White Sox losing AL Central to Guardians casts dark cloud over improbable playoff berth

Despite clinching their first playoff berth in five years on Thursday in Kansas City, the White Sox entered the final week of the regular season with work to do. They came into Friday's game trailing the Guardians by just one game in the American League Central and the owners of the tiebreaker in the division, so they needed to find a way to gain just one game on Cleveland. Friday night’s 6-1 victory helped, but the Guardians used a late rally to top the Royals, and Saturday night was the icing on the cake in the division. 

Davis Martin struggled in the first inning, giving the White Sox an early deficit they could never recover from. The Guardians tagged All-Star Michael Wacha for six runs, opening up a two-game lead in the AL Central and officially clinching the division before Sunday’s regular season finale. As exciting as reaching the Postseason is for a White Sox team that wasn’t supposed to be here, a Wild Card series feels like a missed opportunity. 

The Guardians getting hot in September is nothing new. They set the record by overcoming an 11-game AL Central deficit in September of 2025, though they lost to the Tigers in the Wild Card series. The Guardians seem to play their best baseball in September every year, and 2026 has been no exception. After Saturday’s win over Kansas City, Cleveland is 15-8 in the month of September, and they’re 9-2 in their last 11 games. The point is, we knew Cleveland was going to be at their best and that the White Sox would have to follow suit, and unfortunately, they haven’t. 

The White Sox lost the AL Central primarily due to self-inflicted mistakes

Whether it was Sam Antonacci’s poor route on Bryan Rocchio’s fly ball that led to two runs and ultimately won the series for Cleveland last week, or the White Sox holding an 8-2 lead over Detroit before an ugly bullpen meltdown, the White Sox can’t say they haven’t had opportunities. They gave themselves very little margin for error by losing games they should’ve won, and they were never going to play perfect baseball down the stretch. 

With the Rangers victory over Minnesota on Saturday, the AL West, and therefore, the White Sox’ Wild Card opponent, is going to come down to the season’s final day. Whether it’s a trip to Houston or Dallas, the White Sox are heading to the state of Texas to open the Wild Card series on Tuesday. Based on this season’s sample, it would certainly be more comfortable to face the Rangers than the Astros. The White Sox won two out of three in both series against Texas this season, and they went just 2-5 against Houston. With Sean Burke having started Friday against Colorado, he likely won’t be available until Game 2 on Wednesday, so the plan for Tuesday’s game remains to be seen. 

The White Sox led the American League Central by 5.5 games after a sweep in Detroit on August 16th, so to come up short of winning the division leaves a sour taste in my mouth, even having clinched the Wild Card. I would love nothing more than to go to a home playoff game in Chicago this season, but the White Sox are going to have to get hot to make that a reality. 

The White Sox have found a way to win all year when nobody thought they could, so they’ll just need to keep doing it for a couple more games.

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