All Square: The Guardians Storm Back to Force Game 5 Against the White Sox
Chicago was one win from the ALCS. Two Cleveland blowouts later, everything comes down to Saturday night.
On Monday night, the White Sox left Cleveland up 2–0 and one win away from their FIRST ALCS since 2005. Three days and two games later, the series is tied 2–2. The Guardians won Game 3 by six runs and Game 4 by four runs, both IN Chicago. Now the two AL Central rivals play a winner-take-all Game 5 at Progressive Field on Saturday. The winner heads to Tampa Bay to play the Rays in the ALCS.
So who's actually performed better? It really depends on which half of the series you've watched (if not all of it).
By the numbers
2–2
Series tied heading to Game 5
21–15
Total runs, Guardians vs. White Sox
19
White Sox strikeouts in Game 3
6
Guardians runs in the 6th inning of Game 4
Game by game
Game 1 · Sat., Oct. 3 · Progressive Field
White Sox 3, Guardians 0
Five White Sox pitchers combined on a three-hitter with 12 strikeouts. Munetaka Murakami crushed a 440-foot, two-run homer in the fourth, and Grant Taylor closed it out with a career-high six strikeouts. Cleveland loaded the bases with two outs in both the third and fourth innings and came away with nothing.
Game 2 · Mon., Oct. 5 · Progressive Field
White Sox 4, Guardians 3
Cleveland jumped out to a 2–0 lead in the first, helped by a wild throw from Sean Newcomb. Gavin Williams struck out 11 for the Guardians, but in the sixth a wild pitch put two runners in scoring position, and Braden Montgomery made Cleveland pay with a two-run double. Sean Burke was brilliant in relief, allowing one hit over 5⅓ innings.
Game 3 · Wed., Oct. 7 · Rate Field
Guardians 9, White Sox 3
With their season on the line, the Guardians finally broke through. Jo Adell's bases-loaded triple in the third flipped the game, and José Ramírez, hitless in the first two games, doubled, stole third, scored on a headfirst slide and later tripled in two more runs. Reliever Foster Griffin struck out seven, a Cleveland franchise record for a reliever in a postseason game.
Game 4 · Thu., Oct. 8 · Rate Field
Guardians 9, White Sox 5
Chicago led 2–0 before Patrick Bailey's pinch-hit homer and a two-run blast from Ramírez in the fifth. The White Sox answered to go back up 4–3, but in the sixth, Travis Bazzana's RBI double tied it and Cleveland piled on for a six-run inning. Grant Taylor, the Game 1 hero, faced six batters and didn't record an out.
Who's made the better plays?
White Sox
- Munetaka Murakami's 440-foot homer in Game 1 and his RBI single in Game 2
- Braden Montgomery's two-run double to swing Game 2
- Sean Burke's 5⅓ innings of one-hit relief in Game 2
- Grant Taylor's six-strikeout save in Game 1
Guardians
- José Ramírez doing everything in Games 3 and 4: a double, a stolen base, a triple and a two-run homer
- Jo Adell's bases-loaded triple in Game 3
- Foster Griffin's record seven strikeouts in relief in Game 3
- Patrick Bailey's pinch-hit homer off the bench in Game 4
At the beginning of the series, Chicago won with pitching and timely hits. Cleveland loaded the bases twice in Game 1 but didn't score, and managed only three runs in the first two games. Games 3 and 4 were a total change-up. The White Sox struck out 19 times in Game 3 alone and went 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position, and their bullpen gave up big innings in back-to-back games.
The mistakes have mattered, too. Newcomb's wild throw handed the Guardians a run in Game 2, and a Guardians wild pitch set up Montgomery's double. Then in Game 4, Chicago's walks came back to haunt them. As White Sox manager Will Venable said, "When you walk guys, they make you pay."
The economics of it
This series is a lesson in scarcity. The White Sox built their season around the strength of their bullpen, using a major league-high 11 bullpen games during the regular season. Yes, the strategy works, but relief arms are a limited resource. Every inning Grant Taylor threw in Games 1 AND 2 was an inning he couldn't get back, and by Game 4 you could see the toll it was taking on him.
Economists call this diminishing marginal returns: each extra unit of an input produces less than the one before. Taylor was well rested for Game 1 and struck out six batters. In Game 4, he didn't record a single out. So in Game 5, the team that manages its remaining pitching best will most likely move on.
What's at stake in Game 5
Game 5 is Saturday, October 10, at 8 p.m. ET at Progressive Field. Gavin Williams (who struck out 11 batters in Game 2) gets the ball for Cleveland, and Sean Burke (who threw 5⅓ innings of one-hit relief in Game 2) starts for Chicago.
For Chicago, there's history on the line, too. The White Sox haven't clinched a postseason series at home since the 1906 World Series.
My unfiltered take
Momentum is real in October, and right now it's wearing a Guardians jersey. But Cleveland's offense was nearly invisible for two games, and Chicago's pitching proved it can shut them down when it's fresh. I'm watching one thing on Saturday: how deep each team's starter goes. If the White Sox can keep their tired bullpen off the field until late, they have a real shot. If not, Cleveland's bats look ready to finish the comeback.
Landrey
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