CHICAGO – The White Sox sit alone atop the American League Central following their 2-1 victory over the Braves Wednesday night at Rate Field. This is not a misprint. This situation has long since graduated from the cute story angle centered upon the losing team that finally could. Sure, this young crew is abundantly fun to watch. Even the most traditional and hardened of baseball followers had to let out a “wow” or two following Braden Montgomery’s walk-off home run Monday night in his big league debut. But since a 6-13 start to this 2026 campaign, when some of the young White Sox crew were figuring out April baseball, they are one of the best teams in baseball. Now the standings support that idea, showing a half-game lead over the Guardians (37-33) and, at 36-31, a two-game edge in the loss column. It's the latest in a season Chicago has been in first place since the 2021 regular-season finale and the first time the team entered a day alone atop the division since April 20, 2022. “Really proud of the group. It’s meaningful to be ahead, leading the division,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “At the same time, it’s going to be about going out tomorrow and trying to win a ballgame and we understand we have a long way to go. But to be in this spot now is great.” "We show up and we've got a good group of guys,” second baseman Chase Meidroth said. “We show and work every day. The standard is the standard here and the expectations are what we've got.” In the second game of this three-game set, facing off against one of the best teams in baseball, the White Sox beat old friend Chris Sale, who also happens to be one of the top pitchers in the game. They scored two in the fourth off a hurler who remains one of the best in White Sox franchise history. Braden Montgomery doubled for his first right-handed hit to start the fourth. He scored on a single to center from Derek Hill, who swiped second, moved to third on Jacob Gonzalez’s grounder and then came home one out later on Luisangel Acuna’s infield grounder. Davis Martin didn’t need any more run support in improving to 9-2 on the season. Martin was making his first start since getting roughed up by the Twins on June 2 at Target Field, where he admittedly felt physically exhausted, and struck out six over six scoreless innings. First place is especially significant to a White Sox organization, having lost 100-plus in each of the last three seasons. Of course, this group is not surprised by where they currently a
