The White Sox closed the regular season with a 4-2 win over Colorado and a trip to Houston waiting on the other side. Chicago will open the American League Wild Card Series against the Astros on Tuesday at Daikin Park, carrying an 84-78 season from surprise to October.
Key takeaways
- Chicago faces AL West champion Houston in a best-of-three Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday at 4 p.m. CT.
- The Astros took five of seven regular-season meetings from the White Sox, including three of four in Houston.
- Left-hander Anthony Kay earned the regular-season finale win after giving up one run across five innings.
- Erick Fedde could be a major part of the White Sox plan for Game 1, with an opener also under consideration.
- The White Sox finished with 1,986,416 in home attendance, their best total since 2022.
A Houston test begins Tuesday
The Wild Card pairing was settled when Minnesota beat Texas, locking Houston into the AL West crown. The Astros then handled Oakland, 9-0, later in the day. Chicago had already done its own work against the Rockies, but the win became the closing note on a regular season that had changed the conversation around the club.
Game 1 is scheduled for Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET, or 4 p.m. CT, with NBC, Peacock and NBCSN carrying the broadcast. The White Sox will need to reverse the recent run of results against Houston: the Astros won two of three at Rate Field from July 24-26, then claimed three of four when Chicago visited from Aug. 31 through Sept. 3.
Starter Sean Burke said the White Sox do not need to reinvent themselves for a familiar opponent. He said the club had not played its cleanest baseball against Houston, but maintained that Chicago’s attention must stay on its own execution and its own style of play.
Andrew Benintendi knows the setting awaiting them. The designated hitter has played postseason games in Houston and described Daikin Park as loud, humid and packed, the kind of place that makes for a memorable October atmosphere.
Venable will have decisions to make after Burke, Davis Martin and Kay all worked during the Colorado series. Fedde appears positioned to figure prominently in the opener, though Chicago could also begin the game with an opener before turning to its bulk pitching.
“We’ll meet as we travel to Houston and start working through the pitching and lineup possibilities,” Venable said, noting that Houston’s starting-pitcher decision will affect the White Sox preparation.
A postseason return built on an unexpected season
This is Chicago’s first playoff appearance since 2021, when the Astros eliminated the White Sox in four games in the AL Division Series. Dusty Baker managed Houston in that meeting, while Tony La Russa was in the Chicago dugout.
The older memory is sweeter on the South Side. The clubs met in the 2005 World Series, with the White Sox completing their four-game sweep by winning the final two games in Houston. This roster is chasing its own October identity, but it already has accomplished something few expected after the franchise endured three consecutive seasons with at least 100 losses.
Kay called the turnaround a product of a shared vision that the team carried out over the season. He said the scale of the club’s success surprised many people, including those around it, and added that the group hopes to stretch the run as long as it can.
Burke said he has not sensed outside pressure inside the clubhouse, calling the White Sox a club in a strong place entering the postseason.
The home crowd provided its own evidence of the season’s momentum. A Sunday attendance of 29,767 pushed the final home total to 1,986,416. Only the 2022 season has brought more than 2 million fans through the gates for the White Sox since 2011.
Venable viewed that connection as something earned on both sides. He said the players gave fans a hard-playing, talented and relatable team to support, while the support in turn grew alongside the club. Kay said the fans had been outstanding and hoped Chicago could play deep enough into October to bring postseason baseball back home.
For that chance to arrive, the White Sox first have to find a way through Houston.
