The White Sox have always been over-shadowed by the Cubs, but this season could be different.  The South-Siders did not start the season well.  An 0-4 to start was kind of rough, but they have rebounded a little and are now 5-7 as their hitting is starting to come alive.  Adam LaRoche and Jose Abreu have each hit 2 home runs for the Sox and Avisail Garcia is batting .350.  With these players coming to the plate, the Sox are sure to have good run support throughout the season.

The reason the White Sox lost the first 4 games of this season, besides only scoring 7 runs in those games, was their pitching. The Sox pitching gave up 27 runs in those games while surrendering 45 hits to their 22.  The White Sox pitchers and batters did not perform well enough to win those games, so they got swept by the American League Champion Royals and lost the first of three to the Twins.

However, the offense was jump-started this last weekend as they have won their last 3 games while averaging over 10 hits per game.  The pitching also only surrendered 7 runs to the opponent’s 15.  Hopefully, the White Sox can play like this most of the season as the AL Central is going to be tough.  The Tigers and Royals are out to a hot start so it will be a close finish to see who makes the playoffs.

The pickups the White Sox made in the offseason will definitely help them move up from finishing 4th in the AL Central.  Some of the pickups that are expected to do well this season include Melky Cabrera, Jeff Samardzija, and Adam LaRoche.  These acquisitions could definitely put the White Sox into playoff contention as they need to beef up their lineup and add starting pitcher to make their rotation more consistent this upcoming season.

Last year, Melky batted over .300, Samardzija had over 200 strikeouts and LaRoche had 26 long balls.  These additions were definitely good moves by the Sox.  Also, David Robertson was a great acquisition for the White Sox.  Robertson had his first closing bid last year with the departure of Mariano Rivera and he made the most of his first season by saving 39 games in 44 attempts.  He did the same with his first appearance with the White Sox by striking out the side.  These additions will give the Sox consistent play at their respective positions.

The rest of April is mostly filled with division play except for the Orioles.  This is the time to see what Detroit and Kansas City play like so the Sox can be ready to play them later in the season.  It is hard to play a team that is excellent on the offensive and defensive sides of the field, and Detroit and Kansas City would be two prime examples.

With the hard pitching staffs and lineups to face in the AL Central, it will be hard to expect this season to be easy for the Sox in terms of division play because the Royals, Indians and Tigers are all great teams.  It’s hard to know what will happen this year, but the White Sox can be a good team soon enough if the pitching is more consistent.  If all things come together nicely on the South-Side, a playoff run would be realistic for the Black and White.