HOUSTON — It’s not every day a baseball team receives the blessings of the pope, especially a half-hour before its biggest game in years.

But that’s one of the perks of being the Chicago White Sox, having the leader of the Catholic Church rooting for you at the Vatican as you begin your playoff quest after years roaming in the baseball desert.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees can have their Hollywood celebrities show up in the postseason to see and be seen. The Sox will try to make do with a few words of encouragement from Pope Leo XIV, longtime fan, first-time caller.

A letter from the Vatican on Tuesday proved that the Lord indeed works in mysterious ways. It served as a prelude to the Sox’s 6-3 win over the Houston Astros in Game 1 of their American League wild-card series at Daikin Park.

The papal missive was revealed a half-hour before game time when the Sox posted photos on their social media account of a letter from Pope Leo to Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, thanking him for a letter from Aug. 11, the day the Sox gave away pope hats to 40,000 fans at Rate Field.

After lauding the role of sports in life in his letter to Reinsdorf, Pope Leo wrote that he hoped the Sox would “continue to foster bonds of friendship and solidarity among people.” He didn’t mention the hats, but apparently he thought they were pretty dope.

The pope ended his letter with one final message for the Sox.

“With these sentiments, I willingly invoke the Almighty’s abundant blessings upon you and your loved ones,” he wrote.

The Sox have promoted their connection with the pope for the last two years, and everyone got a kick out of it. But this was apparently the first time they were officially rewarded with his blessings.

Would it work? Or was it just a nice gesture of thanks from a famous fan who couldn’t will the Sox to win with help from the man upstairs?

The Sox could’ve kept the letter private, of course. But Reinsdorf was overjoyed at receiving the letter, sources said, and the Sox quickly put it out on social media with a few photos.

Bold move, Cotton.

One photo was of the letter on ballpark grass. Another showed the letter on the famous seat the pope sat in during Game 1 of the 2005 World Series, when he was simply Father Robert Prevost and not a global icon.

Surely it wouldn’t backfire on the Sox? It was too heavenly a story.

Rookie Hagen Smith started out by pitching three scoreless innings, Sam Antonacci drove in a pair of runs and Colson Montgomery homered to give the Sox a 5-0 lead headed into the fifth.

The Sox were so prepared that manager Will Venable even challenged a groundout by Antonacci in the fourth, arguing Jose Altuve was illegally positioned on the outfield grass before the ball was in play. A friend texted me that had the Sox won the challenge against a member of the infamous cheating World Series winners of 2017, it would have been like nabbing Al Capone for tax evasion.

Alas, they lost the challenge but won the hearts of Sox fans for trying.

Montgomery, who set a single-season strikeout record this year, was relaxed and ready to start his new season without any of the baggage of his regular season.

“Definitely didn’t end the year how I wanted to,” he said before the game. “But I’ve said it and everyone’s told me: None of that stuff matters anymore. This is a new season. So I’ve just been working on the things that got me here.

“Success leaves clues, so you analyze and look at what you did when you were doing really good and also when you do bad. It’s a learning moment. You learn from your failures.”

But the Sox weren’t going to cruise. It’s not in their blood.

Nelson Velasquez’s pinch-hit, two-run home run in the fifth off Sean Newcomb cut the deficit to three and made the Sox sweat. The Sox added a run in the seventh on a wild pitch, and Venable brought in Grant Taylor with two outs to strand a runner on second.

A low-key crowd of only 34,011 finally began to awaken in the eighth when the Astros put runners on the corners with one out. Taylor calmly struck out Isaac Paredes and induced Altuve to ground to third. But Miguel Vargas’ throw pulled Munetaka Murakami off the bag, and Altuve was ruled safe on Vargas’ throwing error.

The Sox challenged but the call stood, making it 6-3. The tension grew at Daikin, but Taylor recovered and got Yainer Diaz on a called strike three to end the inning, then finished off the Astros in the ninth with only a leadoff walk.

It was past 2 a.m. in Rome, and no one knew if the pope was watching or if he even has the Peacock app.

Either way the prayers were flowing from Sox fans, waiting for an answer.

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