White Sox Look to Close Out Guardians as Series Heads Back to Cleveland Bullpen Questions

The Chicago White Sox have a chance to close out their American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians today, holding a series lead after Cleveland forced a third game with a 9-run outburst that spoiled the White Sox’s playoff home debut.

The series has swung back and forth. The Guardians were shut out in Game 1, gave up a lead in Game 2 despite scoring three runs, then exploded for nine runs in Game 3. Over the full regular season, Cleveland actually posted a slightly higher batting average and more hits than Chicago, but the White Sox outscored the Guardians by 98 runs and hit nearly 50 more home runs, largely on the strength of power.

To try to even the series, Cleveland is turning to left-hander Parker Messick, who went 12-9 with a 2.56 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP during the regular season. Messick started Game 1 of this series and took the loss, working 4.1 innings while allowing two earned runs on four hits, two walks and six strikeouts. In two regular-season road starts against the White Sox this year, he allowed four earned runs over 14.2 innings.

Chicago is countering with rookie left-hander Hagen Smith, who has already appeared twice in this series. He allowed a run over two-thirds of an inning in Game 3, the first run he’s given up all postseason. The White Sox will be counting on Smith and their bullpen to keep Cleveland off the scoreboard in what is expected to be an all-hands-on-deck effort from the pitching staff.

For the White Sox, there is little pressure attached to today’s outcome. A postseason appearance alone has already been viewed as a success for a young, rebuilding roster. If Chicago does fail to close out the series, observers are likely to point not to inexperience but to the team’s thin starting pitching as the deciding factor.

If the Guardians win today, the series would head to a decisive Game 5 on Saturday. The winner of the White Sox-Guardians series will face the Tampa Bay Rays, who swept the New York Yankees to advance. In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers will meet again in the NLCS after the Dodgers eliminated the San Diego Padres and the Brewers outlasted the Padres in a tightly contested four-game series.