Guardians vs. White Sox Game 5: a winner-take-all ALDS in Cleveland
After Cleveland erased an 0-2 deficit, the White Sox and Guardians settle the series at Progressive Field with a trip to Tampa Bay on the line.
One game decides the American League Division Series. The Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians meet in a winner-take-all Game 5 at Progressive Field on Saturday night, first pitch 8 p.m. ET, with the Tampa Bay Rays waiting in the ALCS, which opens Monday at Tropicana Field, according to MLB.com.
How it got here
Chicago, the No. 6 seed, won Games 1 and 2 in Cleveland, and Game 1 was a shutout loss for the Guardians. Cleveland answered in Chicago, winning Games 3 and 4 and scoring 18 runs across the two. In Game 4, on Friday, the Guardians won 9-5, according to Yahoo Sports. Patrick Bailey and José Ramírez hit their first homers of the postseason, Travis Bazzana's sixth-inning RBI double tied the game at 4-4, and Chicago reliever Grant Taylor faced six batters without recording an out. The White Sox staff walked seven.
That result also denied Chicago a rare chance. Yahoo notes the White Sox have not clinched a postseason series at home since the 1906 World Series. If Cleveland finishes the job, it would be the first team since the 2017 New York Yankees to come back from 0-2 in a division series.
The pitching matchup
Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt has named right-hander Gavin Williams, who led the American League with 248 strikeouts in the regular season, MLB.com reports. Williams made his first relief appearance at any professional level to close out Game 4, then was confirmed as the Game 5 starter. "It's a Game 5, win or go home," Vogt said, and also: "The game will tell us when it's time to move on, or maybe he takes it the whole way." Cleveland used seven pitchers besides Williams in a bullpen game in Game 4, with Parker Messick going 2 1/3 innings.
Chicago will start right-hander Sean Burke, confirmed by manager Will Venable. Burke is 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA in three regular-season appearances against Cleveland, two of them starts, and in Game 2 he pitched 5 1/3 innings of relief, allowing one run and one hit.
Who is swinging
Ramírez is 4-for-9 in the series with a double, a triple, a homer and five RBIs after an 0-for-6 start, per MLB.com. Miguel Vargas has reached base 12 times in the series and homered again in Game 4. Angel Martínez is 0-for-15 in the series and is not in Cleveland's lineup. Chicago's lineup leans left-handed against Williams, with Sam Antonacci leading off and Munetaka Murakami at first base. Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges was sore after being hit on the knee by a foul tip, but Vogt expects him to be ready.
Why it matters
The teams were close all year: they played 13 times in the regular season, seven games were decided by one run, four ended in walk-offs, and the AL Central title came down to a single game. This is the only division series in the league to go the distance, and the winner moves on to face the No. 1-seeded Rays.