KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Will Venable paused as he contemplated a way to describe the 2026 Chicago White Sox.
“If I could reduce it to one word, it would be that they’re ‘excited,’” the manager said last week.
“They’re excited to play baseball. They’re excited to come to the field. They’re excited to be teammates to each other. They’re excited to experience all the challenges that come here, and they’re excited to overcome them.”
That approach has the Sox positioned well as they vie for their first postseason appearance since 2021. The team entered the final week of the regular season in the third American League wild-card spot, leading the Houston Astros by three games with six games left. They are also in a fight for the AL Central crown, trailing the first-place Cleveland Guardians by just one game.
The final stretch began Tuesday with the first of three against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
It’s been a remarkable turnaround for a franchise that lost at least 101 games each of the last three years, including a modern-day record 121 defeats in 2024.
Venable discussed this year’s journey during a recent pregame interview with the Tribune.
“Our team is not perfect, no team is perfect, and at different times of the year there are areas of our club that are performing better than others,” Venable said. “And we’ve seen that recently with our offense not being what we’re used to. We’ve seen stretches in which our pitching has not been what we’re used to or our base running or our defense.
More Top Picks Dyscalculia Explained When Math Is The Struggle
“And I think the special thing about this group is watching them just find a way to win.”
September has had some rough patches, including a 5-10 stretch that saw the club slip out of first place in the AL Central. They still hold a tiebreaker edge for the division over the Guardians after having won the season series.
Venable noted that the team has looked more like itself recently.
“It’s just been awesome to watch this group develop and kind of go through these twists and turns of the season and transition to this carefree group, into a group that was very tense, now back into what feels like ourselves,” he said.
It’s a squad that leads the AL in runs (733) and is third in home runs (199) — featuring three 30-plus home run hitters in Miguel Vargas (33), Munetaka Murakami (32) and Colson Montgomery (31). And a team that has relied heavily on the bullpen, with Grant Taylor among those utilized in a variety of ways.
Venable highlighted the contributions across the board.
“We certainly have guys that are performing really well,” Venable said. “Miguel Vargas, oh my gosh, where would you be without Miguel Vargas or Grant Taylor and these guys that have just done special things. But they’re not the only ones.
“It has come from every single place. And every one of these wins, especially the ones that we remember that are really special, none of them look the same. And it’s an example of a group of guys that just has come together, just find a way.”
Venable has also appreciated the buy-in from the players, whether it’s a batter being subbed out for a righty-lefty or lefty-righty matchup, or if the club decides to go with an opener and move the scheduled starter into a bulk pitching role.
“One, is establishing that that’s the approach that we want as an organization,” Venable said. “The second part is, the most important thing that we can do is support an environment in which these guys are happy and feel like they are contributing, and they can be themselves. Well, if you’re asking these guys to do a bunch of different things, and they’re not down for it, you have to sacrifice the strategic approach or you sacrifice the environment.
“And because we have guys, specifically, the leaders of our group who have been around and are experienced. Because they have been open, because we have young guys who are also open and good guys, they’ve allowed us to put them in these different spots, use them in different ways. And it doesn’t come without maintenance. There are things that you have to do, you have to be proactive, some guys aren’t always happy with it. But we haven’t compromised our approach or our environment by doing it. And I think that is one of the big keys to our success.”
Venable acknowledges the pressure surrounding a playoff push. He stressed the “right type” of pressure.
“I think the right type of pressure at this point to feel is the pressure to play well for your teammates, as opposed to ‘we’ve got to make the playoffs’ or whatever,” Venable said. “So shifting the type of pressure into the right kind of pressure.”
Through it all, Venable and the coaching staff are there for support.
More Top Picks Do Colored Overlays Help With Dyslexia The Honest Answer
“Just to breathe and remind them of the things that they’ve achieved and the personal and team success that they’ve already had,” Venable said. “It’s crazy the things that these guys have accomplished. It is wild, man. You go through some of these things, and it’s like whoa, this is heavy stuff.
“There’s some really impressive — both personal and team — accomplishments. And so that’s what our focus is on, is making sure they don’t forget who they are. Making sure that they’re just enjoying this, just like they did every day to get to this spot. So everything that we’re doing is to just make sure the environment is loose, easy and that these guys are just enjoying what is an incredible opportunity.”