As the White Sox took a 1-0 lead in the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians, with a thrilling 3-0 victory on Saturday, October 3, the winds of change continue to stir for South Side baseball fans.
Before their showdown with Cleveland, the team’s 2-0 series sweep in Houston against the AL West champion Astros had its moments of tension. Ultimately, though, the victories felt resounding. The Pale Hose raced out to early leads in both games, leading the Astros all 18 innings of the series. It was an emphatic start to their first playoff appearance in five years; their last game in the postseason was a decisive 3-1 loss in 2021 to the Astros.
To say 2026 feels different is an understatement. The 2021 White Sox, then infamously managed by Tony LaRussa, struggled with the burden of expectations following a season where they won 93 games and finished first in the AL Central.
By contrast, the 2026 White Sox were coming off three consecutive 100-loss seasons, so expectations couldn’t have been lower. They responded by delivering one of the most memorable and improbable playoff runs in recent memory. Powered by All-Stars Miguel Vargas at third base and Munetaka Murakami at first, this year’s team has racked up 84 wins. Now, within a Wild Card Series playoff win against the Houston Astros in the books, the annals of history have recorded this as one of the teams most successful years in a very long while.
Nailbiters defined the regular-season matchups between the Sox and the Cleveland Guardians, and game one of the American League Division Series was no different. Energy was very high entering the Saturday matinee at Progressive Field in Cleveland. White Sox fans and players thirsted for an opportunity to open with a victory, as the Guardians (85-77 on the year) snatched the division from the Sox (84-78) in their September run.
After a quiet start, the game’s first critical moment came in the bottom of the third inning. White Sox starter Hagen Smith had been nearly unhittable through the first two, but faltered in the third, walking the bases loaded with two outs. Sox pitching has struggled in similar situations in recent months, contributing to their slide to second place after nearly two months at the top of the AL Central. But reliever Bryan Hudson was clutch when it counted, inducing a fly out to end the threat.
Despite inconsistent performances at the end of the season, in the playoffs the Sox have relied on their offense—as they did through 2026—to create momentum. In the fourth inning, they took a 2-0 lead on a blast from Murakami that may still not have landed. His moonshot reset the game, and sealed the first playoff victory for the Sox since 2021.
Cleveland, favored by oddsmakers and analysts, was not going to go down without a fight. The Guardians loaded the bases for two consecutive innings, but each time they came away empty-handed. Lefty Anthony Kay, a starter in the regular season, stifled their offense in relief, and is adapting well to a bullpen role in the postseason.
Murakami’s home run was the only damage ceded by Cleveland starter Parker Messick, but he was pulled from the game before the end of the fifth. The Sox threatened to score in the top half of the sixth, but an incredible defensive play by left fielder Angel Martínez robbed Tommy Pham of a three-run homer and kept the game at 2-0.
While nursing this narrow lead against a team that’s broken their hearts over and over again this season, the Sox turned to closer Grant Taylor in the sixth inning. Taylor retired the side with relative ease, but star lefty reliever Hagen Smith had already thrown two-plus innings to start the game. Taylor’s early entry meant the Sox would be without their two best relievers entering the late innings. So nervousness about who would close out the game continued to build. Fans had seen the Sox bullpen falter and struggle to hold leads multiple times down the stretch.
But the Sox had more luck in the seventh inning, when catcher Kyle Teel drew a two-out walk and hustled to score from first base on a weakly hit ball by shortstop Colson Montgomery that Cleveland fielders simply couldn’t track down. Taylor then killed any hope of a Cleveland response in the bottom of the seventh, working around a leadoff walk with a critical strikeout of infielder Brayan Rocchio; Rocchio had two game-winning hits against the Sox in the regular season.
Nevertheless, some nerves were fraying as the number of outs remaining ticked down. Grant Taylor had already received acclaim for his game one performance in the series against Houston, when he threw a season-high 51 pitches over three shutout innings and closed out a crucial win. For an ordinary pitcher, it would be difficult to top such a feat.
But the 25-year-old was simply incredible over four innings of work—a nearly unheard effort by a relief pitcher in a playoff game. Taylor allowed two hits and struck out six hitters, utterly dominating and shutting down the Guardians offense. Throwing a fastball that averaged 98 mph with a curveball that simply couldn’t be touched, Taylor may have come as close to single-handedly winning a game as any relief pitcher has in White Sox history. After the game, Kyle Teel said, “It was some of the best pitching I’ve ever seen. He was hitting his spots left and right and just attacking hitters.”
With the game one win against their division rivals, the White Sox may be able to exercise home field advantage in this series. Game two is scheduled for 3pm CT in Cleveland on Monday, with Sox ace Sean Burke set to take the hill opposite big right-hander Gavin Williams. Win or lose, game three will be played at Rate Field on Wednesday, a “blackout” game (when fans are encouraged to wear all black clothing, a tradition dating back to 2008) that promises to be one of the most intense baseball games in recent memory.
Malachi Hayes is a Bridgeport-based writer and South Side native.