Cleveland dropped the first two games of this series at home and scored three runs total doing it. Then the Guardians went to Chicago and scored 18 in two games. The ALDS is tied 2-2 and Game 5 is Saturday at 8 p.m. ET at Progressive Field.
Thursday’s 9-5 win was the kind of game that flips a series. Chicago led 2-0 and had the whole thing in front of it.
Patrick Bailey Was the Last Guy Anyone Expected
Cleveland pinch-hit Bailey for Austin Hedges and he homered off Erick Fedde on a 3-1 pitch to right field. It was Cleveland’s first postseason home run since 2024.
Look at the season he had. Bailey hit .206 with a .607 OPS and 10 home runs in 112 games. He came over from San Francisco on May 9 and he is in the lineup for his glove, with Gold Gloves in 2024 and 2025 to back that up.
Then he singled in the go-ahead run later in the game. Jose Ramirez added a two-run homer, Travis Bazzana doubled in a run, and Cleveland put up five in the sixth to turn it into a rout.
That is how short series work. The guy hitting .206 decides October and nobody can explain it afterward.
Sean Burke Is the Right Call for Chicago
Will Venable confirmed Friday that Sean Burke starts Game 5. The logic is easy: Burke went 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA in three regular-season appearances against Cleveland.
Cleveland had not announced a starter as of Friday. Gavin Williams is the obvious candidate, but he threw 18 pitches in relief in Game 4, which complicates it. A bullpen-heavy Game 5 is very much on the table.
The White Sox had their chance to end this at home and did not take it. They have not clinched a postseason series at home since 1906, and they just added two more games to that drought.
History Says Cleveland Should Not Be Here
Only three teams have ever won a best-of-five Division Series after losing the first two at home. Cleveland is trying to be the fourth, and the Guardians have put themselves one win away from it.
Miguel Vargas has reached base 12 times in this series, which is the sort of quiet production that wins short series without making highlight shows.
Colson Montgomery kept the White Sox view simple: “All we can control is how we show up on Saturday.”
He is right, and that is also the problem. Chicago showed up twice and won. Then it showed up twice and lost by a combined 18-8. Whoever survives Saturday plays Tampa Bay, and neither of these teams looks ready for the Rays.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.