2025 Chicago White Sox

2025 Chicago White Sox / Franchise: Chicago White Sox / BR Team Page

Record: 60-102, Finished 5th in AL Central Division (2025 AL)

Managed by Will Venable

Coaches: Jason Bourgeois, Drew Butera, Justin Jirschele, Ethan Katz, Joel McKeithan, Walter McKinven, Grady Sizemore, Marcus Thames and Matt Wise

Ballpark: Rate Field

History, Comments, Contributions

The 2025 Chicago White Sox were looking for a reset after setting a new American League record by losing 121 games in 2024. Their main move in setting the table for a better season was signing Will Venable to be their new manager, although it wasn't clear how much he would contribute given he had no previous major league managing experience and that he would not be the one swinging the bat or throwing pitches, two areas where the Sox had been notoriously deficient the year before. The other big off-season move was trading their best pitcher, Garrett Crochet, to the Boston Red Sox in return for a package of prospects that looked quite promising on paper.

The first sign that this was not last year's team was that the White Sox managed a split of their first four games. Even better, their starting pitchers were outstanding in those four games, as after these, they had yet to give up an earned run in 23 innings of work. True, Davis Martin had given a pair of unearned runs in his first start, and the team's two losses had been pinned on the bullpen, but even with that, the team ERA was 0.75 - the best in the majors at that early juncture. Rookie Sean Burke, who had only 19 innings of major league experience before being designated as the Opening Day starter, had set the tone with 6 scoreless innings in an 8-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on March 27th, after which Martin had gone six innings and Jonathan Cannon five, before Martín Pérez had pitched another six scoreless frames on March 31st to combine with two relievers on a 9-0 shutout of the Minnesota Twins. Their next game on April 1st was started by Shane Smith, the top pick in the 2024 Rule V Draft, who was making his major league debut. He kept the streak going for another 5 2/3 innings before showing signs of fatigue when he walked two batters. He was removed from the game at that point, but reliever Penn Murfee completely imploded, allowing the next five batters to reach base on four hits and a hit batsman, turning a 3-0 lead into a 5-3 deficit. Murfee was then charged with the 8-3 loss to the Twins. Still, the 28 2/3 innings by their starting pitchers without allowing an earned run represented a remarkable feat.

After a promising start, the White Sox fell back in the standings, finishing April with a record of 7-23 and firmly in last place in the AL Central. While fans were bracing for a long season, they got some unexpected good news from the heavens on May 8th when Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected as Pope Leo XIV, the first American to ascend to the throne of St. Peter. Journalists were quickly sent to investigate the until then little known prelate and it was determined that growing up on the south side of Chicago, not only was he a lifelong fan of the Pale Hose, but a pretty passionate one at that. Fox was even able to dig up a clip from Game 1 of the 2005 World Series in which he is seen in the crowd, at a time when he was simply known to his friends and parishioners as "Father Bob". The Sox paid him tribute with an announcement on the scoreboard on May 9th.

Awards and Honors

• MLB All-Rookie Team: Colson Montgomery (DH)
• All-Star: Shane Smith

Further Reading

• Jeffrey Lutz: "The new pope was at the 2005 World Series", mlb.com, May 9, 2025. [1]
• Joey Pollizze: "White Sox combo with Bulls for new City Connect uniforms", mlb.com, April 28, 2025. [2]

2025 MLB season by team