CHICAGO (AP) — Colson Montgomery grew up in Indiana rooting for the Hoosiers and committed to play baseball for them before the Chicago White Sox made the slugging shortstop a first-round pick in the 2021 draft.
Fair to say, he's inspired by the football team's historic transformation under coach Curt Cignetti. In just two seasons, Indiana's gone from doormat to national champion.
“Cignetti kind of summed it up,” Montgomery said Friday before the team kicked off its fan festival. “He said Indiana University football just won the national championship. It can be done.”
The White Sox believe they are poised to turn a corner. General manager Chris Getz said this week he expects the team to take “a meaningful step forward" after three straight 100-loss seasons.
The players echoed that on Friday, when the team kicked off its weekend fan festival.
“It's great,” right-hander Davis Martin said. “I love the energy that we have and I think everyone in the clubhouse feels it. So the fact that it's emanating outside the clubhouse into the community, into the city is great. But all of us know at the end of the day, wins matter. You've got to go win games.”
The White Sox haven't done much of that in recent years. They made the playoffs in 2020 and 2021 with young stars like Tim Anderson and Luis Robert leading the way, only to unravel.
The White Sox are coming off back-to-back last-place finishes in the AL Central. They went 60-102 in manager Will Venable's first season. But as bad as that sounds, they made a 19-game improvement over 2024, when they finished 41-121 and set a modern major league record for losses.
Last season, there were at least some promising developments. Right-hander Shane Smith made the All-Star team as a rookie, and Montgomery, catcher Kyle Teel and versatile infielder Chase Meidroth all showed potential after making their debuts.
“I think we use last year as a good foundation,” Smith said.
Montgomery belted 21 homers in 71 games. Teel, who hit .273 in 78 games, showed the potential to hit for power and average and the ability to keep runners at bay with his arm.
“It didn’t quite satisfy us,” Montgomery said. “It just made us (feel) like, OK, we think this is what we can do. And now, we just want to be able to sustain it for a 162-game season.”
It's not just the young players the White Sox have returning. They also made a series of moves in the offseason, most notably signing Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami and trading center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to the New York Mets. They acquired infielder Luisangel Acuña and minor league pitcher Truman Pauley in that deal.
The White Sox used some of the financial flexibility they got in the Robert deal to sign veteran reliever Seranthony Domínguez. He figures to close for them.
“It's all going in the right direction,” right-hander Davis Martin said. “But at the end of the day, you're in the big leagues, you've still got to do your job. I think there’s been plenty of times where teams get hyped up and they fall short of expectations. And I think for us we’re not really worried about anything except just going out and playing the game and seeing where we end up after nine innings.”
The fact that things appear headed in the right direction, that there is a building buzz, is a big change from a year ago. Maybe fans will show up. The White Sox were near the bottom in attendance last season at 1,445,738. Only Miami, Tampa Bay and the Athletics were worse.
“From the fans that I've spoken to, they feel it's coming just as much as we do,” Smith said. “So I don't think the convincing takes much. But people want to see wins. There's only so many things you can say without wins. That's what we want to do, too.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb
FILE - Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Seranthony Dominguez (56) delivers during the ninth inning in the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets, July 10, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
FILE - Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable stands before a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sept. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
FILE - Chicago White Sox general manager Chris Getz talks with reporters before a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, April 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
Protesters across the U.S. are calling for “no work, no school, no shopping” as part of a nationwide strike on Friday to oppose the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The demonstrations are taking place amid widespread outrage over the killing Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse who was shot multiple times after he used his cellphone to record Border Patrol officers conducting an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. The death heightened scrutiny over the administration’s tactics after the Jan. 7 death of Renee Good, who was fatally shot behind the wheel of her vehicle by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
“The people of the Twin Cities have shown the way for the whole country — to stop ICE’s reign of terror, we need to SHUT IT DOWN,” said one of the many websites and social media pages promoting actions in communities around the United States.
Some schools in Arizona, Colorado and other states preemptively canceled classes in anticipation of mass absences. Many other demonstrations were planned for students and others to gather at city centers, statehouses and churches across the country.
Just outside Minneapolis, hundreds gathered in the frigid cold early Friday at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, the site of regular protests in recent weeks.
