Anthony Kay’s 2026 season gave the White Sox a little bit of everything, from a heavy workload to some eye-popping run prevention numbers, and even a strange little slice of postseason history.
The left-hander’s one-third inning in Game 2 of the Division Series in Cleveland wound up tied for the second-shortest start in Sox postseason history. Lefty Williams also lasted one out in the first inning of Game 1 of the 1919 World Series. The shortest postseason start in White Sox history still belongs to Reb Russell, who was pulled after allowing two hits and a walk in Game 5 of the 1917 World Series.
Kay also made a bit of uniform-number trivia when he started that ALDS game. Wearing No. 18, he became the pitcher with the lowest uniform number to start a Sox postseason game.
That mark held until No. 15 Sean Newcombe started Game 3.
For the season, Kay piled up career bests across the board. He finished with 10 wins, 33 appearances, a team-high 31 starts, 158 innings and 129 strikeouts in 2026.
He also made life miserable for hitters in a few very specific ways. Lefties hit just .183 against him, the second-lowest mark by a left-handed Sox pitcher, behind Gary Peters’ club-record .147 in 1964, with a minimum of 174 at-bats. In May, Kay went 4-0, joining Mark Buehrle in 2004 and 2005 as the only lefties in White Sox history to post a 1.000 winning percentage with at least four wins in that month.
With the bases loaded, Kay was almost untouchable. Batters hit only .053/.095/.053 against him in those spots. The average and slugging numbers match Sad Sam Jones’ 1933 totals for the lowest in Sox history, while the on-base percentage ranks fourth.
He was especially effective against Cleveland, too. Kay’s 1.35 ERA against the Guardians was the lowest by a Sox pitcher with at least 20 innings since Jose Quintana’s 0.82 in 2015.
At Progressive Field, opponents hit just .115 against him, the third-lowest mark by a Sox pitcher with a minimum of 26 at-bats, behind Mark Buehrle’s .074 in 2004 and John Danks’ .103 in 2009. His .115 opponent’s slugging percentage at Progressive Field was second only to Buehrle’s .148 in 2004.
And then there was the oddest headline of all: Kay set the Sox record with 26 hit batsmen, blowing past Chris Sale’s 17 from 2016. That total led the majors and stood as the second-highest in big league history, trailing only Chick Fraser’s 32 for the 1901 Philadelphia A’s.
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