The White Sox Won the First Half. The Second Half Is a Different Team.
47-42. First place. And a road record that says they shouldn't be here.
The All-Star break is the intermission, not the conclusion. The White Sox are 47-42. They lead the AL Central by one game. And their road record is 17-26.
The Kid ran the split: 28-16 at home (.636), 17-26 on the road (.404). That's a 232-point gap. The second-half schedule hasn't been released in detail, but the White Sox aren't playing 81 more home games.
Cleveland is one game back with José Ramírez about to return. Surgery was June 16 for a hamate fracture. He's progressed to tee work per the briefing, expected back late July or early August. The Guardians bought themselves time by staying close. Now they get their best player back.
I've still got the White Sox at 0.65 to regress out of a playoff spot. The road record is the tell. The second half starts when games resume, and the games that matter aren't in Chicago.