White Sox Eliminate Astros to Advance to ALDS

After three straight years of 100-plus losses, the Chicago White Sox have finally tasted postseason success, eliminating the AL West champion Houston Astros in the American League Wild Card Series on Wednesday night.

Chicago needed just two games to win the best-of-three series and advance to the American League Division Series. It is also the White Sox’s first postseason series win since defeating Houston in the 2005 World Series, when the Astros still played in the National League.

“I’m really proud, and I’m really happy for everybody who over the last few years has experienced White Sox baseball when it obviously wasn’t at its best,” Chicago manager Will Venable told the media after the win. “It’s such a historic franchise … To be able to reward Jerry [Reinsdorf] and the city of Chicago who have supported us since Day 1 when I got here feels really good.”

The White Sox put themselves in position with a 6-3 win in Game 1 on Tuesday, striking for five runs over the first five innings before holding off a late Astros rally.

Wednesday’s game followed a similar script. Chicago scored four runs in the first inning, but Houston battled back within one after hitting three home runs, putting the onus on the White Sox to deliver once again.

“We talked about this club throughout the year and the ability to just keep fighting,” Venable said. “They definitely had the momentum there in those middle innings of the game, so it was really important for us to just find a way.”

Second baseman Chase Meidroth provided the decisive blow in the sixth inning, launching a three-run homer on a 3-1 pitch to extend Chicago’s lead to 7-3. The bullpen took care of the rest, sending the White Sox to their first postseason series victory in two decades.

“It’s awesome to get to this point, but I can tell you that the group right now isn’t satisfied with this,” Venable said. “We know how tough an opponent Cleveland is, but we’ll celebrate this one tonight and get ready for the next one.”

The best-of-five ALDS between the AL Central rivals begins Saturday in Cleveland. Postseason baseball will return to the South Side of Chicago for the first time since 2021 on Wednesday, Oct. 7.

Ironically, that series was also against Houston.

“It means everything for our fans,” Meidroth said. “They’ve been incredible all year, so the main thing was getting back to Chicago for some postseason baseball, and we’re really blessed that we get to do that.”