Written By | Sports News Agencies
A 121-loss nightmare two years ago, a sweep of Houston this week, and the first playoff series win in 21 years.
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CHICAGO / HOUSTON
Chase Meidroth did not hit a normal home run on Wednesday afternoon in Houston. He hit a three-run, sixth-inning shot off Astros reliever Bryan Abreu that broke open a tense playoff game, pushed the Chicago White Sox to a 7-3 win, and completed a two-game sweep of the American League Wild Card Series. The Chicago Sun-Times called it the biggest homer in franchise history since Jim Thome's blast in the 2008 Game 163.
It also meant something larger. The sweep was the White Sox's first playoff series victory since 2005, the year of their World Series title. For a franchise that lost a modern-era record 121 games in 2024, the climb from the bottom of baseball to a Division Series berth has been startlingly fast.
Two Games, One Statement
Game 1, played Tuesday, September 29, set the tone. Chicago scored three runs in the second inning and led 5-0 by the fifth. Colson Montgomery crushed a 432-foot solo homer in the fourth, and Houston's Nelson Velázquez answered with a two-run shot in the fifth, but the Astros never truly threatened. They went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, finishing with six hits to Chicago's eleven in a 6-3 loss.
Game 2 was even more emphatic. The White Sox scored four times in the first inning against Astros ace Hunter Brown, who was gone after just 36 pitches. Meidroth's homer in the sixth sealed it, and relievers Jordan Hicks and Erick Fedde closed the door. Houston's season ended at Daikin Park, in front of a crowd that had already booed its own team after Game 1.
That booing became a story of its own. Astros players pushed back publicly after the opener. "We need cheers... what purpose does that serve?" outfielder Walker said, while reliever Sousa added that the team wanted support after working hard to reach October.
The pitching matchups made the sweep more surprising. Houston handed Game 2 to Hunter Brown, a 6-4 starter with a 3.19 ERA who had allowed just a 1.38 ERA across two earlier starts against Chicago. The Sox countered with Sean Burke, who went 11-7 with a 3.34 ERA this season. Houston also played without outfielder Daulton Varsho, who is out for the rest of 2026. In the end, Chicago's lineup simply got to Brown before he could settle in.
How Houston Got Here With a .500 Record
The Astros were an odd playoff team to begin with. On the final day of the regular season they beat the Oakland Athletics 9-0 to finish 81-81 and clinch the AL West, their eighth division title in ten years. That made them the weakest division winner in memory and a lightning rod for criticism about the state of the division. Commentators said the AL West was making a "mockery of the sport."
The Texas Rangers, meanwhile, entered the last weekend with a shot at both the division and a .500 record. They stumbled, losing to Minnesota to finish 80-82, and missed the postseason by a single game. The Astros survived, but only for a few more days.
The Rest of the Bracket
Elsewhere, the National League also delivered drama. The Philadelphia Phillies (88-74) needed a 7-3 win over Tampa Bay on the final day, after losing four straight, to secure the last wild-card spot. They then took their series with Atlanta to a deciding Game 3, only to lose 6-2 to the Braves, who now face the top-seeded Dodgers in the NLDS.
In the American League, the Rays and Guardians earned the top two seeds and first-round byes, with Houston third, the Yankees fourth, the Red Sox fifth and the White Sox sixth. The sixth seed has now beaten the third. Bracket logic has rarely looked so flexible.
The Rivalry Round: Sox vs. Guardians
The White Sox now face the Cleveland Guardians in a best-of-five Division Series, a first postseason meeting between the AL Central rivals. They know each other well. The teams played 13 times this season, and Chicago won the head-to-head series 7-6, although Cleveland edged the Sox for the division title, 85-77 to 84-78.
Cleveland also arrives hot, posting the second-best record in baseball over the final five weeks at 24-11. The Game 1 pitching matchup at Progressive Field pitted rookie left-hander Hagen Smith against Guardians lefty Parker Messick, who is making his postseason debut. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt was complimentary of his opponent. "They've got a lot of power and they match up really well with us pitching-wise," he said.
"They've got a lot of power and they match up really well with us pitching-wise."
— Stephen Vogt, Guardians manager, on the White Sox
What This Means for You
Whether or not you follow baseball, the White Sox story is a useful reminder that rebuilds can work faster than anyone expects. A young roster that lost 121 games two years ago is now two wins away from the American League Championship Series. If you have been waiting for a reason to pick a team to follow this October, an underdog with a drought-breaking storyline is hard to beat. Most Division Series games are also easy to catch live on TBS, truTV and HBO Max, so there is little barrier to joining in.
The Bottom Line
Baseball's postseason is famous for resetting everything to 0-0, as Astros owner Jim Crane noted before Game 1. This week it did exactly that. A .500 division winner went home, a recent 121-loss club moved on, and a fanbase that has waited since 2005 got its biggest night in years. Whatever happens against Cleveland, Chicago has already rewritten the story of its season.
