Chicago White Sox: Five reasons they will win the World Series
The Chicago White Sox believe they are a playoff contender this year. These are five reasons they have a chance to win the World Series.
The Chicago White Sox are hoping to return and play well this season. It will be a short season because of the coronavirus and labor negotiations so whoever hits the ground running the most will make the playoffs and ultimately go on to win the World Series. The White Sox have a chance to be that team and there are some reasons to believe that it is really possible.
There are probably 20 teams in the Major Leagues that believe that they can be that team that starts hot and gets into the playoffs. It is going to be difficult to come back from a bad start this year so whoever wins the World Series is going to be able to say that they were good pretty much all year long. If the White Sox want to become a championship-caliber team eventually, turning the corner in 2020 would go a long way in that process.
The White Sox have a roster worth being excited for. There are plenty of different reasons to believe in this team and their chances to win the World Series. Not many people are going to pick them to even make the playoffs let alone win the World Series, but they have the horses to do it. They are going to be good quicker than people think so the rest of the league needs to be ready for them to burst onto the scene. These are the five main reasons why the White Sox could win the World Series in 2020:
Yoan Moncada’s MVP Level
The Chicago White Sox have something so special in Yoan Moncada. He is one of the best players in the world and it is significant for many reasons. The first reason is that nobody talks about him or recognizes how great he is. The second is that he has only scratched the surface of his potential. The White Sox are lucky to have this guy and he is going to make a significant impact for the majority of his career.
2019 was his breakout year. He went from leading the league in strikeouts in 2018 to receiving MVP votes in 2019. 2020 could be the year where the world realizes how good he actually is. Team success likely needs to come with it for people to get it. He might have had even more MVP consideration in 2019 if the White Sox were 20 games over .500 and in the playoffs.
He has a good chance to lead them to the promised land in 2020 and beyond. He was the number one prospect in all of baseball when he came over in the Chris Sale trade and now he is living up to it. Moncada playing at his best could get the White Sox into the playoffs and then you never know what will happen there.
Short season – less pressure
When Spring Training was well underway, the White Sox had all of the excitement. They were dancing in the clubhouse and playing well on the field. It looked like it was fun for them to be on the field. Well, a large part of that was because they had high expectations, a lot of talent, and very little pressure. They are a team on the come-up that a lot of people don’t know much about. When they explode onto the scene the pressure will start to mount but for now, it is all fun.
They are a very young and talented group. Players like Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, Tim Anderson, Luis Robert, and Lucas Giolito amongst others are and should be excited about what is to come. They have a lot of potentials and now it is all about them putting it together on the field. There are some new faces coming along for the ride and it is all going to be so much fun to watch.
If the White Sox get off to a hot start, there might be more pressure to win down the stretch as a result but you can also argue that it will make showing up to the ballpark more fun in general. They also have a coach in Rick Renteria that is good at dealing with adversity and getting his men ready to play no matter what the circumstances are. With the short schedule, nobody is expecting them to do that well so they just might be out to prove everyone wrong.
A.L. Central
The American League Central might be the least competitive division in all of baseball. The Minnesota Twins were a very good baseball team in 2019 but beyond them, there were two mediocre teams (Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox) and two horrible teams (Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers). This season might be more of the same except the White Sox and Indians might go in opposite directions.
There are people who believe that Cleveland is so close to shedding lots of salaries this season. That could include Francisco Lindor who is one of the best baseball players in the world. If Cleveland moves on from him amongst others, they are going to take a serious step back. That could be great news for the White Sox.
There are also the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers who are two of the three worst teams in the American League. The White Sox are going to play 20 of their 60 games against them this year. That is a lot of games against some really bad teams which could really help them out.
If all of that holds true this year, it could be a two-horse race between the White Sox and Twins. There is also something about the Twins that are just not that scary. They hit a lot of home runs in 2019 and it makes it hard to believe they will repeat the same record again in 2020. Either way, the White Sox could take advantage of this division if they play to their strengths.
Lucas Giolito leads improved pitching staff
Lucas Giolito was a pitcher version of Moncada in 2019. He was statistically the worst pitcher in all of Major League Baseball for the year of 2018. Then, he came out in 2019 and dominated. He was so good that he was the 6th place finisher for the American League Cy Young Award. He hopes to repeat what he did last year when he steps on the mound for the 2020 season.
He is going to lead a new and improved staff this year which should really be boosted up. There are some pitchers that made starts regularly in 2019 that should in no way be pitching in Major League Games. The White Sox finished with a very okay record based on their expectations and that was with a largely brutal pitching rotation for most of the year.
Improving this staff with Giolito leading the way should really improve their chances of winning baseball games. They will return Reynaldo Lopez, and Dylan Cease, along with Michael Kopech and Carlos Rodon coming back from injuries. There are also some free agent adds in Dallas Keuchel and Gio Gonzalez to think about. This rotation has some potential to be really good which is so important to winning enough playoff games to win the World Series.
New faces
The Chicago White Sox are a team that has built themselves a core through drafting and big-time trades. Most of this came as a result of the rebuild that they initiated in 2016. Well, during this past offseason, they decided that it was time to start adding some free agents to help their chances of turning the corner. Leadership is a big part of baseball so adding some older veterans might really help some young guys.
The White Sox added Edwin Encarnacion, Dallas Keuchel, Yasmani Grandal, and Gio Gonzalez via free agency. All of those players are going to be upgrades over the players that they are replacing from 2019. They also traded for Nomar Mazara from the Texas Rangers. All of them are going to come in and try very hard to impact their new team.
The veteran free agent and trade acquisitions are not the only new faces coming to the White Sox. There are also going to be some young prospects that have a chance to make their MLB debuts. Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal lead that pack of players but you never know if Andrew Vaughn or Dane Dunning make their MLB debuts as well. All of these young players have different ceilings but they are all there to be impact players on a good baseball team.
Getting ready for Nick Madrigal and Luis Robert's debuts. light. Hot
A lot of things need to go right in order for the White Sox to make the playoffs and ultimately win the World Series. These five ideas hitting are big keys to that happening this year. You just never know what could happen with a plethora of new players combined with a short season.