After speeches from clergy members, demonstrators marched toward the facility’s restricted area, jeering at a line of DHS agents to “quit your jobs” and “get out of Minnesota.” Much of the group later dispersed after they were threatened with arrest by local law enforcement for blocking the road.
Michelle Pasko, a retired communications worker, said she joined the demonstration after witnessing federal agents stopping immigrants at a bus stop near her home in Minnetonka, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.
“They’re roaming our streets, they’re staying in hotels near our schools,” she said. “Everyone in this country has rights, and the federal government seems to have forgotten that. We’re here to remind them.”
In Michigan, dozens of students walked out of Friday morning classes at Groves High School in Birmingham, north of Detroit. The students braved the zero-degree (minus 18 degrees Celsius) temperatures and walked about a mile (1.6 kilometers) to the closest business district where a number of morning commuters honked horns in support.
“We’re here to protest ICE and what they’re doing all over the country, especially in Minnesota,” said Logan Albritton, a 17-year-old senior at Groves. “It’s not right to treat our neighbors and our fellow Americans this way.”
Abigail Daugherty, 16, organized the walkout at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Georgia, on Friday.
“For years, I have felt powerless, and seeing other schools in the county being able to do this, I wanted to do something," the sophomore said.
Numerous businesses announced they would be closed during Friday’s “blackout." Others said they would be staying open, but donating a portion of their proceeds to organizations that support immigrants and provide legal aid to those facing deportation.
Otway Restaurant and its sister Otway Bakery in New York posted on social media that its bakery would stay open and 50% of proceeds would go to the New York Immigration Coalition. The restaurant remained open as well.
“As a small business who already took a huge financial hit this week due to the winter storm closures, we will remain open on Friday,” they posted.
In Maine, where Republican Sen. Susan Collins announced that ICE is ending its surge, people gathered outside a Portland church on Friday morning, holding signs that said “No ICE for ME,” a play on the state’s postal code.
Grace Valenzuela, an administrator with Portland Public Schools, decried an “enforcement system that treats our presence as suspect.” She said ICE’s actions brought “daily trauma” to the school system.
“Schools are meant to be places of learning, safety and belonging. ICE undermines that mission every time it destabilizes a family,” Valenzuela said.
Portland Mayor Mark Dion, a Democrat, spoke about the importance of speaking out in the wake of ICE’s actions in the city.
“Dissent is Democratic. Dissent is American. It’s the cornerstone of our democracy,” Dion said.
In Los Angeles, where Trump's immigration surge first began last June, thousands of protesters gathered in front of city hall in the afternoon and later marched to the federal detention center. As the demonstration stretched into the evening, federal agents began using chemical sprays to push the crowd back.
Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters joined the protest, chanting “ICE out of LA” in front of a line of officers in riot gear.
“What I see here at the detention center are people exercising their constitutional rights," Waters said. “And of course, they're now trying to tear gas everybody. It's in the air, but people are not moving.”
On Thursday, a student in Nebraska was hit by an SUV flying a Trump flag at a student-led protest against the immigration crackdown.
A few students entered the street outside Fremont High School around 2 p.m. and one was hit by a vehicle that had stopped in front of the crowd, then began moving, Fremont Public Schools said in a statement.
Officials said the student was taken to a hospital but they didn’t release details on the extent of the student’s injuries.
Video from the scene shot by News Channel Nebraska shows a red SUV displaying a blue Trump 2024 flag accelerating as a student carrying a sign walks in the direction of the vehicle. The student is knocked onto the hood and falls onto the ground. The vehicle stops briefly and then takes off.
Associated Press reporters Emilie Megnien in Atlanta, Mae Anderson in New York, Jake Offenhartz in Minneapolis, Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine, Corey Williams in Detroit, Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles, and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed to this report.
People protest against U.S. Immigrations and Customs enforcement in Portland, Maine, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Attendees hold signs at a news conference held by public officials and faith leaders calling for the abolishment of the U.S. Immigrant and Customs Enforcement, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A sign at a cannabis shop indicates it is closed for the general strike to support the state's immigrant community Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
People gather for a protest against ICE outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A protester rallies against the presence of U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement in Maine, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
People gather for a protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People gather for a protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People gather for a protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
