Story summary
The Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox, two unlikely playoff teams with remarkable turnaround stories, faced off in a best-of-three AL Wild Card Series starting on Tuesday in Houston. The Astros clinched their division title despite ending the regular season at exactly .500 (81-81), marking them as baseball’s first such division winner. In contrast, the White Sox overcame losing 100 games each of the last three seasons to secure a playoff spot.
In Game 1 on Tuesday, the White Sox took an early lead with four runs in the first inning and won 6-3 despite the Astros employing a bullpen game strategy led by AJ Blumbaugh. The announced attendance was sparse at 34,011, leading to fan frustration among the players who heard boos throughout the game.
The White Sox continued their strong performance on Wednesday, sweeping the series with a 7-3 victory in Game 2. This marked Chicago's first playoff series win since 2005 and advanced them to face the AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians in the Division Series starting Saturday in Cleveland.
Despite Houston’s playoff woes at home—dropping their ninth straight home playoff game—they expressed disappointment over fan support, with players like Bennett Sousa feeling that they needed more encouragement from their audience. Manager Will Venable of the White Sox praised his team for maintaining belief and achieving a historic turnaround to clinch this victory.
Written for “White Sox Playoff Run” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 16 other(s) covering the same event.
Pope Leo XIV was looking over the Chicago White Sox pitching staff on Saturday afternoon.
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XIV → look → afternoon
The White Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-0 at Progressive Field to take Game 1 of the ALDS.
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Sox → beat → ALDS
White Sox manager Will Venable deployed a bullpen game to begin the series, and his pitching staff was fantastic.
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staff → deploy → series
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page → contain → partners
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News → sign → wager
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that → create → newsroom
Grant Taylor led the way with a Herculean effort, pitching the final four innings of the game in the longest outing of his career and earning a rare four-inning save.
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Taylor → lead → save
It was the first four-inning save in a postseason game since Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. accomplished the feat in 2017 against the New York Yankees in the ALCS.
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Jr. → accomplish → ALCS
In four innings, Taylor struck out six hitters and yielded just two hits.
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Taylor → strike → hits
It was a rare game where the pitcher who finished the game for the winning team pitched more innings than the starter.
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who → finish → starter
Hagen Smith was the opener for the White Sox, and he was cruising until he wasn’t.
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he → cruise → Sox
After retiring the first eight batters he faced, he walked three consecutive batters to load the bases.
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he → retire → bases
Venable had seen enough from Smith and turned the ball over to lefty Bryan Hudson to face left-handed hitter Chase DeLauter.
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Venable → see → DeLauter
Hudson escaped the jam by inducing a weak flyout from DeLauter to keep the game scoreless through three innings.
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Hudson → escape → innings
White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas led off the top of the fourth inning with a line-drive single to left field, and first baseman Munetaka Murakami followed with the first postseason home run of his career.
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Murakami → lead → career
The Japanese star turned on Parker Messick’s 93-mph fastball and crushed it 440 feet into the right-field seats, giving the White Sox a 2-0 lead.
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star → turn → lead
The Guardians threatened again in the fourth inning.
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Guardians → threaten → inning
Venable brought in Jordan Hicks to begin the inning, and Hicks retired the first two batters he faced before walking Nathaniel Lowe.
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he → bring → Lowe
Venable then went to the bullpen again, bringing in lefty Anthony Kay with a runner on first and two outs to face left-handed hitter Travis Bazzana.
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Venable → go → Bazzana
However, Kay immediately got into further trouble.
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Kay → get → trouble
Bazzana ripped a double down the line, and Kay then walked catcher Austin Hedges to load the bases.
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Kay → rip → bases
Despite raising the blood pressure of White Sox fans, Kay escaped the inning unscathed, preserving the 2-0 lead by getting shortstop Bryan Rocchio to fly out to right field to end the threat.
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Rocchio → raise → threat
The White Sox chased Messick in the top of the fifth inning after Colson Montgomery’s single.
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Sox → chase → single
Messick struck out six hitters while yielding two runs on four hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings of work.
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Messick → strike → work
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt turned to Daniel Espino with one out and a runner on first to try to keep the deficit at two, and it worked beautifully as second baseman Chase Meidroth grounded into a double play to end the top of the fifth inning.
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Meidroth → turn → inning
Kay stayed in for the bottom of the fifth inning and shut down the top of the Guardians’ order with a 1-2-3 inning.
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Kay → stay → inning
The White Sox threatened in the top of the sixth inning after Tristan Peters singled and Vargas walked.
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Vargas → threaten → inning
Vogt pulled Espino from the game and brought in Erik Sabrowski.
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Vogt → pull → Sabrowski
With runners on first and second and no outs, Sabrowski struck out Murakami for the first out of the inning and then induced an unconventional double play.
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Sabrowski → strike → play
Tommy Pham hit a deep fly ball to left field, and left fielder Ángel Martínez leaped at the wall to make a fantastic catch before the ball reached the outfield wall.
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ball → hit → wall
Martínez then fired the ball back to first base to double off Vargas, who was well off the bag anticipating an extra-base hit.
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who → fire → hit
The White Sox challenged the call, believing the ball hit the outfield wall before Martínez caught it, but the call stood.
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call → challenge → it
Venable then turned to his bullpen for what ended up being the final time, bringing in Taylor, who worked a scoreless bottom of the sixth inning.
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who → turn → inning
In the top of the seventh inning, the White Sox added a key insurance run.
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Sox → add → run
Shortstop Colson Montgomery was at the plate with catcher Kyle Teel, who had walked earlier in the inning, on first base with two outs.
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who → walk → outs
With left-handed pull hitter Montgomery at the plate, the Guardians’ defense was shaded toward the first-base side of the infield.
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defense → shade → infield
Montgomery then hit it where the defenders weren’t, hitting a weak ground ball at just 64 mph off the bat down the third-base line.
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defenders → hit → line
Teel, who isn’t fleet of foot, scored from first base on Montgomery’s cue shot.
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who → score → shot
It was a close play at the plate, but Hedges couldn’t corral Martínez’s throw from left field, giving the White Sox a 3-0 lead.
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Hedges → corral → lead
Venable left Taylor in for a second inning of work in the bottom of the seventh, and the right-hander once again pitched a scoreless frame, frustrating the raucous Guardians crowd.
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hander → leave → crowd
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
