CHICAGO — The theme was “Christmas in July,” but at Rate Field on Monday, it felt more like October.Dueling chants from New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox fans filled the air amid late-game drama. Every hit, catch, bobble, throw and send felt significant.The announced crowd was just over 22,000 for the first of a four-game series against the Yankees (who are in Chicago all week to face the Sox and Cubs), but it felt like a sold-out stadium.The return of meaningful baseball on the South Side has been a recurring storyline since April. It’s no longer a novelty. But now, with a week left until the trade deadline and a postseason berth something the Sox could lose rather than luck into, it feels a little more real.On Monday night, it felt a little more fraught.A buzzy atmosphere didn’t help the AL Central-leading Sox, as a postseason-like moment felt a little too big in a 9-5 loss to New York.The Sox committed three errors, and that doesn’t include a few mental miscues or Justin Jirschele’s too-aggressive send home of Colson Montgomery in the seventh that saw him get thrown out by a country mile.“It was a sloppy game defensively, even in some plays that didn’t end in errors, you know, just not sharp there,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “That impacted the game obviously and really was the difference there.”Before the game, Venable scoffed at the idea the start was important to embattled rookie Noah Schultz, who looked like he’s on the precipice of losing his spot in the rotation.“I think it’s just an important outing because we have to find a way to beat the Yankees,” he said.That one-game-at-a-time spiel is always in a manager’s repertoire, but when you’re a handful of games over .500 and two games up in the division and a bad week or two could still separate you from the postseason, well, it doesn’t feel phony.The Sox lost two of three in the Bronx in June, and Monday they surrendered an early 3-0 lead. Schultz erased three perfect innings with a wobbly fourth. These things matter.Venable said he liked the step forward from Schultz, and maybe if the stakes were a little lower right now, he would have let him work out of a jam in the fourth. But Schultz loaded the bases and was pulled after a run-scoring groundout. That, too, felt very October-ish.The Yankees, who have their own issues, wound up scoring four runs in the inning and scored four in the eighth off normally reliable reliever Sean Newcomb.With their third loss in the last four games, the Sox dropped to 33-20 at the Rate, which is still one of the best home records in baseball. Their success on the South Side and their resiliency — they haven’t lost more than three consecutive games all season — has them in a situation few would’ve believed going into the season.Yes, for the first time in a long time, the White Sox (55-50 with a two-game edge over the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central) are the favorites. If you ask Vegas, anyway.After Monday’s game, they were listed at +125 to win the AL Central on BetMGM and +130 on DraftKings. Cleveland (54-53) was second at +155 and +160. On Opening Day, the Sox were +3000 to win the division (for the layman, that means they were 30-to-1), according to Covers.com. They’ve been chipping away ever since.Over at Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs, the Sox are projected to finish just a tick (less than a game) below the Guardians, who got rained out Monday.No, they’re not the 1991 Atlanta Braves, but just two years removed from the worst season in modern-baseball history, the worst-to-first turnaround is even more impressive.So can the Sox make the playoffs? Absolutely. The projections will tell you it’s a coin flip. Before Monday, I would have said it was an eventuality given this team has been immune to losing streaks. But then I started thinking about how many games are in August and September and how it’s a long, winding road to October.White Sox general manager Chris Getz has the opinion that counts. And we’re all curious to see how far he will go to bolster a team that is at least a year ahead of schedule. Will he trade big-name prospects for rentals? Will he go for the jugular in a weak American League?Like pretty much every playoff contender in the history of the game, the Sox need pitching. You can never have enough. They need multiple starters, relievers and a closer. They clearly need reinforcements.How many players will the Mets trade by the deadline?Ken Rosenthal and Johnny SweetWith so many teams in contention in a three-wild-card world, it’s going to be a seller’s market. Is Caleb Bonemer, the team’s second-best prospect after No. 1 pick Roch Cholowsky, an untouchable? I wouldn’t trade him unless you’re getting, say, San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller back. And though this is a precious opportunity — as Sox fans know, playoff baseball doesn’t come to the South Side very often — this isn’t an “If not now, when?” moment either.My intuition is Getz doesn’t want to go wild shooting for the moon this season. He’s rebuilt a bad farm system, and he’s looking for that sustained success sweet spot — especially with future majority owner Justin Ishbia waiting in the wings. But he has to invest more in this team. He knows that. They’ve earned it.Getz has done an impressive job adding talent on the margins, guys such as Tristan Peters and Randal Grichuk, who have made a difference. His front office has done impressive work with little money or expectations. I’m intrigued to see what he does with a bigger spotlight.Though the oddsmakers and algorithms were understandably pessimistic about this team, White Sox players have been confident since the offseason. A solid finish to a 102-loss season coupled with the signing of Munetaka Murakami and some bullpen additions gave them hope. By spring training, it was belief.“Last year, we got a lot of excitement after the second half, and we came into this season with a lot of new pieces that can help us win a lot of baseball games,” third baseman Miguel Vargas told me at the end of spring training.“I mean, this is a group to be excited about,” second baseman Chase Meidroth said at the time.I smiled, nodded my head and picked the Sox to win 72 games, a modest 12-game improvement from 2025.I’m now certain the Sox won’t lose 90 games. A weak division has given them an opening. Now comes the hard part. They have to take it.