Photo: Nick Cammett / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
The Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians are set to meet in a pivotal Division round of the Major League Baseball playoff, with games scheduled to begin this week. Both teams relied heavily on rookie talent throughout the season, but the Guardians enter the postseason as the hotter team after a strong September performance. Cleveland's rookies, including Parker Messick, Chase DeLauter, and Travis Bazzana, have been key contributors, giving the team a slight edge in momentum.
While the White Sox led the American League Central for much of the year and finished with a better regular-season run differential, they struggled on the road, ranking twentieth in wins and run differential away from Rate Field. This could make home-field advantage a factor in the series, especially since the Guardians finished the season strong. The White Sox and manager Will Venable are expected to rely heavily on their bullpen, while they hope their star hitters, including Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas, and Chase Meidroth, can put up enough runs to upset the Guardians.
Check out the full schedule for the best of five series. The first two games are in Cleveland, with games three and four in Chicago. The series will return to Cleveland for a pivotal game 5, if necessary.
Game 1: Saturday, October 3 at 10am ET
Game 2: Monday, October 5 at 5pm ET
Game 3 : Wednesday, October 7 at 4pm ET
Game 4(if necessary): Thursday, October 8 at 5pm ET
Game 5(if necessary): Saturday, October 10, at 5pm ET
All games will be aired on TBS and HBO Max. Guardians fans to listen to the Cleveland radio broadcast on NewsRadio WTAM 1100 and 100.7 WMMS.
The winner of the White Sox–Guardians series will advance to the American League Championship Series to face the winner of the Yankees-Rays series.