CLEVELAND — The Chicago White Sox made history by reaching the postseason. They made some more on their way out, just not the kind they'd hoped for.
The White Sox were overpowered in record-setting fashion Saturday night, falling 2-0 to the Cleveland Guardians in the winner-take-all Game 5 of their American League Division Series at Progressive Field. Chicago struck out 21 times against four Guardians pitchers, setting the MLB record for most strikeouts in a nine-inning game — including the regular season.
Munetaka Murakami and Andrew Benintendi each struck out in all four plate appearances. Chase Meidroth and Kyle Teel punched out three times apiece. The White Sox put just nine balls in play on the night and were shut out on three hits by Gavin Williams, Eric Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith.
Clock strikes midnight on Cinderella White Sox
It made for an ugly ending to a Cinderella story. The glass slipper did not fit the White Sox, who became the first team ever to reach the postseason after back-to-back 100-loss seasons. Instead, Chicago got kicked out of the playoffs with a size 21-K boot as many of their at-bats weren’t competitive.
“It was less about chase and more about being attacked in the zone and swing and miss in the zone,” Venable said. “Just didn’t have what it would have taken to move some balls forward there.”
The White Sox seemingly left Cleveland in a carriage rather than a charter flight on Monday after winning the first two games of the series. Chicago, though, lost Games 3 and 4 at home, then turned into a pumpkin on Saturday night as a team with eight rookies looked overwhelmed by the moment.
However, it wouldn't be fair to judge the White Sox’ season on their last game alone. They went 84-78 in the regular season, finishing one game behind the division-champion Guardians in the AL Central but earning the league’s third and final Wild Card spot. Chicago then swept the Astros in two games in an AL Wild Card series last week in Houston.
White Sox hope unprecedented turnaround is the start of a new era
To put the White Sox’ season into perspective, they went 61-101 in 2023, 41-121 in 2024 and 60-102 last year, Venable’s first season in the job. The 2024 team lost more games than anyone since 1900.
As one White Sox person told FanSided, “We honestly didn’t expect to be here until next year or 2028. So, we were playing with house money, and we had a lot of fun with it while it lasted.”
Venable still felt the sting of Saturday’s loss and his team’s inability to finish off the Guardians despite three opportunities when he addressed the media after the game. Yet he was able to express how far Chicago came this season in a very upbeat manner.
“We are sitting in disappointment, obviously, and it hurts not to be able to advance here,” Venable said. “That's what we came to do. So, we're not just happy that we got here. We understand what it took to get here, and we have more clarity on what it will take next time to go even further. At the same time, you know, you do zoom out and look at what this group accomplished and what they did to bring (winning) baseball back to White Sox and the pride back to the organization and then really the city.
“It's just amazing what these guys did. So, I am very proud of our group. The way that they did it, too, in coming to the ballpark every day excited. I told those guys after the game, this was easily the most fun that I've had in all my years in Major League Baseball, and it's because of the personalities in that room, the character of the group, and they went out there every day, fought, and did things the right way.”
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