Two Big Positives (And One Negative) After White Sox Steal Series From Guardians
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While the Chicago White Sox lost the series finale against the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday, there was still a lot to be happy about.
Chicago won the biggest series of their season and of the last four years. While it wasn't always pretty, the Sox showed what makes this team different from previous years. As a reward, the Sox are still tied for first place with Cleveland ahead of an easy stretch of baseball.
Here are two big positives, as well as one concern for the future.
Positive: This Team Doesn't Back Down
In two of the three games, this White Sox team came from behind to win or force extra innings.
In game 1, Sam Antonacci walked it off in a back-and-forth game against one of the best closers in baseball, Cade Smith.
Then, in game 3, Chicago was down 3-1 with two outs. But they wouldn't give in. The Sox mounted a furious comeback against Smith once again. Braden Montgomery and Randal Grichuk would hit back-to-back home runs to tie the game and send it to extras.
The team was a ghost runner away from potentially sweeping the Guardians. With or without star third baseman Jose Ramirez, that's pretty darn impressive!
But the moral of this story is that the Sox are showing a level of grit fans haven't seen in quite some time. Not only do they have the power hitters like Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery, and Miguel Vargas, but they also have the scrappy contributors like Antonacci and Tristan Peters. It's made for a very balanced and clutch team.
Positive: The Starting Pitching Was Clutch
While the bullpen was a disaster during the Guardians series (more on that below), the starting pitching kept the White Sox in every game.
Anthony Kay pitched six shutout innings on Monday, Sean Burke gave up just one run in 6.1 innings, and Erick Fedde gave up just one earned run as the bulk pitcher in four innings.
Three starters combining to give up two earned runs in a series is elite by any means. Their ability to lock down Cleveland's offense was huge, as the Sox only managed five runs across the final two games.
Not to mention, the starting pitching has been a bit hot and cold at times this season, so it was good to see this group rise to the occasion. The Sox didn't even have Davis Martin available this series and still pulled it off. Good stuff!
Negative: White Sox Bullpen Fails to Find Rhythm
After Anthony Kay's best start of his White Sox career, the bullpen immediately blew the game.
Grant Taylor, who normally has been lights out as a reliever this season, has been shaky of late. On Monday, he blew the lead, giving up three runs, his worst appearance of the season. Then, on Wednesday, he let the ghost runner score in extras to lose the game.
Many Sox fans may be worried about his performance, and deservedly so. He has been nothing but dominant up until these last few games. However, fans must not forget he didn't pitch for a week when he was healthy. That leads to some real rust, and mistakes can happen.
Seranthony Dominguez also had a long time in between appearances, and the results were poor. On Monday, he blew the lead, giving up two runs, and didn't pitch the rest of the series. The stats have shown that Dominguez is a much better setup man than closer. If things don't get better for Dominguez soon, the Sox may have a big decision to make on their closing situation.
By no means am I giving excuses for this bullpen. There are none. However, rust can have an effect on any bullpen.
Whatever way you look at it, the Sox had a very encouraging series against one of the most disciplined teams in baseball and came out victorious. That feels huge for this young group.
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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.