{"id":916822,"date":"2026-10-01T17:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916822\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T17:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:20:11","slug":"with-their-playoff-slump-broken-the-white-sox-want-more-this-october-chicago-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916822\/","title":{"rendered":"With Their Playoff Slump Broken, the White Sox Want More This October | Chicago News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sports<\/a><\/p>\n

With Their Playoff Slump Broken, the White Sox Want More This October<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago White Sox players and staff pose for a photo after winning baseball’s American League Wild Card Series against the Houston Astros, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo \/ Karen Warren)<\/p>\n

HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable was already looking ahead just minutes after his team won its first playoff series in 21 years by sweeping the Houston Astros in their AL Wild Card Series.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you right now that the group isn\u2019t satisfied with this,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

The White Sox used a big first inning and a three-run homer from Chase Meidroth to propel them to a 7-3 victory<\/a> and series win.\n <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time Chicago has won a playoff series since beating Houston in the World Series in 2005. Under the direction of Venable, the second-year skipper, and with a letter of support from Pope Leo XIV, the White Sox advanced to face AL Central champion Cleveland in the AL Division Series beginning Saturday in Cleveland.\n <\/p>\n

They\u2019re thrilled to give their fans in Chicago at least a couple of home playoff games after playing their first two postseason games on the road. Their first game at Rate Field will be Game 3 on Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been incredible all year,\u201d Meidroth said. \u201cSo, the main thing was getting back to Chicago for some postseason baseball, and so we\u2019re really blessed that we get to do that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago White Sox’s Chase Meidroth (10) celebrates after hitting a 3-run home run during the sixth inning in Game 2 of baseball’s American League Wild Card Series against the Houston Astros, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo \/ Karen Warren)<\/p>\n

The White Sox, who lost 100 games in each of the last three seasons, are the only team in major league history to follow consecutive 100-loss seasons with a playoff berth.\n <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an improbable and swift turnaround that most people \u2014 not even owner Jerry Reinsdorf \u2014 saw coming.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think it would come to fruition this fast, I really didn\u2019t,\u201d he told reporters postgame. \u201cI really thought 2027 was the year that we would contend. But nobody told the players that they couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

The White Sox were expected to be the worst team in their division again this season but instead made a 24-game jump to go 84-78 and capture a wild-card playoff spot.\n <\/p>\n

Meidroth shared the important qualities that allowed them to defy expectations.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cBelief, energy, those are the two things,\u201d he said. \u201cConfidence. We got a young, hungry group, some veteran guys that we lean on. But, yeah, it\u2019s been the same all year. We believe we can win every game.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Entering this season, it had been an awful stretch for the White Sox, who set the record for most losses since 1899 when they dropped 121 games in 2024. It was a year that Reinsdorf reflected on as \u201cdepressing\u201d on Wednesday night.\n <\/p>\n

He lauded the work general manager Chris Getz did to build a strong foundation for the team to grow. And pointed to the blockbuster trade of left-hander Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox after that dreadful season that netted them Meidroth, catcher Kyle Teel and outfielder Braden Montgomery as a turning point.\n <\/p>\n

Venable, the 43-year-old who is in his first managerial role, is glad to have helped bring the White Sox back to respectability after their years in baseball\u2019s basement.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud and I\u2019m really just happy for everybody who over the last few years had experienced White Sox baseball when it obviously wasn\u2019t at its best,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s such a storied franchise and Jerry puts so much into this team, loves this team so much, and to be able to reward him and the city of Chicago who have been in our corner and supported us from day one that I\u2019ve been there, it just feels really good.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago White Sox’s Brenton Doyle celebrates after winning baseball’s American League Wild Card Series against the Houston Astros, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/Karen Warren)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sports With Their Playoff Slump Broken, the White Sox Want More This October Chicago White Sox players and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-916822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}