'It'll Never Happen': Four Complete Games Mark Historic Feat During White Sox Title Run

CHICAGO –– One statistic from the White Sox 2005 World Series run highlights how much baseball has changed in 20 years.

In the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels, pitchers Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras threw four straight complete games to send the White Sox to their first World Series since 1959.

They were the first team to do so since the 1928 New York Yankees, with pitchers Waite Hoyt, George Pipgras and Tom Zachary. Only 19 complete games have been thrown in the playoffs since 2005 –– none in 2006 –– and the most recent was Justin Verlander in the 2017 ALCS.

The White Sox went 11-1 on their way to the World Series title, with the lone loss coming in Game 1 of the ALCS. Jose Contreras had a strong effort with 8.1 innings and three earned runs, but the Angels came away with a 3-2 victory.

But after that, Buehrle, Garland, Garcia and Contreras rattled off four consecutive complete games. The outings modeled efficiency and dominance, with no more than seven combined walks and hits in any single start and just eight total earned runs allowed across the four.

To commemorate the historic accomplishment, the four starting pitchers simultaneously threw out the first pitch before Sunday's game against the Guardians at Rate Field as part of the weekend-long 20th reunion of the 2005 White Sox World Series team. The first 10,000 fans received a bobblehead featuring Buehrle, Garland, Garcia and Contreras.

'05 Weekend wouldn't be complete without a first pitch from these four! pic.twitter.com/v3g9jZTqqY
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 13, 2025

History in bobblehead form pic.twitter.com/CxKhknLyJA
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 13, 2025

Former White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski was behind the dish for all four complete games, and he's confident the feat will never be matched by another team.

"It has to do with the fact that nobody will let it [happen]," Pierzynski said. "Because look at the playoffs, if they get five innings out of their starter, they're like, 'Oh, let's get him out, he's tired.'"

A prime example of that came in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series. Rays starter Blake Snell had worked 5.1 scoreless innings and thrown just 73 pitches, as Tampa Bay led the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0.

But Rays manager Kevin Cash removed Snell from the game with one out and a runner on first base as Dodgers leadoff hitter Mookie Betts stepped to the plate. Rays reliever Nick Anderson gave up a double to Betts, and the Dodgers tied the game after a wild pitch during the next at-bat. Corey Seager then reached on a fielder's choice to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

Los Angeles went on to win that game 3-1, securing the World Series title. A sharp contrast from most games during the White Sox 2005 title run, the Dodgers used seven pitchers in their series-clinching victory, with no one lasting more than 2. 1 innings.

Pierzynski has a few theories as to why no team will ever replicate what the White Sox did in the 2005 ALCS.

"It's just matchups and the way it's brought and the way baseball is played now is not a nine-inning game," Pierzynski said. "Complete games are just so rare now. But also, guys aren't trained to do that, right? So guys aren't trained in the minor leagues, guys aren't trained to pitch like that. So it'll never happen. Unless something drastically changes in baseball from, I'm talking little league level to the major leagues, it'll never happen."

There's a perception that the 2005 White Sox are under-appreciated nationally. Given the rarity of the pitching staff's achievement, perhaps they should be held in higher regard when discussing recent World Series champions. Their ace pays no mind to that, though.

"It doesn't matter to me what people recognize us on," Buehrle said. "I know what we did, and you can't take that away from me. I don't care."

Pierzynski had much more to say on the matter.

"I think it's just easy to swipe it under the rug because, 'Oh, the White Sox, cute story. Well, move on, back to the Yankees and Red Sox, whatever,'" Pierzynski said. "At the time, I just think people forget because people don't do their job like they're supposed to and they don't look into the history. I just said, I'll take that team against pretty much anybody."

"11-1 in the postseason. Four complete games in the ALCS, you'll never see that again. Wire-to-wire, 99 wins. Beat the Red Sox. Beat the Angels ... They had the Cy Young that year. Beat the Astros, they had Hall of Famers all in that roster. So I think that team was great, and we just had something. I think people overlook that sometimes because we didn't have a Hall of Famer on the team, but we had a lot of really, really good baseball players."

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