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The South Side's Shot at History

Two years after a record-setting 121-loss season, the White Sox are one win from the ALCS, and a chance to do something they haven't done in 120 years.

At 4 p.m. ET today, the Chicago White Sox host the Cleveland Guardians in Game 3 of the American League Division Series with a 2-0 series lead and a chance to finish the sweep. A win would send them to the ALCS for the first time since their World Series championship season of 2005. It would also be their first postseason series clinched at home since 1906, when they beat the Cubs in six games for the title.

From 121 Losses to October

The turnaround is hard to overstate. The White Sox lost 121 games in 2024, the most by any team since 1900, and went 162-324 across the three seasons from 2023 to 2025. They are now the first team to reach the postseason after three straight 100-loss seasons, and they have yet to lose a game in October. After sweeping the Astros in the Wild Card round, they won Game 1 in Cleveland, 3-0, and rallied for a 4-3 win in Game 2 behind a go-ahead two-run double from Braden Montgomery and 5 1/3 strong innings from reliever Sean Burke. All four of their wins have come on the road, which means Wednesday brings their first home playoff game since 2021.

The 1906 comparison has a particular charm. That World Series was a crosstown showdown in which a light-hitting White Sox team nicknamed the "Hitless Wonders" upset a Cubs club that had won a then-record 116 games. This year the Cubs were eliminated by the Padres in the Wild Card round, which leaves the South Side carrying all of Chicago's October hopes. Rate Field is sold out, fans have been asked to dress in black for the team's "Blackout" theme, and even a blessing from Chicago-born Pope Leo before the playoffs has become part of the lore. Both teams will start relievers as openers, with Sean Newcomb taking the ball for Chicago against Cleveland's Daniel Espino.

A packed baseball stadium with fans dressed in black under bright afternoon sun during a playoff game
A sold-out Rate Field hosts the White Sox's first home playoff game since 2021.

Nothing is guaranteed. The Guardians won the AL Central by a single game and enter this afternoon with their season on the line, and the White Sox would still have a second chance at home on Thursday if they fall short. But baseball rarely offers a story with this much distance between its beginning and its end: a franchise that bottomed out at the worst record in the modern era two years ago now stands one win from a league championship series. Whatever happens at Rate Field this afternoon, the South Side has already done something no one in baseball expected.