KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The White Sox officially were eliminated from American League Central title contention Sunday, a foregone conclusion that almost no one noticed.

So it goes when you play at a 49-68 clip after a 23-10 start.

What’s left to play for now as the Sox lost to the Kansas City Royals 8-3 on Monday, dropping three of four at Kauffman Stadium to fall to 72-78?

Pride, possibly third place and individual achievements, starting with:

• Chris Sale (16-8, 3.03 ERA), who has 2, possibly 3 more starts with which to build his Cy Young portfolio.

Sale starts Wednesday at Philadelphia, the Phillies ranked last in the majors in hitting, and would face the 20th-ranked Tampa Bay Rays offense next Tuesday and the 12th-ranked Minnesota Twins in the season finale Oct. 2, if he takes his normal turns.

With an off-day Thursday, Sale will get five days’ rest between one of the starts.

Ventura suggested Sale — who needs 3 starts to surpass a career-high 31 and 4 innings a career-high 214? with an eye on 230 — will take the ball three more times as long as there are no fatigue issues.

Sale has been maxing out his workloads of late,

“We’ll see how they are,” Ventura said of Sale and Jose Quintana, his other all-star left-hander. “You’re looking at what’s best for them, and if they’re healthy enough to go and they want to go then they’re going to go.

“But if something comes up to where they’re not feeling right then they probably wouldn’t pitch.”

Quintana (12-11, 3.26) can only make 2 more starts. He needs 4 innings to reach 200 for the fourth straight season and 2 starts to reach 32 for the third straight year. He said Sunday he would like to record a complete game before the season is over.

• Todd Frazier, who already has reached career highs for homers (37) and RBI (94) is within range of 40 and 100. The 40-100 feat has been accomplished 10 times in club history, including five by Hall of Famer Frank Thomas (1993, ’95, ’96, ’00 and ’03), twice by Paul Konerko (2004-05) and once by Albert Belle (1998), Jim Thome (2006) and Jermaine Dye (2006).

•This is a longshot because of his home run total, but Jose Abreu (25 home runs, 95 RBI) has a chance to join Albert Pujols as the only player in history to finish with 30 and 100 in his first three seasons.

That seemed impossible through July, but Abreu — who launched a 438-foot bomb to center field against Royals starter Yordano Ventura on Monday — has 14 homers, 40 RBI over his last 45 games.

• Adam Eaton has a strong case for becoming the first White Sox outfielder to win a Gold Glove since Ken Berry in 1970.

• Right-hander Nate Jones (2.39 ERA) needs 3 holds to tie Barry Jones (30 in 1990) for the club record.

• Closer David Robertson (3.62 ERA) is 5 saves shy of a career-high 40. Robertson has 7 blown saves.

• This report was produced in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times. For related coverage, check chicago.suntimes.com.