It was a little more than a month ago that the Chicago White Sox were steamrolling their way towards the top of the World Series futures odds list. They entered the regular season with +3300 odds to win the World Series, and saw those odds climb all the way up to +1100 after a hot start. But here we are in mid-June, and the ChiSox have gone 9-23 since May 10 and their odds have dropped way down to +4000.
So, what’s the deal?
Well, the main culprit is a pitching staff who followed up a 2.72 April ERA with a 4.18 ERA in May, and an even worse 5.87 ERA so far in June. They’ve already allowed 17 dingers in June, matching the mark they allowed in all of April, and are on pace to surpass the 31 they allowed in May.
Chris Sale was setting the world on fire through his first nine starts, recording a win in each outing while allowing two earned runs or less seven times. In his four starts since, he’s allowed 17 earned runs.
Jose Quintana has also fallen off dramatically. On May 8, his record stood at 5-1 with a 1.38 ERA, but he hasn’t recorded a win since and his ERA has almost doubled to 2.66.
On the offensive side, it doesn’t help that they don’t have one hitter with an average above .286. Combining that with being second to last in the American League in home runs and total bases equals a team that isn't winning many games with their bats.
Thankfully for the White Sox, they’re not dead in the water yet thanks to a 23-10 start prior to the collapse that began on May 10. As it stands today, they’re one game below .500 and three games back of a Wild Card spot.
Turning it around soon will be difficult though, as their next 11 games all come against teams with winning records — Tigers, Indians, Red Sox and Blue Jays. Those teams are a combined 30-21 so far in June.
It looks like the hole the White Sox are digging for themselves is about to get even deeper, so apologies to any overzealous fans of the South Siders who went all-in on the team at that +1100 price, as the hot start appears to have been nothing but a Sportsbook.
