8)

Plate appearance of the season: Miguel Vargas wins an 11-pitch at-bat against Josh Simpson by launching the hardest hit of his career, a 112.9 mph screamer into the left field seats. What happens afterward defies a sane explanation. (May 9)

A Mother's Day gift: The White Sox withstand six shutout innings by Logan Gilbert, then rally in the eighth with a game-tying Grichuk homer and a just-enough sac fly from Miguel Vargas to score a catcher running as fast as he could. (May 10)

"That was a shallow fly ball and I’m a catcher, I’m not the fastest guy," Romo said. "I don’t know what happened. I was running and I couldn’t see it. I guess he bobbled it but [Jirschele] just told me to keep on going. I was like, ‘Dang, we’ll see what happens.’"

"Thought it was a decent read with Randy coming in full speed, and then a little bit of the hesitation getting it out of his glove and taking a chance there with two outs to take the lead," Jirschele said. "Somebody said I ran three-quarters of the way down the line with [Romo]. I don’t remember that. I think I blacked out."

The Derek Hill Game: Will Venable pinch-hits three right-handed hitters against Royals lefty Matt Strahm in the eighth inning of a 5-5 game, and after Edgar Quero flies out and Grichuk grounds out, Derek Hill launches a low-and-in slider over the left field wall for the decisive run. Hill then lays out for a Bobby Witt Jr. flare for the first out of a 1-2-3 ninth. (May 12)

Finally .500: The White Sox beat the Royals 6-5 for a second straight night, which gets them to 21-21 after missing out on three previous chances to get back to break-even. (May 13)

Finally over .500: Thanks to four RBIs from former Royal Grichuk, the White Sox sweep Kansas City for a 6-2 victory that puts them over .500 for the first time in forever. (May 14)

Pile on Taillon: After an ugly start to the Crosstown Series, the White Sox even it up with four homers off Jameson Taillon, including two from Munetaka Murakami, en route to an 8-3 victory. (May 16)

Q it up: Edgar Quero brings a wild rubber match to a close with a walk-off homer in the 10th inning of a 9-8 victory over the Cubs.

A subplot to the back-and-forth affair is Pete Crow-Armstrong getting fined and eventually coming around to express public remorse -- after initially doing the opposite -- for a vulgar response to a fan's heckling after he ran into the right center fence failing to catch a Miguel Vargas double. Finally, Javier Báez can be retired for a new North Side nemesis. (May 17)

He's not Kyle Heal: Kyle Teel's absence is extended another 3-6 weeks when his rehab stint is interrupted by a right knee sprain. (May 18)

Sam Antagonacci: Opening the series in Seattle with his most extreme performance to date, Sam Antonacci is thrown out while trying to go from first to third on a walk, is unsuccessful in dropping a line drive to start a double play, and then is shoved in the back for an interference call, perhaps because the Mariners wanted to put him in his place. (May 18)

2-1, Part II: In a performance reminiscent of Mother's Day, the White Sox use a combination of HBPs, stolen bases and grounders against a drawn-in infield to score two runs in the ninth to once again beat the Mariners 2-1. You could say they stole a victory, but that'd overlook Anthony Kay and three White Sox relievers holding the Mariners to one hit. (May 19)

The biggest inning: Not only do the White Sox score all of their runs in the fourth inning of a 9-4 victory over the Giants in San Francisco, but they also tallied all of their hits. Also, Antonacci got hit twice. (May 22)

An advertisement for sunglasses: The White Sox lose three popups in the sun over the course of a 10-3 loss at Oracle Park. Miguel Vargas is responsible for two of them, including one that preceded a game-breaking grand slam. (May 23)

Grant slammed: Grant Taylor's first MLB homer allowed is the Giants' second grand slam in as many days, turning a 4-4 game into an 8-5 loss in the rubber match. (May 24)

Rikuuuuuuu: In his unlikely major league debut, Rikuu Nishida cuts down a runner at home plate to keep a 3-1 score that way in the opener against Minnesota. (May 25)

Rikuuuuuuu 2: A day later, Nishida does it again, and this time for the final out of the 10th to keep the Twins off the board in the first extra innings. (May 26)

Enter Sandlin: David Sandlin gives up a homer to Byron Buxton with his second major league pitch, then retires the next 18 batters he faces for a win in his MLB debut. (May 27)

Vargas steps up: Salvaging what could've been a miserable evening thanks to a bunch of missed opportunities and Munetaka Murakami departing with a hamstring strain, Miguel Vargas launches a two-out, two-run walk-off homer off old friend Drew Anderson for a 4-3 victory in 10 innings. (May 29)

2-1, Part III: In a performance reminiscent of Mother's Day, the White Sox spend the first six innings utterly baffled by Keider Montero, then strike for two runs as soon as the bullpen enters--off Anderson again--to cement a sweep of the Tigers. (May 31)