Ostrowski: Who knows what's going on with Chicago White Sox?
Changes should be coming to the South Side based on the White Sox's AL Central record alone. Unless they have a miracle September in them, they'll finish with a below .500 division record in seven of the last eight years.
That 23-10 start was a lifetime ago. The silly conversation about handing manager Robin Ventura an extension was more than 100 games ago. The first 33 games of the season included only two contests against the three teams the Sox are trailing in the Central.
A 21-34 divisional record obviously is bad, but it gets worse when you remove the worst team in baseball, Minnesota. The Sox are a combined 11-29 against Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City.
It gets worse. They are 3-18 on the road at the Indians, Tigers, and Royals. A minus-57 run differential in the 40 games, but it isn't all a lack of offense. White Sox pitching has a 5.69 ERA against Detroit and 5.31 ERA vs Cleveland.
A bad trend? Not even close. Five years into the Robin Ventura era, the Sox have a winning record against one AL Central team. You guessed it. The Minnesota Twins.
Since 2012, they are 102-163 with a .384 winning percentage against Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City. A minus-175 run differential. The saddest number is a 14-31 home record against the Royals.
If you take a larger sample size of the last eight years, the winning percentage may be higher in the division, but the White Sox have a losing record to every team. The best record since 2009 is against Minnesota at 67-77. Here come the flashbacks of losses to the Twins under Ozzie Guillen.
But let's keep everything the same. Remember, there is a united front. Everybody is on the same page, right?
They say we'll know the direction of this team after the first or second transaction of the off-season. OK, the South Siders are trying to make it sound like this is a very positive thing.
And another report surfaces this week from Jon Heyman about what the most powerful person in the organization wants. Heyman wrote, "There's no question longtime owner Jerry Reinsdorf has little interest in trading those two stars (Chris Sale and Jose Quintana), according to people familiar with their thinking."
It seems like there's a lot of wishful thinking going on. Why exactly do you think there's going to be a different way of thinking? So the same people are suddenly going to take a 180 on everything they believe? Have we even heard that the three-year plan is in the trash where it belongs?
I'll be staying over here on "I'll Believe It When I See It" island. We have a horrible name and high taxes, but we're usually right when it comes to the Sox.
• Joe Ostrowski is a co-host of the "Hit & Run" baseball show from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on WSCR 670-AM The Score with Barry Rozner. Follow him on Twitter@JoeO670.