The New York Yankees are suddenly the hottest team in the American League, and the Chicago White Sox have become the latest team to feel their wrath.

New York may struggle against AL playoff teams, but they’ve been demolishing all the sub-.500 teams in their path. The offense has been explosive against the putrid White Sox and Washington Nationals, but starting pitcher Carlos Rodón has been a key to the success as well.

Rodón shut down his former team on Friday night, tossing six strong innings and allowing just one earned run. The Yankees have won all of Rodón’s last five starts, and the All-Star is 4-0 himself with a 3.15 ERA in August.

Meanwhile, the White Sox are in no-man’s land, on their way to a second straight last-place finish. Rodón was last there in 2021, when they won a division title and finished with a better record than the Yankees.

So while the team might be unrecognizable, Rodón couldn’t help but think back on all the positive experiences he had on the South Side of Chicago after the win on Friday.

“It was the beginning,” Rodón said, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “I was 22 years old when I made my debut for the White Sox, pitching some big games, pitching some playoff games. I think the best thing about it was the staff over there and my teammates. The team we had, we were all really close.”

There were some rocky seasons and injury setbacks for Rodón in Chicago, and it wasn’t until his age-28 season that the former first-round pick really established himself as a stud. He made his first All-Star team that year; he’s now up to three in his career.

One of the Yankees’ biggest advantages is the ability to take the best from other organizations, and although there was a one-year side quest with the San Francisco Giants, Rodón eventually traded an organization headed in the wrong direction in Chicago for one that always has its eyes on a title.

And while the White Sox won’t be there for the Yankees to beat up on in October, every win at this point is a building block to a better playoff seed.