White Sox, Guardians Open ALDS Game 1 Saturday as 85-win Cleveland Faces 84-win Chicago
Updated
Updated · MLB.com · Oct 3
White Sox, Guardians Open ALDS Game 1 Saturday as 85-win Cleveland Faces 84-win Chicago
3 articles · Updated · MLB.com · Oct 3
Summary
Game 1 starts at 1 p.m. ET Saturday at Progressive Field after Chicago beat Houston 7-3 in the Wild Card round to set up an all-AL Central Division Series.
One game separated the clubs in the regular season—Cleveland finished 85-77 and Chicago 84-78—after the Guardians erased a 5 1/2-game deficit on Aug. 20 by closing 24-11.
Left-handers Hagen Smith and Parker Messick are slated to start, with Smith coming off three scoreless innings against Houston and Messick posting a 2.81 ERA in four starts versus Chicago.
The season series was just as tight: Chicago won it 7-6 and outscored Cleveland 58-57, with 11 games decided by three runs or fewer and four ending in walk-offs.
This will be the first postseason meeting between the franchises since Cleveland joined the White Sox in the AL Central in 1994.