The White Sox lost 101 games in 2023, a franchise-record 121 in 2024, and 102 more in 2025 — three straight years near the bottom of the league. But a win over the Royals on the 24th (25th JST) clinched their first postseason berth in five years. Munetaka Murakami, who joined the team this season, has posted modest numbers of his own — batting around .200 — and on 5channel opinions split between those crediting him with “giving the team momentum even while injured” and “joining at just the right time,” and others arguing “Murakami barely factored in — the real driver was the young players stepping up.” The discussion also branched into the AL’s uneven divisional strength and comparisons with Shohei Ohtani and Kazuma Okamoto.
Sports Hochi, September 25, 2026, 5:45 AM
◆MLB: Royals 1–9 White Sox (Sept. 24, Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri)
The White Sox clinched a postseason (PS) berth on the 24th (25th JST) for the first time since winning the division in 2021, cruising to a road win over the Royals. A division title is still possible, but their playoff spot is now locked in regardless.
Source: hochi.news / Original article here
PCA hits 40-40!! 🎉
https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2103190944476446720/vid/avc1/1280×720/QiATahjov56hWypz.mp4
Yeah, that's not changing.
But this really shows just what a monster record 50-50 is.
Unless it's a 50-50 while also playing defense and pitching, PCA's actually the bigger monster.
He's ahead in WAR after all.
Ohtani stans who feel attacked over something this minor really can't handle any needling.
And in the first place, it's Re: #49 who brought up Ohtani's name in a PCA thread — that's the root cause.
That's a huge asset to have built up.
The AL East is just on another level.
And in the playoffs, the AL East teams will end up knocking each other out anyway.
In the AL West, the division leader has a losing record lol
but only because they were weak and he'd probably get playing time.
Turns out that wasn't it.
The team was right there with him —
both of them waiting for the moment to pull off a huge upset.
Plenty of problems left, but it's the kind of baseball that outslugs its flaws.
Looking forward to the playoffs.
This season was just a hot streak/overperformance.
It'd be great if they went on a run from here like the Blue Jays did last year.
Are they facing the Guardians in the first round?
Is it really that big a deal?
Expected sloppy baseball, but they actually grind out close games.
Well, he's hitting .200.
But he joined at just the right time — he's got a real nose for that.
Meanwhile Okamoto's been putting up huge numbers but can't even get in the lineup on a World Series-bound team — no luck at all.
Okamoto's OPS is actually lower than Murakami's, you know.
while over in the West the division winner might not even finish above .500 — that's quite a gap between divisions.
Even his contract extension talks have been put off.
Whether he becomes 'Murakami-sama' again really comes down to the playoffs.
In soccer you'd get relegated,
so this kind of turnaround story just doesn't happen.
They've already tied the record for the lowest winning percentage by a division winner, so at this point I'm hoping for at least a sub-.500, or at worst an even .500, division title.
Astros: 4-game series vs. Athletics
Rangers: 3 games combined vs. Mets and Twins
Background and Key Points of Discussion
The White Sox endured three of the worst seasons in franchise history in a row — 101 losses in 2023, a franchise-record 121 in 2024, and 102 more in 2025. Their sudden turnaround into a postseason team is being reported as a symbol of the franchise’s rebuild. Munetaka Murakami joined this season but hasn’t stood out statistically, batting around .200, and the thread was split between the view that “the real driver was young players emerging, not Murakami” and the view that “he deserves credit for changing the team’s atmosphere even while injured.” Meanwhile, the AL East is far and away the strongest division, while teams in the West and Central are contending for the division title even with win rates hovering around .500 — highlighting a real gap between divisions, and also drawing attention to how low the bar for this year’s postseason field turned out to be. One point readers can easily misread is that the praise for Murakami “giving the team momentum” is based on morale and his presence in the clubhouse rather than his actual statistics — and that mismatch in premise was exactly where the thread’s debate split.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[USA] White Sox pull off MLB’s biggest reversal ever — miracle playoff run from 101→121→102 losses, franchise’s first in 5 years, Murakami’s arrival awakens young talent.”
