Guardians Overturn 2-0 Deficit to Beat White Sox and Reach the ALCS
The Cleveland Guardians became the latest team to overturn a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five series, winning three consecutive games to take their American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox 3-2 and advance to the American League Championship Series.
Cleveland completed the comeback with a 2-0 shutout in Game 5 at Progressive Field on Saturday, in which their pitching staff struck out 21 White Sox batters across the nine innings. Gavin Williams took the win, Sean Burke the loss, and Cade Smith closed it out for the save.
How the Series Turned
The White Sox arrived in Cleveland and won the opening two games on the road, taking Game 1 3-0 and Game 2 4-3 to put the Guardians on the brink with the series shifting to Chicago.
Cleveland's response was emphatic. They won Game 3 9-3 and Game 4 9-5, scoring 18 runs across the two games to force a decider back at Progressive Field. Having spent the first half of the series unable to generate much against Chicago's pitching, the Guardians scored more than they had managed in the two previous games combined.
Game 5 was a different kind of win. Two runs were enough because Chicago could not make contact, their lineup repeatedly beaten by Williams and the relievers who followed him. The strikeout total was the defining statistic of the night and is among the highest recorded in a postseason game.
The End of a Remarkable Season for Chicago
For the White Sox, the collapse ends one of the more unusual campaigns in recent baseball history. The franchise lost 121 games in 2024 and had passed 100 defeats in each of the three seasons preceding this one. They finished 2026 at 84-78 and became the first team ever to reach the postseason after three consecutive 100-loss seasons.
That context made the manner of the exit harder to take. Chicago had a 2-0 lead in a five-game series and lost three in a row, including a winner-take-all game in which they failed to score.
The turnaround from 121 losses to a division series lead inside two years remains the story of their season, but the final week of it will be remembered for what was let slip rather than what was achieved.
The Championship Series Field
Cleveland now face the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS, which began on Monday in St. Petersburg with the Guardians handing the ball to Griffin. The Rays finished the regular season 98-64.
In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers met in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday night at American Family Field, with Tarik Skubal pitching for Los Angeles against Jacob Misiorowski. It is a rematch of last year's NLCS, which the Dodgers swept.
Milwaukee finished with the best record in baseball at 103-59 and reached the LCS by beating the San Diego Padres in four games. The Dodgers went 100-62 and remain in pursuit of a third consecutive World Series title.
Los Angeles made several roster decisions before the series. Miguel Rojas was kept on the NLCS roster after a back scare, left-hander Justin Wrobleski was added, and Hyeseong Kim was left off. Christian Yelich was not in Milwaukee's starting lineup for Game 1.
