Tuesday afternoon, I was listening to one of my favorite baseball experts on a radio talk show, when he was asked what is the deal with the White Sox? This author of one of baseball's best new books of 2005, answered that he has no idea how they are doing it. At least he acknowledged the team, as most of the baseball experts seem to be ignoring the White Sox, my guess hoping this horrible nightmare would go away for them. Well, past history would show that teams which start 20-7, almost always have a winning record at the end of the year. Here is a briefing on why the White Sox have the best record in baseball and are 4.5, 8.0, and 8.5 games up on division rivals Minnesota, Detroit, and Cleveland, respectively.

There has been a lot of talk about small ball being played in Chicago, but it's not this style that is why the Sox have been so outstanding. It's been the pitching. The team has gotten 20 quality starts out of 27, which is how they had the lead at one point in every game they've played this season. (new all-time record, surpassing the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers 25 game consecutive streak.)

You would think with such an amazing streak continuing, taking place in the third biggest market in the country, it would be a front-line story across the country. Turn on Baseball Tonight and you hear little, Sportscenter doesn't even get to their highlights until 40 minutes in, and outside of the Chicago media, there has been little analysis of the team. Hard to even find much discussion of them at baseball internet sites or top bloggers that don't solely follow the White Sox. When you have vital stories about the Yankees early season flopping and the continued health issues of Cubs pitchers, I guess it makes it difficult to fit in the story of the team with the best record, who is on a historic streak.
Is it any wonder that White Sox fans have such a chip on their shoulder?

The only in-depth look at the White Sox I did find, was written by Aaron Gleeman. Not surprisingly, Gleeman spends almost the whole piece discussing how their start is basically a facade, with his conclusion being the team is in for some trouble, "assuming Chicago's entire starting rotation didn't make the same deal with the devil that Esteban Loaiza negotiated when he was with the White Sox in 2003." Sure, this staff isn't going to pitch as well as they have so far, but it was underrated at the start of the year and now, with the injuries to the Red Sox and Yankees starting staffs, I would argue it's the best in the AL. Add in that they have the top strikeout pitcher in the Minors (Brandon McCarthy) and the White Sox will continue to be a factor in the playoff race all year long. Sorry to wake so many out of their slumber, you can all go back to sleep.