The Chicago White Sox are not a good baseball team. Being 9.5 games out of a Wild Card spot in the American League shows just how bad things have been.
The good thing for them, however, is the fact that the American League Central division is horrific and they aren't dead yet.
After winning the final two games and splitting the four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels, the White Sox enter the weekend just 4.5 games out of first place in this bad division.
With a visit to the Oakland A's ahead for the White Sox, they can continue to climb if they are successful.
The Chicago White Sox must beat the Oakland A's in this weekend series.
Oakland has been a house of horrors for the White Sox in recent years but the A's are bad. They aren't White Sox bad either, they are potentially all-time bad.
They are so bad that they might leave Oakland for Las Vegas in the coming years. Right now, they are 21-62 which is good for the worst record in all of baseball. Only the Kansas City Royals are in the same stratosphere of bad.
It is unclear what the pitching matchups are going to be in this series but we know that Dylan Cease will go for the White Sox in the Saturday game.
These are games that they must win. If they don't, you can say goodbye to the playoff hopes that they don't really have anyway but the math says they do.
The Minnesota Twins are playing the Baltimore Orioles who are much better than them. That could work out for the White Sox if the O's play to their ability.
The Cleveland Guardians are actually in Chicago to take on the Chicago Cubs. The White Sox would love to see their crosstown mates find a way to take a series from those Guardians.
As for the Detroit Tigers, who also remain in the mix for the division, are in Colorado to take on a bad Colorado Rockies team.
All that matters right now, however, is that the White Sox find a way to beat the really bad team that is in front of them right now. They simply cannot lose this series to the A's. In fact, it would be ideal to sweep them.