White Sox Minor Keys: Sept. 21, 2026

With Charlotte playing -- and winning -- its final game of the season on Sunday, we regret to inform you that this is the final Minor Keys of the 2026 season.

The Knights finished the second half at 39-35, which means that all four full-season affiliates finished with winning records:

• Charlotte: 39-35
• Birmingham: 35-34
• Winston-Salem: 35-30
• Kannapolis: 38-28
• Total: 147-127

Thanks to Birmingham's ragged first half and a generally poor performance from the rookie ball affiliates, the overall organizational record still finished in the red...

• Charlotte: 81-68
• Birmingham: 61-77
• Winston-Salem: 73-58
• Kannapolis: 71-61
• ACL White Sox: 19-41
• DSL White Sox: 19-36
• Total: 324-341

... but at least the system came away with a league title to show for it, as the Winston-Salem Dash won the South Atlantic League championship.

Baseball America's J.J. Cooper highlighted another point of pride -- in a year where every league struggled to keep the ball in the park, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers' pitching staff stood tall, even though it was largely devoid of prospects.

We'll be wrapping up the minor league season over the next week or so with affiliate recaps and other items of interest, but with the big league club in a strong position to play into October. it's nice that the closing of the Keys isn't the last of the good news for the season.

Charlotte 7, Norfolk 4

• Rikuu Nishida was 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• Ryan Galanie struck out in a pinch-hitting appearance.
• Junior Perez went 2-for-4 with a homer and a strikeout.
• Tanner McDougal: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 29 of 44 pitches for strikes.
• Mathias LaCombe's Triple-A debut: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 13 of 31 pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*LaCombe's Statcast data shows him averaging 93.3 mph with his sinker and maxing out at 94.4, although he did get three whiffs on seven swings at it.