White Sox complete sweep of Astros for first playoff series win since 2005

The Chicago White Sox beat the Houston Astros 7-3 on Wednesday at Daikin Park to complete a two-game sweep of their American League wild-card series, according to ESPN. It was Chicago's first postseason series victory since the 2005 World Series, a drought exceeded in MLB only by the Cincinnati Reds, ESPN reported.

The win caps a rapid turnaround for a franchise that lost a record 121 games in 2024, Yahoo Sports reported. The White Sox became the first team in MLB history to make the playoffs after two consecutive 100-loss seasons, according to Yahoo Sports, after entering the season with just a 1.2% chance to make the playoffs, per FanGraphs figures cited by Yahoo Sports.

Chicago scored four runs in the first inning and chased Astros starter Hunter Brown, who allowed four runs on five hits in two-thirds of an inning, according to Yahoo Sports. Houston had cut the deficit to one run by the fourth inning, but second baseman Chase Meidroth hit a three-run homer off reliever Bryan Abreu in the sixth to put the game away, ESPN reported. The White Sox finished the regular season with an AL-best 776 runs and went 84-78, according to ESPN and Yahoo Sports.

With two on and one out in the fifth inning, manager Will Venable brought in lefty Anthony Kay, who had worked mostly as a starter during the season, to face AL MVP favorite Yordan Álvarez, ESPN reported. Kay got Álvarez to fly out, then walked Isaac Paredes to load the bases before retiring Jose Altuve on a fly ball, according to ESPN. Altuve had homered earlier in the game for his 28th career postseason home run, one shy of Manny Ramirez's MLB record, ESPN reported.

"We've got a young, hungry group, some veteran guys that we lean on," Meidroth said, according to ESPN. "But it's been the same all year. We believe we can win every game." Venable said of the decision to use Kay against Álvarez, "We thought that our best chance was to fire Anthony Kay against him," and called the move "a gamble" that "paid off," per ESPN.

Owner Jerry Reinsdorf, 90, attended the clinching win, which came in the same Houston ballpark where the White Sox last won a playoff series on Oct. 26, 2005, also against the Astros, ESPN reported. Nine players Chicago used in the series were kindergarten age or younger the last time the franchise won a playoff series, according to ESPN. Venable said he was proud of the team and happy for fans who had stuck with the White Sox during its tougher years, according to ESPN.

The White Sox will face the Cleveland Guardians in the best-of-five American League Division Series, which starts Saturday, Oct. 3, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, according to Yahoo Sports and ESPN. The Guardians finished 85-77 but earned the No. 2 AL seed, while the White Sox enter as the 84-win wild-card winner, CBS Sports reported. It will mark the third straight year the Guardians have faced a fellow AL Central team in the playoffs, according to Yahoo Sports.