The American League Division Series between the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox has the look of a coin flip.
These AL Central rivals spent the regular season nearly inseparable. Chicago went 7-6 against Cleveland, and the margin across those games was just one run. That’s the kind of separation that tells you this matchup could tilt either way on a single swing, a clean inning, or one bad hop.
Cleveland enters as the division winner and with a little extra time off, but that break may not be much of an advantage. The White Sox arrive with momentum after sweeping their Wild Card series in Houston, a run that gave them their first postseason series victory since their 2005 championship season.
The Guardians, though, were hardly idle in the wrong way. They closed the season with their best stretch of baseball, going 24-11 from Aug. 20 on. And while the pause between rounds can be tricky, Cleveland has plenty of playoff experience to lean on, with this marking its fourth postseason appearance in five years.
The best-of-five series opens Saturday, Oct. 3, with Game 1 in Cleveland at 1 p.m. ET.
Game 2 follows Monday, Oct. 5, at 5 p.m. ET.
The series then shifts to Chicago for Game 3 on Wednesday, Oct. 7, with first pitch still to be determined. If needed, Game 4 is set for Thursday, Oct. 8, and Game 5 would return to Cleveland on Saturday, Oct.
- All games will air on TBS and DIRECTV.
Guardians vs. White Sox schedule
Date Game Time (ET) Watch
Sat., Oct. 3 Game 1: Guardians vs.
White Sox 1 p.m. TBS, DIRECTV
Mon., Oct. 5 Game 2: Guardians vs.
White Sox 5 p.m. TBS, DIRECTV
Wed., Oct. 7 Game 3: White Sox vs. Guardians TBD TBS, DIRECTV
Thu., Oct. 8 Game 4*: White Sox vs. Guardians TBD TBS, DIRECTV
Sat., Oct. 10 Game 5*: Guardians vs. White Sox TBD TBS, DIRECTV
- If necessary
MLB postseason schedule 2026
Date Event
Tue., Sept. 29 Wild Card series begin
Sat., Oct. 3 Division Series begin
Sun., Oct. 11 NLCS begins
Mon., Oct. 12 ALCS begins
Fri., Oct. 23 World Series begins
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