The 2026 White Sox season remains a wild ride, to the very end of the American League Division Series (ALDS). After a pair of deflating losses in front of sold-out Rate Field crowds on Wednesday and Thursday nights in Chicago, the Pale Hose will play a winner-take-all game five in the ALDS against the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday evening.
The Sox flew home from Cleveland earlier this week, with fanfare, after racing out to a 2-0 series lead against the Guardians with dramatic wins on Saturday, October 3, and Monday, October 5. Slugger Munetaka Murakami’s moonshot was the only scoring in game one, and the Sox bullpen put together eight 2/3 scoreless innings to seal a 4-3 comeback win in game two. After starting the series as solid underdogs, the scales had reset in Chicago’s favor by Wednesday night’s game.
The White Sox haven’t clinched a playoff series in front of a home crowd since 1906. Unfortunately, with the week’s lackluster performances—a 9-3 loss on Wednesday, October 7, and 9-5 defeat on Thursday, October 8—that streak will continue for at least another few weeks, at best.
But collective interest and support for the team has been visible all over the city in the last week. Typically solid Cubs territory, the Loop swam in Sox regalia on Wednesday afternoon. Jewelers Row, the Magnificent Mile, and Grant Park brimmed with people wearing hats, jackets, and jerseys of varying colors bearing Sox logos. This volume of swag has not been spotted outside of South Side neighborhoods since the team’s 2005 championship run. White Sox fans are making the most of this moment.
When a Red Line car is crammed with a hoard of baseball fans, they’re usually heading north to Wrigley Field. This time, it was the trains moving through the State Street subway corridor, and bound for 95th street..
“[The train was] packed to the gills. People didn’t know it was going to be like this,” a fan named Mark said before the game. “I’m feeling like people didn’t believe we were going to do this well … [and] it’s making people come out of their shells.”
At Turtle’s Bar and Grill and Cork & Kerry, two fan favorites near Princeton Avenue and 33rd Street, crowds congregated in such droves that overflows from each bar seemed to meet in the middle, almost forming a single, block-long throng of black-clad Sox fans across the street from Armour Square Park.
Scattered groups of fans also sat, stood, drank, and talked in groups throughout the park. Standing near the south end with family and friends, Sox fan Jack Allen also noticed changing attitudes toward the team. “There’s a different energy … It’s everywhere in the city,” Allen said. “It’s not just the ballpark. Whole lot of Sox hats being worn around everywhere you go.”
Further inside Lot B, where large groups of tailgaters merged into one another, the energy was a head-spinning combination of lightheartedness and barely corralled intensity. Toward the periphery, a man who identified himself as Ronny Doitche stood at a folding table bearing a sign offering passerby $100 to their $20 stake if they could down a beer faster than him. It seemed he had a lucrative afternoon.
Gathered around the trunk of a nearby SUV, the Morris family have been season ticket holders since the 1991 opening of the “new park,” as many fans who remember the original Comiskey Park still call it. Matt Morris, who was “younger” when they won their 2005 title, declared this season “the greatest year I’ve ever seen.” George Morris, whose memory stretches a bit farther, said “in the past people would just come here and have a hot dog, relax, have a beer or two. Now people are watching the game. There’s a certain vibe you haven’t felt before.”
Excited fans shared the same sentiment we’ve been hearing from Sox nation all summer long: fans love an underdog. Not only are the 2026 Sox the ultimate underdogs, they’re down to earth.. When asked about favorite players, Sox fan Matt Morris cited second baseman Chase Meidroth and left fielder Sam Antonacci, standing at 5’9” and 5’11” respectively, as his favorite players because “they’re both little dudes.” “They feel like they’re just regular people,” Morris said. “Nobody taught them how to talk to the media. If I go and listen to an interview, I could see my friends bull—-ing the same way they are.”
Wednesday’s game three started on a promising note, with catcher Kyle Teel hitting an RBI double to right field in the first inning. The roars from the crowd were audible from 33rd street, and the Sox seemed well on their way to their first ALCS appearance in over 20 years. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got; it was a dud of a homecoming. For the first time this postseason, Sox pitching faltered in a critical spot, with a bloop double from longtime Sox killer José Ramírez scoring three runs and giving Cleveland a 4-1 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Despite the deflating result on Wednesday afternoon, the feeling around Rate Field was positive and upbeat entering game four on Thursday night. Any lingering disappointment in the air had dissipated, and once again, it looked as if the Sox were ready to punch their ticket to the next round early on.
After a wobbly Hagen Smith was pulled in the first inning, reliever Erick Fedde threw three 2/3 fantastic innings before faltering in the fifth, when he allowed a leadoff home run to Patrick Bailey. Reliever Jordan Hicks promptly allowed a two-run homer of his own to longtime Sox-killer José Ramírez, giving the Guardians a 3-2 lead.
The Sox quickly responded in the bottom of the fifth. The deafening roar in Rate Field may have peaked when left fielder Sam Antonacci was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the game. (Antonacci was also hit by a pitch to force in a run in game three; this is first time this has happened to a player multiple times in the playoffs.) A batter later, Brenton Doyle’s sacrifice fly put the Sox back in front, 4-3.
But that was as good as it got. A disastrous series of Cleveland hits and walks in the top of the sixth led to a stunning meltdown for Sox pitching. They were ultimately tagged for six runs, including four allowed by star closer Grant Taylor, who failed to record an out after three spotless appearances earlier in the postseason. Adding to the heartbreak was how easily many of those plays could have gone the other way. For example, two key hits in that disastrous inning—a double from Guardians second baseman and 2024 first pick Travis Bazzana and a single from longtime Sox-killer José Ramírez—came within inches of a Sox player’s glove.
A home run by third baseman Miguel Vargas sparked fan hopes in the ninth inning, but the team ultimately fell short. White Sox fans once again went home empty-handed, sending both teams back to Cleveland’s Progressive Field for a decisive game five on Saturday night.
It’s a shame that neither of this week’s potentially historic games ended with a celebration. If not for a win, then for the palpable longing from the 80,000 fans who showed up over the course of two days. Every full count, every two-strike battle, and seemingly every other out elicited a roar typically reserved for the late innings of a close game. At multiple points, the ground underneath the seats literally shook with raucous cheering. When the Sox were ahead on Wednesday and Thursday nights, a buzzing excitement filled the air that hasn’t been felt at 35th and Shields in decades. Though the team couldn’t quite pull through, Sox fans can certainly be proud of their show of support for the team.
Game five is scheduled for 7pm CT on Saturday evening. Sean Burke is expected to take the hill for the Sox after a stellar game two performance, while the Guardians are expected to turn to right-hander Gavin Williams. The winner will travel to St. Petersburg, Florida for an American League Championship Series showdown with the AL-best Tampa Bay Rays.
Malachi Hayes is a Bridgeport-based writer and South Side native.