Chisox’s Venable Building Case as Top 2026 American League Skipper

MLB award season will be here before you know it.

In a manner of three seasons, the Chicago White Sox have gone from awful, to good, to American League Central Division leaders.

Hoping to graduate to the club’s performance level of very good come October, if trends continue through the end of September, there is a collection of leaders within Chicago’s organization that are worthy of a cheer.

White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who has been a leading force with the club since 1981, has allowed his leadership group to remain faithful to general manager Chris Getz since his hiring in August 2023 to rebuild the roster.

Then, after the historically underachieving 121-loss 2024 season, the owner and GM gave the green light to hiring a rookie manager, Will Venable, to navigate their vision of forming a more competitive club.

The fans in Chi-Town are responding to the changes made to the personnel that Venable has been given.

Currently, according to Baseball Reference, the White Sox are ranked seventh in total home attendance among MLB clubs this season, averaging 24,747 fans per game at Rate Field.

There has been no sophomore jinx attached to Venable’s leadership this season. Quite the opposite is true.

The White Sox are knocking on the door of their first division title since 2021. Looking further down towards possible October play, Chicago is looking to return to the World Series for the first time in 21 years.

The watch is on how Venable works his 26-man roster down the last 32-game stretch.

The difference could mean being selected American League Manager of the Year, or being among the runner-ups.

East-leading Tampa Bay Rays are MLB’s “the little engine that could,” remaining in first place ahead of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox for most of the season.

With Boston having success under mid-season rookie hire manager Chad Tracy, his name is regularly bantered around as a possible Manager of the Year candidate, too.

Both dugout bosses are proving worthy to be in the conversation. But, as far as growth, as a club this season, the White Sox are off the chart when it comes to demonstrating improvements.

Chicago has been in first place in their division continuously since May 7. This is the longest stretch for the club in first place since the 2012 season. The White Sox finished second to the Detroit Tigers and missed the postseason that year.

Leading into Monday’s first of three home games with the Texas Rangers, Venable’s club sits in first place in the American League Central by 3.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians.

Six clubs are trailing Cleveland by 3.5 games or less for the third and final American League Wild Card position, along with New York and Boston leading the way. With seven games scheduled for the next eight days, Chicago’s postseason aspirations remain in their hands.

Earlier this summer, White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery told a Sox Machine reporter how Venable laid out his expectations for all playing for the club.

“He set the expectation in spring training,” said Colson Montgomery. “That’s one of the first things he told us.

“We were going to play fast, we’re going to play hard, we’re going to run balls out, we’re going to do all the little things that we’re going to have to do because we have to do those little things to get ourselves to where we are now.”

The White Sox continue on their multi-month first-place excursion from a collective contribution from up and down the roster.

Randal Grichuk, released by the Yankees in April and signed by Chicago in May, is the veteran outfielder swinging a hot bat, hitting .297 and tallying a .932 OPS.

White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas has connected on 29 home runs, to go along with his .854 OPS.

Rookie free agent signee from Japan Munetaka Murakami not only was selected for last month’s MLB All-Star Game, but he has also clubbed 29 homers and has attained an impressive .875 OPS.

Sean Burke and Anthony Kay remain stalwarts of the pitching staff. Kay is 9–6 in 24 starts, after being out of the MLB for two seasons. Burke, in 22 starts, has registered 158 strikeouts in 146 innings of work.

“One thing I know about this group, you cannot put limits on them,” Venable said. “As you get to the offseason, you have no idea what that is going to look like.

“There’s so much variability in development, in how groups come together that I don’t have an answer other than I’m not going to put any limits on this team.”

Winning a division and extending the White Sox postseason further would certainly help Venable’s case for American League Manager of the Year.

The last push for the playoffs comes in September for the White Sox and will go a long way in validating just what a special dugout boss they have.

In 2005, the season that Chicago captured their last World Series championship, Ozzie Guillen was named the American League Manager of the Year.