White Sox's season ends in 2-0 loss to Guardians in ALDS Game 5

LaMond Pope, Chicago Tribune on Oct 10, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CLEVELAND — The Chicago White Sox had been in this position before — down, but not out.

The Sox trailed the Cleveland Guardians by two runs in the sixth inning of the win-or-go-home Game 5 of the American League Division Series. But they had the bases loaded with two outs and their cleanup hitter Munetaka Murakami coming to the plate.

The first baseman worked a 2-2 count before striking out against Guardians reliever Erik Sabrowski.

The Sox couldn’t find sustained success at the plate all night as their improbable season ended with a 2-0 loss to the Guardians in front of a sellout crowd of 36,889 at Progressive Field.

The Sox didn’t have a hit until two outs in the sixth, when Kyle Teel singled to right field against Guardians starter Gavin Williams. They finished with three hits and struck out 21 times.

José Ramírez supplied Cleveland’s offense, hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning as the Guardians advanced to the AL Championship Series to play the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Sox were unable to close the door after holding a two-game lead in the best-of-five series. The Guardians won three straight elimination games, ending the Sox’s season.

Saturday served as the final pages of a year that began with the Sox looking to take steps forward after three straight 100-loss seasons, including a modern-day major league record 121 in 2024.

They made a giant leap, returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2021. And then they won a postseason series for the first time since the 2005 World Series by sweeping the Houston Astros in the AL wild-card series.

They were on the verge of their first ALCS appearance since 2005 by winning the first two games in Cleveland. But the rest of the series belonged to the Guardians, with Ramírez playing a prominent role. He had two home runs and seven RBIs over the last three games.

He had the big hit again Saturday in a night that was otherwise all about the pitching.

Sox starter Sean Burke allowed two runs on four hits with four strikeouts and no walks in five innings. Williams allowed one hit, struck out 12, walked two and hit one batter in 5 2/3 innings.

As rain fell early, Burke and Williams kept pouring in strikes.

Williams struck out 11 of the first 16 Sox batters. Burke — aided by some smooth defense from Murakami — retired the first nine Guardians batters.

Steven Kwan’s single to begin the bottom of the fourth was the first hit of the game for either team. Ramírez then hit a liner that landed just over the right-field wall for the two-run home run.

The Sox had just one base runner through the first five innings, a walk in the second by Tristan Peters. But the sixth began on a good note for the Sox when Colson Montgomery got hit by a pitch.

Williams retired the next two hitters before Teel singled to right on an 0-1 knuckle curve. Miguel Vargas walked to load the bases.

Sabrowski replaced Williams and struck out Murakami in a five-pitch at-bat, ending one of the few big opportunities of the evening for the Sox.

The Sox brought the tying run to the plate with fewer than two outs in the seventh and eighth, but they came up empty as their journey came to an end.