Colson Montgomery Silences White Sox-Cubs Debate With Crosstown Home Run
Every yr, the extent of anticipation and hostility surrounding the Crosstown Classic is often a reasonably good indicator of the place the Chicago White Sox are within the standings and the nationwide dialog.
When the White Sox fail to discipline a aggressive staff, due to this fact rendering any Crosstown collection irrelevant, there is not a lot angst from Cubs followers concerning the state of Chicago baseball.
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But when the White Sox are rolling, once they’re aggressive within the standings, and when the media is giving the staff and its star gamers consideration, the rivalry begins to rear its head once more.
We’ve been watching that this week and this weekend through the first Crosstown Classic collection of 2026. On Friday evening, the Cubs and White Sox performed one another with each groups above .500 and followers within the stands for the primary time since 2008. And on sports activities radio, a brand new debate has sparked concerning the shortstops who play on either side of city.
It began on ESPN 1000 when iconic Chicago sports radio host David Kaplan asserted that it was silly to consider White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery is nearly as good as, or higher than, Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson.
White Sox followers, after all, have been fast to affix the talk, citing the entire statistical proof that helps the declare that Montgomery isn’t solely the very best shortstop within the metropolis, however possibly the very best participant within the metropolis solely.
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Montgomery did not make his MLB debut till July 4, 2025. He’s nonetheless greater than a month away from having spent a full calendar yr in Major League Baseball. Yet in 114 video games performed, Montgomery has a 4.7 career fWAR. He has 33 dwelling runs, 85 RBIs, an OPS+ of 132, and in 2026, he’s second amongst MLB shortstops in defensive runs saved.
His tempo over 162 video games is 47 home runs and 121 RBIs. That’s merely unparalleled from a shortstop, particularly one who performs near elite protection at one of many premier positions within the sport. Oh, and Montgomery continues to be solely 24 years outdated.
There’s an actual case to be made that he is the very best baseball participant within the metropolis of Chicago proper now, and it is actually not a debate that he is the very best shortstop on the town. And after all, Montgomery proved it in a reasonably poetic second on Friday evening. While the White Sox pitching employees allow them to down and surrendered 10 runs to the Cubs in a 10-5 loss, Montgomery launched his twelfth dwelling run of the season in his first at-bat.
Just as you attempt to discredit him, he finds one other approach to show you flawed. That’s what Colson Montgomery you will have accomplished from the second he acquired referred to as up.
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It’s not at all times good. There’s nonetheless a lot for Montgomery to work on. The strikeout fee wants to enhance, and situational hitting on the whole is an space the place White Sox followers wish to see growth. But once you have a look at the final physique of labor since he made his MLB debut, it is pretty plain that Colson Montgomery is not only a younger face who’s a part of this budding White Sox core. He is a younger face who is without doubt one of the superstars in baseball and worthy of all of the nationwide consideration he will get.
