Sean Burke held the line for five innings, but José Ramírez’s fourth-inning homer was all Cleveland needed Saturday night as the White Sox saw their surprising 2026 season end with a 2-0 Game 5 loss at Progressive Field.
The result
The Guardians claimed the American League Division Series, three games to two, after dropping the first two contests at home and then taking each of the final three. Chicago had reached this round by sweeping Houston in two games in the AL Wild Card Series, entering October as the league’s No. 6 seed and third Wild Card club.
Gavin Williams was the central problem in the deciding game. Two days after throwing 18 pitches in the ninth inning to finish Cleveland’s Game 4 win at Rate Field, the right-hander returned to the mound and dominated Chicago for 5 2/3 innings. He piled up 12 strikeouts and carried a no-hitter into the sixth.
Kyle Teel broke up that bid with a two-out single to right. Miguel Vargas then drew a walk to fill the bases, bringing Munetaka Murakami to the plate with a chance to turn the game. Reliever Erik Sabrowski ended the threat, however, striking out Murakami on five pitches.
Chicago finished with 21 strikeouts, the highest total ever recorded in a nine-inning regular-season or postseason game.
Burke gave the White Sox a chance, though his line was not quite as clean as Williams’. The right-hander allowed two runs across five innings, with Ramírez accounting for both on a fourth-inning home run off a pitch down near the dirt.
The final three-game slide was an unusual finish for a club that had not lost more than four straight at any point during the season. Chicago reached a four-game skid only twice, while Saturday completed its ninth losing streak of at least three games.
Still, the larger picture was a remarkable step forward. Few expected a team coming off three consecutive 100-loss seasons to reach the postseason, much less survive the Wild Card round and push Cleveland to a fifth game. The loss leaves the White Sox 0-2 in winner-take-all postseason games, following their Game 3 defeat in Oakland during the 2020 season.
