CHICAGO — Opening day presents a fresh start.

For the Chicago White Sox, the 2025 opener represents a chance to turn the page following a modern-day major league record 121 losses in 2024.

“There’s certain times throughout the season that you get so caught up in the grind that you lose focus or sight on how special being a part of a major-league team is,” manager Will Venable said Wednesday at Rate Field. “But opening day is fresh, it’s new, it’s exciting and it’s the one time that you are really uninhibited in your focus on how special this opportunity is.

“It’s just a good time to reflect on how special being here is.”

The Sox open the season at 4:10 p.m. ET Thursday against the Los Angeles Angels at Rate Field. It’s also Venable’s first regular-season game as the team’s manager.

“Any time you’re part of an organization and here on a big-league staff or roster for opening day, it’s special,” Venable said. “What it means for me personally as a manager, we’ll find out (Thursday).”

When it comes to team expectations for 2025, general manager Chris Getz said it’s about “showing up each and every day and competing.”

“We’ve got high internal expectations that Will and the staff and myself are going to carry throughout the season,” Getz said. “This is a group (of players) that really like playing with each other. We’ve got some leaders within this group that are going to support some of our younger players or lesser experienced players.

“Throughout all of that, I think we are going to see a lot of positives come out. It’s not just focused on wins and losses. Obviously, that’s very important but we also understand where we are as an organization. So many of these guys are getting experience for the first time in the major leagues to really help us not only now but in the future as well.”

Venable has a similar mindset.

“We understand our situation, but internally, our focus is on the things we can control and the things we can do to win the game and execute plays,” Venable said. “That’s what we talk about, that’s where our focus is and it’s going to continue to be every day during the season.

“We talk about some things specifically (in terms of team identity) that are really important to us. Defensively, first-step stuff, on the bases, maximizing our leads. But then it’s really about going out and competing. Executing plays is important, but how we go about doing it matters, right? We’re not going to make every play, that’s all right, we’ll continue to work. But we need to go out and play hard and compete. And if that’s the one thing you watch from us, then I’ll feel good about it.”

The Sox will begin the season with infielder Josh Rojas (hairline fracture in his right big toe) and outfielder Mike Tauchman (right hamstring strain) on the injured list.

“It’s one of those types of injuries where we probably could have activated them on opening day, but there was no sense in pushing it,” Getz said. “We want those injuries to be behind them so when they come up they can have confidence and have enough body of work and at-bats. All the boxes that need to be checked before playing a major-league game.”

Infielders Brooks Baldwin and Nick Maton and outfielder Travis Jankowski are on the roster to provide depth.

“All three of those players offer a fair amount of versatility and I feel like it could certainly help us win ballgames based on their skill set,” Getz said.

Jacob Amaya and Baldwin will be available to handle the shortstop duties.

On the pitching side, the bullpen includes lefties Brandon Eisert, Fraser Ellard and Cam Booser. Lefty Tyler Gilbert begins the season on the injured list (left knee).

The right-handed relievers are Bryse Wilson, Jordan Leasure, Penn Murfee, Mike Vasil and Mike Clevinger. Rule 5 draft pick Shane Smith will be part of the rotation, joining Sean Burke, Jonathan Cannon, Martín Pérez and Davis Martin.

The Sox made several moves on the eve of the opener, including claiming infielder/outfielder Greg Jones off waivers from the Colorado Rockies and optioning him to Triple-A Charlotte.

They also optioned reliever Justin Anderson to Charlotte, reassigned infielders Bobby Dalbec, Tristan Gray and Chase Meidroth and pitchers James Karinchak and Steven Wilson to minor-league camp and designated outfielder Oscar Colás for assignment.

The roster is in place. And now it’s time to see how the year unfolds.

“We are all competitive — I’m certainly competitive, Will is competitive, all these players are,” Getz said. “Our fans, we have tremendous fans here in Chicago. They want to see a winner. We had so many fans that were in spring training in Arizona that I was able to interact with, and our players as well. We feel the support.

“We also understand the frustration, certainly they want to come to a game and expect us to win each and every night. That’s not going to be the case. But our intent to win each and every night could be shown with the effort, the attention to detail and this roster will certainly shape in a fashion where we feel very confident for the future.”

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