The Chicago White Sox suddenly find themselves one win away from advancing in October.
Chicago opened the AL Wild Card Series with a 6-3 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday, jumping ahead early and never giving the lead back. Colson Montgomery homered, Hagen Smith delivered three scoreless innings and the White Sox grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-three series.
Finish the job, though, and there won't be much time to celebrate.
A very familiar opponent would be waiting
The winner of the White Sox-Astros series advances to face the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS, beginning Saturday at Progressive Field.
Yes, those Guardians.
Cleveland finished 85-77 and captured the AL Central by a single game over the 84-78 White Sox. That alone would make a postseason meeting interesting. How the division race unfolded makes it even better.
Chicago spent much of the summer looking down at Cleveland in the standings. As late as Aug. 26, the White Sox held a 2.5-game advantage in the division. Cleveland then caught fire down the stretch, going 15-7 after Sept. 3 and eventually slipping past Chicago for the division crown.
The Guardians got the division.
The White Sox, however, got the better of Cleveland head-to-head.
Chicago won seven of the 13 meetings between the teams this season. The final numbers were almost comically close. Cleveland went 6-7 against the White Sox with a minus-one run differential.
After 162 games separated the teams by one victory, their season series was separated by one game and one run.
Now imagine settling it in October.
LET'S GO! https://t.co/MEzROTuJ5f pic.twitter.com/ua01T49fYD
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 29, 2026
White Sox still have business to handle first
There is one fairly large obstacle standing between Chicago and that matchup.
Houston isn't finished.
The Astros will hand the ball to Hunter Brown in Game 2, and he gave the White Sox fits during the regular season. Brown went 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two starts against Chicago. Houston also won five of its seven regular-season meetings with the White Sox.
None of that helped the Astros on Tuesday.
Chicago already stole the first game in Houston and now has two opportunities to win once more before leaving town. Do it, and this postseason run immediately gets considerably more personal.
The team that finished one game ahead of the White Sox would be waiting.
This time, the AL Central wouldn't be on the line.
A trip deeper into October would be.
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