CHICAGO -- There was one word to describe the overall White Sox sentiment following a 9-6 loss to the Rockies Saturday night at Rate Field.
“Excited,” said second baseman Sam Antonacci without hesitation.
A little clarification is needed about Antonacci’s thought process.
Of course, no excitement, joy or happiness emanated from a tough loss to a Colorado team with 103 defeats. Couple that with an 11-5 victory for Cleveland (85-76) in Kansas City, and the Guardians locked down the American League Central title with one game remaining in the 2026 regular season on Sunday.
Winning the division would have given the White Sox (83-78) a week without games, until the AL Division Series begins. Not only would they be able to align their starting rotation, but they would also give an overworked bullpen and a tired but energetic young crew an extended break.
Instead, Chicago will travel to either the Rangers or the Astros on Tuesday as the AL's sixth seed and third Wild Card team.
“We want to win the division, of course, but that’s not in our hands anymore,” third baseman Miguel Vargas said. “Now, we have to focus on the next thing.”
“There is disappointment, obviously,” manager Will Venable said. “We've set out on a mission to compete and battle for this division. At the same time, we are moving on. These guys have done a great job all year of flushing the results and coming in the next day ready to go. Expect that to happen."
Here’s where the excitement arrives.
Nobody thought the White Sox would compete for a .500 finish, let alone become one of the 12 postseason teams. Yet, here they are, coming off three consecutive seasons of 100-plus losses. Here they are, just two years removed from a Modern Era single-season record of 121 losses.
Forgive them if Saturday’s disappointment is toppled by the pride of what they have done and the prospects of what lies ahead.
“That’s another thing we have to be very proud about,” Vargas said. “We lose games and come back the next day and play the best we can. This is going to be the same thing. We have a tough game today, and we have to be ready to play tomorrow and be ready to go against whoever we face in the next series.”
“It sucks, but we still have all the opportunities in the world to accomplish the goals we had at the beginning of Spring Training,” said Davis Martin, Saturday’s starting and losing pitcher. “Just would have been the icing on the cake, but we’re in the playoffs. We have a chance.”
Things seemed to start smoothly enough for Martin (9-8) and the White Sox, as leadoff hitter Jake McCarthy bounced a routine grounder to first baseman Munetaka Murakami.
Murakami made the flip, but Martin missed the toss for an error. The Rockies scored three runs in that first inning, and before the inning was over, Noah Schultz was called into the game to replace Martin, who was charged with three runs (two earned) in two-thirds of an inning.
“Yeah, terribly disappointed. Didn’t do my job, didn’t set the tone,” said Martin, who finished the regular season with a 3.95 ERA. “All in all, bad.”
The White Sox had chances. Trailing 5-2, they had the tying run at the plate in the sixth in pinch-hitter Colson Montgomery, only to have Montgomery strike out for the 225th time this season, extending his single-season Major League record. After Chicago scored a run in the seventh on a Randal Grichuk groundout, Murakami launched a Statcast-projected 384-foot drive to right with the look of a game-tying home run. But Cole Carrigg caught the ball a few feet short of the wall to end the inning.
Kyle Teel singled after Chase Meidroth’s pinch-hit double in the eighth, putting runners at the corners against reliever Brennan Bernardino. But Antonacci struck out swinging, and Montgomery hit the next pitch for an inning-ending double play.
So, it’s on to postseason baseball in the state of Texas, with the White Sox choosing excitement over disappointment about what might have been.
“This is one of those things you go through a lot every year,” said Meidroth, who didn’t start the last two games with left hamstring discomfort but will be ready to go Tuesday. “There are tough games kind of like this throughout the year.
“You can sit with it the night of, but come the next morning, it’s a new day, a new opportunity. We’ve done a great job of that all year.”