CLEVELAND -- The White Sox clubhouse was what people would expect after their unexpected but highly entertaining 2026 season came to a close in the American League Division Series with a 2-0 loss to Cleveland during Game 5 on Saturday night at Progressive Field.
There were hugs. There were tears. There were smiles while thinking about the vast list of accomplishments, achieved individually and as a team. There was high hope for what could be on the horizon. White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf made the point of greeting the team as they came off the field into said clubhouse, thanking them for this special campaign.
Yet, there was disappointment for what might have been, after the Guardians won the series, 3-2, by coming back to win the final three games following two opening losses at home.
“It was fun, but we didn’t want to end it here,” said White Sox second baseman Chase Meidroth, pausing to find the right words through his emotions. “They played a hell of a game. They pitched their asses off. They deserve to go to the next round. It sucks, but we’ll be back.”
“My intention was to win this game and fly to Tampa and play another series,” said White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami through interpreter Kenzo Yagi. “It’s really disappointing we lost. We are still a very young team. We have to learn from our experience here and then bring that to next year. But it’s disappointing.”
Saturday’s setback marked a strange ending for the White Sox, who never lost more than four in a row all season and only hit that mark twice. They lost three in a row on nine different occasions prior to Saturday’s loss.
This team topped the American League with 776 runs scored and 589 walks and sat third in home runs (211) and OPS (.726) over the 162-game regular season. But the swing-and-miss factor is what sent them home from Cleveland.
Gavin Williams came back to start Game 5 for Cleveland after throwing 18 pitches in the ninth inning Thursday to close out Game 4 at Rate Field. He struck out 12 over 5 2/3 innings in Game 5 and did not allow a hit until Kyle Teel’s single to right field with two outs in the sixth.
The White Sox only real rally came in that sixth when a walk to Miguel Vargas loaded the bases with two outs. Erik Sabrowski replaced Williams, and he struck out Murakami on five pitches.
Murakami fanned four times, as did Andrew Benintendi, as Cleveland pitchers notched 21 strikeouts in total, which is the most all-time in a nine-inning regular season or postseason game. The 75 White Sox strikeouts in the five-game series set a new LDS record.
“I thought it was less about chase and more about being attacked in the zone and swing and miss in the zone,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Just didn't have what it would have took to move some balls forward there. And I think, obviously, the story is just being able to put the ball in play.”
“They are a good baseball team,” said White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery of Cleveland. “It’s tough to beat someone three times in a row, and they dug deep and they did what they did. I feel like everybody assumed this series would go to the fifth game. It’s a good baseball team. They scrapped it out."
White Sox right-hander Sean Burke was solid but slightly less effective as the dominant Williams, yielding two runs over five innings. Those two came on a José Ramírez home run in the fourth on a pitch he basically took off the ground.
So, instead of moving on to the ALCS for the first time since ‘05, it was time to briefly reflect. The White Sox reached the Division Series with a two-game sweep of the Astros in the AL Wild Card Series. The South Siders reached the postseason by earning the AL’s third Wild Card spot, and in the process, the No. 6 seed.
Even with the hope of improvement, nobody thought the team with 100-plus losses in each of its last three seasons could make this sort of pronounced jump. They are now 0-2 all-time in series-deciding playoff contests, having lost Game 3 in Oakland during the 2020 season. They also believe good things are just beginning on the South Side.
“This team will be back,” White Sox right-hander Mike Vasil said. “There’s no denying that. But we made a lot of people believe, and that’s the only thing that matters. White Sox baseball is back and we are here to stay.”
“We battled together, left it all out on the field. So, this is a really special group,” Teel said. “I love every one of these guys.”