White Sox end the regular season with a win and head to Houston for the playoffs

LaMond Pope, Chicago Tribune on Sep 27, 2026

Published in Baseball

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CHICAGO — The Houston Astros gave the Chicago White Sox fits during their regular-season meetings.

The Sox hope for better results when the teams square off in an American League wild-card series. The best-of-three matchup begins on Tuesday at Daikin Park in Houston.

“Excited about it,” Sox manager Will Venable said. “We know how good a club they have. We know the challenges they present with their lineup, Yordan (Alvarez). Got really good arms.

“Played them recently, had our challenges with them, so we understand how good a team they are, but we’re excited.”

The Astros captured the AL West title, wrapping up their season with a 9-0 victory against the Athletics on Sunday in West Sacramento, Calif. They outlasted the Texas Rangers, who lost 6-4 to the Minnesota Twins before Houston’s game went final to officially clinch the division for the Astros.

The Sox closed out the regular season on Sunday with a 4-2 win against the Colorado Rockies in front of 29,767 at Rate Field. Randal Grichuk and Brenton Doyle both hit two-run home runs while starting pitcher Anthony Kay allowed one run over five innings as the Sox completed the regular season 84-78.

“Anthony was great today,” Venable said. “The changeup was really effective for him. Saw a lot of swing-and-miss on the changeup. Was able to land it in the zone. And when he’s throwing off speed in the zone, whether it’s the changeup or the sweeper, he’s really effective. I thought he did a great job with that.

“And offensively, nice to see (Grichuk) and Doyle with some nice swings there. Good vibe in the building and the guys really responded.”

And they are not done.

“The ultimate goal of playing this game is to get in the playoffs,” Grichuk said. “So the fact is, now we’re in and everything starts fresh, so it’s one of those things that the past doesn’t matter. It’s what are you doing for me now, and what are you going to do for me in the playoffs?”

The Sox knew they would be heading somewhere in the Lone Star State as the No. 6 seed after falling short of winning the AL Central title with Saturday’s 9-6 loss to the Rockies combined with Cleveland’s 11-5 win against the Kansas City Royals, wrapping up the division crown for the Guardians.

Now the opponent is set, with Game 1 and Game 2 scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. ET and broadcast on Peacock and NBCSN. The entire series will be played in Houston.

The Sox went 2-5 against the Astros in the regular season, including losing three of four during an Aug. 31-Sept. 3 series in Houston.

“We didn’t really play too well against them in the regular season, but there were some guys scuffling in different moments of playing them,” Grichuk said. “So, looking around the clubhouse talking about it, we’re not too worried about it. I think we match up well with them, and it’s one of those things that we’re ready to get down there and get going.”

The Sox had their moments, including when Munetaka Murakami had a huge day against the Astros on July 26 at Rate Field by hitting two home runs and driving in six during a 12-3 victory.

The Sox had some success limiting the damage for AL MVP candidate Alvarez, who went 4 for 20 (.200) with no home runs and one RBI in the seven games.

The Sox are brainstorming their pitching plan for the upcoming games.

“We’ll get together here as we make our way to Houston and talk about what we’re going to do with our pitching, our lineup, without knowing right off the bat who they’re going to start,” Venable said. “But we’ll start talking about those things as we get more information.”

The Sox completed the regular season with a 24-game improvement from last season (60-102) to this year. The 84 wins are the most by a team following three-straight 100-loss seasons in major-league history.

“I don’t think anyone really expected it,” Kay said. “I think we had a vision and we executed it. But I don’t think anyone saw the kind of success that we had, and I think it was really fun to be a part of. Hopefully we can continue it as long as possible.”

The Astros are the next test.

“We don’t look at it as season series record and how we played against them in the past,” Grichuk said. “We understand that we were scuffling as a whole, and we don’t even really pay attention to that. We’re starting fresh and we’re ready to start the series.”

Attendance notes

The Sox finished 2026 with a home season attendance of 1,986,419. It was the largest for the club since 2022 and the second-largest in the last 15 years.

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