Last Updated on September 4, 2026 by Matt Musico
Regardless of how the 2026 regular season finishes out, it’s been a memorable one for the Chicago White Sox. It’s also been the kind of campaign pretty much nobody outside (or inside?) the organization thought was possible.
After two straight postseason appearances in 2020 and 2021, followed by an 81-81 record in 2022, the South Siders have been…putrid.
The club posted three straight seasons of 100-plus losses, but even with that, there was cause for a slight bit of optimism after 2025. Here’s how the club’s yearly record progressed, according to Baseball-Reference:
- 2023: 61-101
- 2024: 41-121
- 2025: 60-102
Sure, they still couldn’t avoid the century mark in the loss column, but improving by 19 wins last year isn’t something to scoff at. They’ve taken that progression to an even more ridiculous level in 2026. Ahead of September 4 games, Manager Will Venable’s club is 73-67 and currently in the driver’s seat regarding the American League Central.
How did this turnaround happen?! There are a lot of things in play here, but there’s something specific on offense that has caught my eye over the past month. It’s the powerful trio that is Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery, and Miguel Vargas.
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White Sox Have 3 Dudes on the Doorstep of the 30-Homer Club
According to FanGraphs, the White Sox have posted a 104 team wRC+ so far this season, which is among the top 10 in all of baseball. And in case you were wondering — because I certainly was — this was a dramatic turnaround from the year prior. Chicago ranked 27th in this category during 2025. The club’s 89 team wRC+ was only better than the Cleveland Guardians, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Colorado Rockies.
And, any way you slice it, you can’t look past the trio of Murakami, Montgomery, and Vargas as the trio leading the charge. And they’re all entering Friday’s games with 29 homers each.
Munetaka Murakami
I recently talked about Murakami’s efforts to break the White Sox rookie home run record despite missing significant time on the Injured List, which makes what he’s done even more impressive. Sure, he boasts a 34.1% strikeout rate, which isn’t ideal.
But it’s accompanied by a .213/.354/.481 line to go along with 29 homers, 59 RBI, 72 runs scored, and a 132 wRC+. Overall, his performance has been worth 2.7 fWAR across 105 games played.
Colson Montgomery
Things have been tougher for Montgomery in the second half, and you can see those struggles show up in some of his season-long stats (although his performance has picked up over the past week). The 24-year-old is hitting .213/.294/.432 with a 101 wRC+ in 135 games.
However, he’s still racked up the counting stats with 29 homers, 79 RBI, and 64 runs scored. His above-average defense has boosted his overall performance to 3.0 fWAR.
Miguel Vargas
And then, there’s Vargas…who I think is the most unlikely dude of all to be where he is at this point.
I mean, sure — he hit a career-high 16 homers in 2025. But let’s not forget that he entered the year with 29 career homers in his first 309 MLB games. So, literally doubling that number in just 137 games is quite impressive.
Across his first 609 plate appearances, Vargas is hitting .251/.363/.484 with 29 homers, 76 RBI, 93 runs scored, and 15 steals. As of this writing, his 137 wRC+ and 4.4 fWAR are both team-highs, according to FanGraphs.
Chicago Hasn’t Seen This Happen in Nearly 2 Decades
Now, if you’re wondering, “Jeez, I wonder when the White Sox last had three 30-homer hitters in one season,” you’re in luck, because I was curious about the same thing.
The answer, my friends, is 2008. That’s the year Carlos Quentin (36), Jim Thome (34), and Jermaine Dye (34) all surpassed the 30-homer club. I know…that’s quite a group of names, right?
I went through Chicago’s yearly stats each year between 2009 and 2025. There was only one instance of two players enjoying 30-plus homers in the same season. It happened in 2019 when Jose Abreu hit 33 and Eloy Jimenez slugged 31. And if we look at yearly results between 2021 and 2025, there have been just two such performances: Abreu in 2021 (30) and Luis Robert Jr. in 2023 (38).
So, while fans are waiting to see if the Sox will punch a postseason ticket for this October, they can watch this trio reach heights we’ve haven’t seen on the South Side in almost 20 years. And that’s pretty freakin’ cool.
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