As the second half of the season begins, the Chicago White Sox find themselves in a position few people thought they would be in.
And that position is first place.
Now the task is to try to remain there, which won’t be easy.
The Indians and Tigers are right on their heels and all indications are that the race in the AL Central will go down to the wire.
After finishing this weekend’s series against Kansas City the White Sox will have 74 games remaining, 40 of which will be against their AL Central counterparts.
They have 15 games remaining with Minnesota, 10 with Detroit, nine with Kansas City and six with Cleveland.
You would think that sets up nicely since 24 of the 40 games are against the bottom two teams in the division, but as most White Sox fans already know, the Twins and Royals play the Sox just about as tough as anybody.
So there’s no doubt the White Sox are going to have to play some good baseball down the stretch in order to capture the division.
Every series becomes more important as they get later into the season, especially within the division.
Since they will be spending so much time playing teams within their own division, it would be nice to know what they’re up against.
Here’s a look at how I feel the White Sox stack up at each position against the other teams in the AL Central prior to the July 31st trade deadline.