Sean Burke will take the ball for the White Sox on Saturday night, with Gavin Williams starting for Cleveland, and the American League Division Series returns to Progressive Field tied at two games apiece. After each club won twice on the other’s home turf, Game 5 offers one last turn in a season-long fight for the AL Central.
The result
Cleveland forced the deciding game by taking both contests in Chicago, turning Game 4 with a three-run fifth inning and a six-run sixth. Grant Taylor endured the roughest stretch for the White Sox, but the damage reached beyond one arm: three other Chicago pitchers also allowed runs among the seven used by manager Will Venable.
That is the peril of the White Sox’ postseason pitching plan. Venable has leaned on a full-staff approach rather than asking traditional starters to work deep into games, partly by choice and partly because the club does not possess an obvious rotation frontman beyond Burke. It can create favorable matchups for a few innings. It also leaves little room when one reliever cannot find the zone or escape an inning.
The travel day gives Chicago’s bullpen a chance to recover before the winner-take-all game. Burke, the closest thing the White Sox have to a conventional ace, is expected to provide the kind of length the club badly needs. Still, the first Cleveland rally will put Venable’s relief choices under a hard spotlight.
The Guardians will have their own unusual decision attached to Williams. Manager Stephen Vogt used him to finish Game 4, then kept him lined up to start the finale. Williams now gets the assignment with Cleveland’s season, and a trip to face the Rays in the American League Championship Series, on the line.
The rotation next
Burke faces Williams at 8 p.m. ET Saturday in Cleveland, with TBS, truTV, UniMas and HBO Max carrying the game. The winner advances to the ALCS.
| Game | Matchup | White Sox starter | Guardians starter |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALDS Game 5 | White Sox at Guardians | Sean Burke | Gavin Williams |
A familiar fight with one game left
These clubs have played 17 times already in 2026, and Chicago holds a narrow 9-8 edge in the season series. Cleveland, however, has scored five more runs across those meetings. Before Game 4 opened the margin a little, the difference had been only one run.
Thirteen of the 17 games have been decided by three runs or fewer. Eight finished as one-run games, and four ended on walk-offs. The standings told the same story: the White Sox spent 96 days holding at least a share of first place, while the Guardians did so for 89. Cleveland finally overtook Chicago during a September series at Progressive Field and won the division by one game.
That makes Saturday less like a surprise than the final page of a long argument. The White Sox and Guardians have spent the year trading punches, holding and losing ground, and playing games that stayed tight until the final outs. Now one more is required.
Ramírez back in the middle of it
José Ramírez gives Cleveland a different look than he did at the beginning of this series. He opened the ALDS 0-for-6 and has battled through a season affected by June surgery to repair a fractured left hamate bone. He has acknowledged that he is not fully healthy and will need the offseason to recover completely.
But the swing has returned at the right time. Ramírez began to find his footing in Game 3, then drove a two-run homer off a 99.9 mph Jordan Hicks pitch in Game 4. It was the compact, forceful turn Cleveland has come to expect from the player who has carried the franchise’s lineup for much of the past decade.
Progressive Field should be ready for his first plate appearance. In a series where road clubs have owned the games so far, the Guardians will hope their biggest star can help change that pattern in the only home game that matters now.
