Takeaways After White Sox Face Brutal and Historic ALDS Loss to Guardians
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After gaining a 2-0 series lead in the American League Division Series, the Chicago White Sox officially blew the lead to the Cleveland Guardians. They lost a winner-take-all Game 5 on Friday night, 2-0. The gut-wrenching series loss comes after the organization had two chances to clinch their first trip to the ALDS since 2005 at Rate Field.
White Sox Offense Fails to Produce
After striking out 31 times in two games at home, the White Sox desperately needed to gain plate discipline against power pitcher Gavin Williams and his 248 regular-season strikeouts. The opposite happened.
Not only did the offense not gain any plate discipline, but they looked absolutely lost in an elimination game. Williams struck out 12 batters in just 5.2 innings, giving up one hit and two walks. The White Sox had an opportunity with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the sixth when Williams was taken out, but Munetaka Murakami struck out in the biggest moment of the season. This was their sole opportunity with runners in scoring position.
Despite the close score, it seemed from the very beginning that the White Sox were outmatched in this one. They went on to strike out 21 times, breaking an all-time MLB record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game (playoffs or regular season, per ESPN Insights).
Cleveland is also now the fourth team in history to win a best-of-five series after losing the first two games on their home field. It's just a brutal way to go out after such a remarkable bounce-back season. Their youth undoubtedly got the best of them.
History-Making Home Run Knocks Out Chicago
Through three innings, White Sox starter Sean Burke was absolutely cruising. His pitch count was low, and he had not given up a baserunner. Then, the fourth inning happened.
Steven Kwan would lead off with a base hit. Notorious for always hitting in big moments against the White Sox, José Ramírez stood in the box. On a 2-2 count, Ramírez swung at a pitch just 0.89 feet above the ground and somehow took it out of the park, 348 feet. It was the lowest pitch anyone in the postseason has ever hit for a home run in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008), per ESPN.
Burke did not give up any more damage after that. However, Will Venable would make a confounding move that would further change the trajectory of the game. After five innings and 71 pitches, Burke was lifted in favor of reliever Sean Newcomb.
While Newcomb would pitch two scoreless innings, it felt like a conceding move by Venable not to keep Burke in, especially considering how good a pitch he threw to Ramírez.
What's Next?
With the 2026 season now in the books, the White Sox should still be proud of what they did. They went from three consecutive 100-loss seasons to taking the Cleveland Guardians to an elimination game in the ALDS. No one saw that coming.
However, there is no question that it was a disappointing end for a team that had shocked the baseball world. If this series showed anything, it's that the White Sox need starting pitching more than anything this offseason. However, let's take this season for what it was: A major success in a rebuild year that put the White Sox back on the map.
The future is bright on the South Side of Chicago.
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Matthew Singer is a contributor for White Sox on SI. Before joining SI in 2026, he worked for Heavy as an MLB contributor and Cubs on SI. Singer has a master's degree in sports journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. He loves sports more than anything in the world.