Sitting at .500 going into Memorial Day, White Sox are 'on the right track'

SAN FRANCISCO – Memorial Day serves as an unofficial checkpoint of the Major League Baseball season.

As the White Sox return to Rate Field on Monday afternoon to begin a seven-game AL Central homestand against the Twins and Tigers, they have to be happy with their current situation on this special holiday.

Yes, they lost a second straight to the Giants on Sunday, falling 8-5 at Oracle Park. Yes, they are back to .500 at 26-26. But if the season were to end on Memorial Day, the White Sox would be the second AL Wild Card.

Nobody thought this sort of late-rebuild ascension was possible for the South Siders. That is, nobody outside of the White Sox organization, and specifically, their clubhouse.

“We’ve always had the expectation to go and win ballgames,” right-hander Grant Taylor said. “We all expected to be in this situation: We’ve been .500-plus the past few games. We are trying to be in the postseason. We are trying to win games in October.

“So to be at Memorial Day and be .500, that’s on the right track from where we were in the past. Keep pushing and keep getting better.”

Taylor has been dominant over the course of the 2026 season, doing everything from acting as an opener to being a dominant closer with a three-strikeout ninth Tuesday in Seattle. His 1.78 ERA over 19 games, with 38 strikeouts against eight walks in 25 1/3 innings drew high praise from White Sox director of pitching Brian Bannister before Sunday’s finale.

“He’s just a really tough at-bat right now,” Bannister said. “I know the hitters do not want to face him. Just the way he can locate the curveball and tunnel the fastball off it at 100 mph, he’s pretty electric.”

That electricity went off-circuit Sunday, as Taylor replaced Noah Schultz in the fifth during a high-leverage situation with two runners on and nobody out in a 4-4 deadlock. Taylor walked Casey Schmitt, who homered in the third off Schultz, and gave up a first-pitch, opposite-field grand slam to Rafael Devers.

Devers’ blast was the first career long ball allowed by Taylor, whose 55 career homer-less appearances marked the third-longest to start by a White Sox hurler. Only Frank Smith at 65 appearances from 1904-05 and Ehren Wassermann at 57 from 2007-08 were ahead of him.

Matt Chapman grounded out after Devers’ slam, and Tyler Davis came in from the bullpen after 16 pitches. Taylor’s average velocity was down 1.5 mph on the four-seam and sinker, but he reported no physical issues.

“It felt like the mechanics were good. I didn’t execute pitches to the first guy and you know, good hitter [with Devers],” Taylor said. “I know the two-seam got up to close to 98. It was just one of those days.”

“A tick or two down there today. But he says he feels fine,” said manager Will Venable of Taylor. “Really big spot. I thought Noah's day was done at that point, and just knowing how good Grant is, how versatile he is. We come back and tie it right there. We want to do everything we can to shut the door.”

The door remained open, and the White Sox finished this journey to Seattle and San Francisco at 2-4 with back-to-back series losses. But let’s take stock of this team overall:

• Davis Martin is a bonafide AL Cy Young candidate at the top of the White Sox rotation.

• Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery are a potent run-producing trio making it tough for opposing pitchers to get through the White Sox lineup. Vargas launched his 12th home run on Sunday.

• The young players throughout this roster are developing and more young talent such as outfielder Braden Montgomery (No. 2 White Sox, No. 24 overall, per MLB Pipeline), left-hander Hagen Smith (No. 4, No. 50 overall), infielder/outfielder Rikuu Nishida and infielder Jacob Gonzalez (No. 24) are on their way.

Most importantly, it’s a team believing in each other. It’s a team enjoying playing with each other.

“It’s difficult to be the best in the world at your craft if you don’t enjoy showing up to the ballpark,” assistant general manager Carlos Rodriguez told MLB.com. “Sure, we have our work cut out for us the rest of the season. Sure, we have to continue to improve as a club both on the run-prevention side and also continuing with the offense.

“One thing very clear is the players enjoy showing up to the ballpark. The staff enjoys showing up to the ballpark and going to work. That’s a really important piece and a pretty good indicator of a club that has a chance to continue to get better.”