For the last two seasons, the Chicago White Sox have actually been a really good baseball team. They made it to the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time in franchise history. They reached this point because of a well-executed rebuild that began after the 2016 season.
Ahead of the rebuild and during the early stages of it, the White Sox did a lot of losing. Some of it was by design and some of it was just because of bad decision-making. In fact, before the 2017 season, it was basically all because of bad decision-making.
As a result of this bad play, the White Sox don’t look good in the standings over the last 12 years. The only year in the 2010s where the White Sox finished over .500 was the 2012 season. They also did that in 2020 and 2021, as mentioned before.
Just how GOOD or BAD has your team been this past decade.... What surprises you the MOST about these standings? pic.twitter.com/OfedIhx4fj
— The Game Day MLB (@TheGameDayMLB) January 22, 2022
The Chicago White Sox haven’t been very successful over this stretch of time.
As you could see in the graphic, the White Sox were the fourth-best team in the American League Central during that stretch. They only trail the Minnesota Twins by 2.5 games which would put them in third place in the division.
However, they were 99.5 games behind Cleveland for the best record in the division over these 12 years. At 871-970, they were well under .500 which is not good at all. The rebuild, as mentioned before, is mostly to blame for this but they also could have been better in the early stages of the decade.
Throughout this time, Ozzie Guillen, Robin Ventura, Rick Renteria, and Tony La Russa were the managers in charge. A lot of the teams underachieved which is not ideal but they weren’t properly managed for a lot of it either. None of those guys were straight-up bad managers but maybe weren’t the right guys for the job at that time.
The way that things have gone for the White Sox since the 2020 season started could be why the White Sox aren’t in last place for the division. The only team below them, the Kansas City Royals, is the only team in the division to win the World Series during this stretch. They also have another American League pennant in there as well.
However, the only team in the division to (along with the White Sox) not appear in a World Series is the Minnesota Twins who are one spot ahead of them on this list. It is certainly interesting to see how it has all panned out over the years. Hopefully, the 2020s are significantly better than the 2010s. So far, they already are.