HOUSTON — Two years after being their fifth overall pick, rookie left-hander Hagen Smith will start the first White Sox playoff game in five years. Just like they planned, right?
Well, there’s some nuance.
Smith has been working as a reliever since being called up in August, three innings represents the longest outing of his career and he won’t be improving upon it in Tuesday’s Game 1 against the Astros. Manager Will Venable said the Sox are throwing a bullpen game–as are the Astros, started by right-hander A.J. Blubaugh.
Even their oft-used strategy of an opener setting up a bulk pitcher who works four to five innings is more conservative than what the White Sox have planned.
“You might have a starter, a young starter, go four, five innings, perhaps even more than that,” said general manager Chris Getz. “But if we can get higher end two, three-inning outings from some of these guys, we’re going to lean in that direction.”
Sean Burke and David Sandlin split the only two starts of six innings or longer that the Sox had in all of September. The club used an opener or bullpen game an MLB-leading 31 times in 2026, and have primed their pitching staff for a relay race of one-to-three-inning appearances that will define their Wild Card series strategy.
“Kind of being doing it all year, right?” Sox pitching coach Zach Bove told the Sun-Times. “The message to all the guys is to be ready for multiple situations. That’s it. We’ll communicate as best we can to where they’re going to be. But at the same time, it’s maybe not going to be the traditional way of going about it.”
In a best-of-three series where the risk of the bullpen wearing down is lessened, the White Sox see it as a means to an end. They don’t think their fans, nor 90-year-old chairman Jerry Reinsdorf will fret too much about the aesthetics.
“Not if it helps us win games,” retorted Getz.
The likely AL MVP plays for the other side
Tapping Smith, when he’s held left-handed hitters to a .194/.256/.278 batting line this season, smacks of a pitching strategy built around unfavorable matchups for Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, who led the American League in batting average (.316), on-base percentage (.432) and slugging percentage (.601) this season.
“As great as Yordan is, he’s not the only really good hitter in their lineup, so you can’t just totally say, ‘Hey, we’re not going to let Yordan beat us,’ and walk him every time,” said Venable.
Except the Sox kinda have. Alvarez went 4-for-20 with a double against the Sox this year, but he scored five runs in seven games because they walked him at a 27.6% clip. If avoiding Alvarez doesn’t work, a bullpen game could ensure he faces a left-hander almost every time.
“He hasn’t really kind of hurt us, so we feel generally good about the plan,” Bove said. “But obviously he is a great hitter.”
Meidroth should be good to go
After not playing in the final series–outside of a pinch-hit double on Saturday–due to a sore left hamstring, second baseman Chase Meidroth is expected to be able to play on Tuesday.
“He’s going to be maybe not 100%, but as close to a normal version of Chase as we can get right now,” Venable said.