Can White Sox replicate Royals' turnaround in '25?

KANSAS CITY -- The 2024 Kansas City Royals need two more victories to match their entire win total from 2023 -- when they lost 106 games -- following the White Sox 6-1 loss to Kansas City on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium.

With that impressive turnaround in mind, can the present day White Sox follow the same Royals’ path in 2025? Manager Pedro Grifol’s crew fell to 27-73 with a sixth straight setback, making them the 14th team since 1901 to lose 73 over their first 100 contests. That’s bad.

So, to speculate about ‘25 on July 20, 2024, seems about three or four levels above premature, although White Sox infielder Nicky Lopez is not surprised by the Royals’ turnaround.

“They had a really good offseason,” said Lopez, who was part of the Royals from 2019-23 before being traded to the Braves. “That’s why they’re having fun and playing really really well.

As for the White Sox …?

“You look around and we have pieces as well,” Lopez said. “It’s a matter of putting it all together. That’s obviously stuff we can’t control. We have to keep showing up every day and try to get better.”

Grifol challenged his players to forget their dismal pre-All-Star break performance when second-half action began on Friday. It’s not as if it doesn’t exist or it doesn’t matter, but the focus needed to be on the final 64 games -- and now the final 62.

Unfortunately, that goal is easier said than done.

“It’s hard to forget the first half,” Lopez said. “We’re trying to get over it and this is an interesting time as well with the Trade Deadline, you have that swirling around. … Once you get over that and everyone starts playing some ball, that’s when you start making some strides.

“Right now, we have to come in here and try to compete and when there are runners on, get them over and get them in. That’s what you have to do.”

Kansas City (54-45) improved to 8-1 against the White Sox. The Royals have one of the game’s best players in shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., while the White Sox have a player in center fielder Luis Robert Jr. possessing a similar All-Star skill-set when healthy.

Brady Singer (6-6) gave the Royals seven scoreless innings, after Michael Wacha held the White Sox under control on Friday. Wacha and All-Star Seth Lugo (11-4), who is slated to pitch in Sunday’s series finale, were two of the team’s significant offseason moves costing them a combined $77 million.

Chicago also has young players, key components who could make greater contributions in ‘25, already in place now. Jonathan Cannon, who celebrated his 24th birthday Friday, is one of those players.

Cannon gave up three runs in the first and four total runs through the first two innings, with the sinker-baller being a little too overamped coming out of the All-Star break. But it was an important lesson learned, as Cannon quickly settled down and retired 12 of the last 13 to make it through six innings on 91 pitches.

“This experience is invaluable,” Cannon said. “Just continue to try to put together good outings and put this team in a position to win and try to get better each outing. That’s all you really can do. Learn from it, and hopefully in a couple of days against Texas hope to correct it.

“I just maybe got a little too amped up in the first inning, made some mistakes. They made me pay for it, kind of put us in a hole to start with, which is difficult to climb out of. But I was able to settle down after that. I thought I had good stuff, just made a couple of mistakes over the plate.”

General manager Chris Getz and the front office will control how this team looks for the rest of ‘24 and ultimately into ‘25. The group will look much different, for example, depending on Robert Jr. and Garrett Crochet being with the team or traded away by July 30.

In the interim, even in a rebuild with expected down times, the losing is not fun.

“Obviously it’s not fun,” Lopez said. “We’re sticking together, the effort is there, we’re playing hard but we’re players. We can only control what we can control and leave everything else to them.”

Royals right fielder Hunter Renfroe said of the White Sox: "This team we’re playing is not indicative of what their record is. They’re a really good hitting ballclub. They’re not the same team we played earlier in the season. To do what [Royals starters] are doing is really, really eye-opening, for sure.”