2020 was a very scary year for a lot of people. Sports were put on the back burner while the world dealt with a global health crisis. With sensitivity towards that in mind, we remember that sports are often a great escape for people from their daily lives. That is why the day Major League Baseball returned in 2020 was huge. They agreed to play a 60 game season from late July through September. The Chicago White Sox were a very good team in that 60 game season, as expected.
The Chicago White Sox are through 60 games in 2021 with a better record than 2020.
In 2020, the Chicago White Sox went 35-25 in the 60 game schedule. That great record, however, was only good for third place in the division. They were technically tied with the second-place Cleveland Indians but they had the tiebreaker. The Minnesota Twins won the division by one game at 36-24.
That White Sox team should have won the division but they blew their chances in the final week of the season which was the sign of a young team. They did, however, make the playoffs. They lost a three-game series to the Oakland Athletics in Oakland. When it was over, however, we all knew big things were coming for the White Sox.
Fast forward to right now and we are 60 games into the 2021 season. The White Sox are improved through 60 as they have a 37-23 record which would have won the division in 2020. It is only a two-game improvement but things are going much better this year and that is saying something because they were good in 2020 too. This record is good for a four-game lead in the AL Central Division.
This year is different for a lot of reasons. For one, there are fans in the stands again at last. It has been long-awaited but we finally get to watch our team again in person. The White Sox have the best home record in the sport right now and this is a big key to that.
There are also some big-time impact players that have made things better. For one, Carlos Rodon is back and playing like the number three overall pick he was drafted to be. They also have guys like Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech, and Liam Hendriks amongst others helping them out a lot. It is a very good team that has a lot of potentials.
It is a stage feeling. After 60 games in 2020, it sort of felt like a full season. Now after 60 in 2021, it feels like we are just getting started. That is probably due to two variables. The first is that in 2020, they capped off a very tight race to the playoffs that came after a long wait due to the pandemic and labor disputes. In 2021, it feels like this because we know there are 102 games left to play. Hopefully, the 2021 edition of the White Sox is able to make a deep run in October.