CHICAGO -- It was a black-clad crowd roaring at Rate Field as the White Sox tried to close out the American League Division Series on Wednesday.
But the Guardians, it turns out, weren’t ready to attend their own funeral.
Now, White Sox fans hoping to witness the club’s first postseason series clinch at home since 1906 will return to their South Side stomping grounds for Game 4 on Thursday. With Chicago a win away from punching its ticket to the ALCS, they’ll be every bit as excited … albeit with a side of nerves, as the Guardians will send their ace to the hill and try to get this thing back to Cleveland.
“I’m ready to rock ‘n’ roll,” said Guardians lefty Parker Messick, a likely finalist for AL Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award, who will look to build on the 19-strikeout performance of his Cleveland pitching peers in the 9-3 victory in Game 3.
Messick is the Guardians’ rock, while Chicago is still cobbling things together.
The White Sox named left-hander Hagen Smith as their opener. And that’s nothing new. Throughout these playoffs, they’ve gotten short stints from openers, long work from relievers and everything in between. They’ve been trying to mix and match their way to the Promised Land.
The ALDS schedule has these teams playing back-to-back games, so Sox skipper Will Venable has a little bit of a tricky task on his hands, although getting three innings out of Noah Schultz in Game 3 helped keep other arms fresh.
“We'll evaluate where we are with the capacity for some of these guys,” Venable said. “Schultz was part of the plan today and did a nice job in the middle to cover some ground. Puts us in a spot where we're able to collect ourselves and reevaluate where we're at.”
While the Sox will once again have the champagne ready, the Guards will once again be in a fight for their lives.
“We have an opportunity to win a ballgame and get back to Cleveland,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “We know they're going to come out ready to go because they want to close it out at home. It's going to be another exciting game.”
When is the game and how can I tune in?
Game 4 of the ALDS presented by Booking.com is scheduled for Thursday at 8 ET/7 CT on TBS/truTV/HBO Max.
The ALDS will be available in Spanish on UniMas, while Univision’s TUDN Radio will provide Spanish-language audio coverage. ESPN Radio will provide live national coverage of all 2026 MLB Postseason games.
Who are the starting pitchers?
Guardians: LHP Parker Messick
Key stats: 2.45 ERA, 18 strikeouts and two walks in 14 2/3 innings at Rate Field this season
Coming off a bullpen game on Wednesday, the Guardians will turn to a tried-and-true method behind their success this season: Handing the ball to Messick. Cleveland’s Game 1 starter will make his second start of the series, after allowing two runs on four hits (including a two-run home run) and two walks with six strikeouts his first time out. Messick had success in this ballpark in the regular season, which included a June 23 start in which he struck out 10 and allowed two runs over 7 2/3 innings.
White Sox: LHP Hagen Smith
Key stats: Smith and second-year hurler Grant Taylor have combined for 17 strikeouts and two runs (one earned) allowed over six combined games and 14 combined innings
News broke late Wednesday that the rookie southpaw got the nod for Game 4. This will mark Smith’s third postseason start and the second of this series, and Chicago has posted a 2-0 record behind him in this role. Smith replaced Bryan Hudson during Cleveland's four-run third inning on Wednesday, allowing Jo Adell’s bases-clearing triple that stayed just fair down the first-base line. It was a good pitch from Smith, who threw 21 in total.
“I feel good,” Smith said. “Everybody believes in each other and plays super hard and plays to the last out. So, super confident tomorrow.”
What do the starting lineups look like?
Guardians: Don’t expect Cleveland to deviate much from the lineup that it has trotted out the past two games. The only change from Wednesday’s nine-run effort will be Austin Hedges catching Messick, as has been the case a lot of the season.
1. Steven Kwan, CF
2. José Ramírez, 3B
3. Chase DeLauter, RF
4. Jo Adell, DH
5. Nathaniel Lowe, 1B
6. Angel Martínez, LF
7. Travis Bazzana, 2B
8. Austin Hedges, C
9. Brayan Rocchio, SS
White Sox: Once again, Venable will go with a righty-heavy lineup with Messick on the mound. Chicago's manager could also use left-handed-hitting Sam Antonacci because he drives this offense.
1. Chase Meidroth, 2B
2. Miguel Vargas, 3B
3. Munetaka Murakami, 1B
4. Randal Grichuk, LF
5. Tommy Pham, DH
6. Kyle Teel, C
7. Brenton Doyle, CF
8. Braden Montgomery, RF
9. Colson Montgomery, SS
How will the bullpens line up after the starter?
Guardians: It will once again be all hands on deck for Cleveland as it looks to stave off elimination for the second consecutive day. Messick pitching into the fifth or sixth would go a long way, though Foster Griffin and Joey Cantillo covering a collective 4 1/3 innings took some stress off the bullpen in Game 3. Closer Cade Smith threw 19 pitches over two innings, but in a win-or-go-home situation, expect him to pitch in some capacity in Game 4.
White Sox: Think Taylor and a great deal of Taylor if there’s a chance to lock down the ALDS. Venable used Schultz, Tyler Davis, David Sandlin and Davis Martin during Wednesday’s loss, all of whom are solid relief components. But Erick Fedde and Jordan Hicks are also rested and ready Thursday to follow Smith to the mound.
Any injuries of note?
Guardians: None.
White Sox: None.
Who is hot and who is not?
Guardians: Adell is 3-for-7 with four RBIs after going 0-for-4 in his postseason debut in Game 1. Angel Martínez is 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts this postseason.
White Sox: There’s not much hot to take out of Wednesday for the White Sox, who struck out 19 times. Chicago will need to make better contact overall and hit the strike zone more on the mound come Thursday.
Anything else fans might want to know?
- The Guardians set an MLB postseason record in a nine-inning game by recording 19 combined strikeouts.
- Those 19 strikeouts were the most in White Sox postseason franchise history, surpassing the previous high of 14 set in 1983 at Baltimore.
- Between Adell and Ramírez, Cleveland logged multiple triples in a postseason game for the first time in franchise history.
- Schultz became the third Illinois-born White Sox pitcher to appear in a postseason game in franchise history, joining Neal Cotts (2005) and teammate Bryan Hudson.
- Antonacci became the first designated hitter and rookie to lead off a postseason game in franchise history.
- Miguel Vargas has reached base eight times in total during the series.