The Chicago White Sox had the Cleveland Guardians on the ropes with a 2-0 series lead. Then came the collapse.
On Friday night, the White Sox were shut out in a winner-take-all Game 5, falling 2-0 and ending an ALDS they had twice had a chance to close out at Rate Field. It was a crushing finish to a series that had already started to turn badly after the White Sox struck out 31 times over two home games and then walked right into another ugly night at the plate.
Facing Gavin Williams and his 248 regular-season strikeouts, Chicago needed a cleaner approach. Instead, the offense looked overmatched from the start. Williams struck out 12 in 5.2 innings, allowing one hit and two walks, and the White Sox never really found an answer.
Their best chance came in the top of the sixth, when Williams was out of the game and the bases were loaded with two outs. Munetaka Murakami went down on strikes, and that was it for Chicago’s only opportunity with runners in scoring position.
The strikeout total only got more staggering from there. The White Sox fanned 21 times, setting an all-time MLB record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game, playoffs or regular season, per ESPN Insights.
The series flipped for good in a fourth inning that began with Sean Burke looking in command. Through three innings, he had yet to allow a baserunner and his pitch count stayed low.
Then Steven Kwan opened the fourth with a hit, and José Ramírez followed by launching a 2-2 pitch that sat just 0.89 feet above the ground for a 348-foot home run. Per ESPN, it was the lowest pitch anyone has ever hit for a postseason homer in the pitch-tracking era, which began in 2008.
Burke settled down after that, but White Sox manager Will Venable made another move that changed the feel of the game. After five innings and 71 pitches, Burke was removed for Sean Newcomb. Newcomb delivered two scoreless innings, but the decision to pull Burke after the way he was pitching against Ramírez felt, at the very least, like a concession.
Cleveland’s comeback put it in rare company, too. The Guardians became just the fourth team ever to win a best-of-five series after dropping the first two games at home.
For Chicago, the end stings because of how far this team had already come. After three straight 100-loss seasons, the White Sox fought their way to an elimination game in the ALDS, something nobody saw coming. That doesn’t erase how disappointing the finish was, but it does define the bigger picture of the season.
If this series made one thing plain, it’s that the White Sox need starting pitching most of all this offseason. Even so, the larger story remains what the organization managed in a rebuild year: a team that put itself back on the map.
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The next question now is how long that relationship lasts after his current contract runs out in 2027. ESPNs Jesse Rogers believes the White Sox and Murakami have a real interest in working toward a multi-year extension, which makes sense given how well the first chapter has gone, but there is no indication anything is close yet. For a team that just found a major middle-of-the-order force, the longer-term planning may be just as important as the breakout season itself. [Read more 🡒]