June will be a critical month for the Chicago White Sox's future

The Chicago White Sox are the best team in the American League Central division right now, so to speak.

Now, you may wonder how that could be true based on the fact the team came out of their series sweep over the Detroit Tigers in fourth place in the division, nine games under .500 (26-35) and five and a half games behind the first place Minnesota Twins.

They followed that up with a big win over the New York Yankees on Tuesday after an off-day on Monday.

Yes, overall records in the division show the White Sox (and the rest of the teams in the division for that matter) are not very good. Yet, against divisional opponents, the White Sox find themselves at the top of the heap.

The White Sox are 15-11 against the Central division which comes out to a .733 win percentage. The Twins are second at 12-8.

The Chicago White Sox need to have a big month of June to get back in.

No one in the Central has played as many divisional games as the White Sox but unlike last season, the team currently has a .500 or better record against every team in it.

In a strange way, playing well within the division is both a blessing and a curse as far as this year is concerned.

Generally, in any sport, if a team can take care of business against its own division, that should put them in a good position to win the division and get into the postseason.

Despite the team terribly under-performing through the first two months, the division being as woeful as it is has allowed the White Sox to find themselves heavily in the mix to regain the Central crown it won back in 2021.

However, due to scheduling changes made prior to the season by Major League Baseball, teams will now only play 52 instead of 76 games within their division.

That is bad news for the White Sox since they are trending upward against the likes of the Twins, Tigers, Kansas City Royals, and Cleveland Guardians.

After closing out the month of April at 8 and 21, the White Sox have gone 18 and 14 overall and 14-8 against the Central.

Think about this, if the White Sox went 14-15 heading into May, they would be sitting at 32-29 right now, which would put them in first place.

Based on how the White Sox have played the Central, fans probably wish the old schedule format would come back. Being able to dominate a division and rack up wins would certainly help to offset its abysmal 11-24 mark against the rest of the majors.

The White Sox are not as bad as they were to start the year but they are not near being in the class of the Tampa Bay Rays.

And therein lies the problem for the White Sox.

How good are the White Sox really and can-or will-they make additions to help bolster their chances of competing for a title?

The month of June will be critical for the White Sox and what direction they will go. If they can get on a roll and make up more ground in the division, perhaps management will get behind the team and provide additional help where it can.

But if things fall apart, how quickly will general manager Rick Hahn be on the phone to make deals and start moving pieces before the trade deadline?

The road will not be easy with the likes of the New York Yankees, Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox looming in the coming weeks.