The AL Central race is down to the wire, and the bad blood between the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians is doing plenty of talking along the way.
Cleveland enters the final two games of the regular season with a one-game edge in the division, but Chicago still owns the head-to-head tiebreaker after taking seven of the 13 meetings between the clubs. Those games have been tight all year, with the White Sox outscoring the Guardians by just one run overall, 58-57, and 11 of the 13 matchups decided by three runs or fewer.
Both teams reached October on Thursday, and they did it in very different ways. The White Sox rolled past the Kansas City Royals 9-1 at Kauffman Stadium, while the Guardians edged the Boston Red Sox 1-0 at Fenway Park.
In Cleveland’s celebration, outfielder Angel Martínez made the rivalry noise impossible to miss. He was caught on camera shouting, “fuck the Sox.”
The next day, Chicago kept rolling with another 9-1 win, this one at home against the Colorado Rockies, fueled by a two-homer performance from Munetaka Murakami. Meanwhile, the Guardians were locked in a much tighter fight in Kansas City, trying to protect that slim lead in the AL Central.
That game flipped in the top of the ninth, when Cleveland turned a 7-7 tie into a crooked inning almost entirely through walks. Nathaniel Lowe opened with a walk, then Patrick Bailey and Bryan Rocchio followed with back-to-back free passes to load the bases.
With the Royals one out from escaping, José Ramírez drew the fourth walk of the inning to force in Bailey and put Cleveland ahead 8-7. Chase DeLauter walked next to bring home another run, Petey Halpin also walked, and then Martínez delivered the only hit of the inning - a two-run double that made it 10-7.
The Guardians scored five times in the inning on just one hit, while drawing six walks.
Afterward, Cleveland’s social media team leaned into the moment, posting the sequence with the caption: “White Sox fans are gonna hate this lol.”
Chicago has plenty riding on the final weekend, too. Winning the division would send the White Sox straight through the Wild Card Series and give them home-field advantage in the ALDS. Missing out would mean taking the longer route through the Wild Card round first.
So if Cleveland’s late rally added a little more fuel to the fire, that only sharpens what was already shaping up as a tense finish. And if these teams see each other again in October, nobody will need a reminder of the receipts.
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