ST. LOUIS — Randal Grichuk’s go-ahead home run in the ninth inning Saturday night assured the White Sox they would arrive in Cleveland with the lead in the American League Central, even after losing to the Cardinals 3-1 on Sunday. It also gave him room to acknowledge what previously only could be speculated.
‘‘Beginning of the year, it was more like, ‘Let’s prove people wrong. Let’s go play hard and see what happens,’ ’’ Grichuk said. ‘‘Now it’s been more of [a], ‘We’re in a playoff spot. Let’s not lose it,’ type of vibe. No one’s saying that; it just kind of feels like it could be a little bit of that.’’
Results are vital at this time of the season, and Grichuk’s homer allowed time for an exhale. For the Sox’ clubhouse atmosphere, however, it goes deeper than that.
‘‘There’s the idea of added stress and pressure on the environment, which is a real thing,’’ manager Will Venable told the Sun-Times. ‘‘Felt it really heavy probably, like, four or five days ago. One of the last two games at home against Pittsburgh, I felt it leave.’’
How does a manager feel his team is in the right headspace while getting swept at home by the Pirates?
‘‘The best way to put it is there were just people pulling a bunch of pranks and having fun in the clubhouse,’’ Venable explained.
By that measure, third baseman Miguel Vargas donning his Justin Jefferson jersey and playing the ‘‘Skol!’’ chant on a speaker in the middle of the locker room Sunday morning, leaving his coaches to ponder what the existence of a Cuban Vikings superfan says about the nature of U.S. culture, is a sign of normality. An afternoon of more empty at-bats with the based loaded suggested otherwise.
Venable’s coaching tenure with the 2023 Rangers means he has helped shepherd a team through a late-season lull to postseason success. His time playing for the 2010 Padres means he has been on a team that grabbed a division lead in the middle of the summer and frittered it away in the end. More than just tightening up, he described the experience as everyone giving in to the inclination to ask, ‘‘What can I do?’’ to arrest the slide, the eternal baseball trap of trying to do too much.
So the Sox didn’t mind the absence of an out-of-town scoreboard in Busch Stadium that would have informed them exactly where the Guardians stood entering their three-game series Monday.
‘‘Just gonna treat it like it’s a normal day,’’ reliever Grant Taylor said. ‘‘Winning the division [and] getting a No. 2 seed seems to be better for the postseason. That’s what we’re more focused on instead of trying to win the division for the division’s sake.’’
That would be ideal. But the reality is everyone knows the winner of this series will emerge with the division lead, and the Sox need at least one victory to lock up the tiebreaker. It looms large for a reason.
‘‘We’re trying to win the division,’’ right-hander Sean Burke said. ‘‘Nobody goes into the season saying, ‘I want to make the third wild-card spot.’ ’’
Two weeks of somber postgame clubhouses have been more than quiet enough for the Sox to hear the Guardians’ footsteps. But now that this showdown has arrived, with the lead down to a half-game, it’s an opportunity to render some frustration irrelevant.
‘‘This is why you play,’’ infielder Colson Montgomery said. ‘‘This is determining your season. Come out flat, season is going to be over. I think we are going to be pretty juiced up for it, and it’s going to be fun.’’
‘‘Fun’’ doesn’t mean it won’t be the most stressful games of these young Sox’ baseball lives. But to the degree they have had big-league careers, it has taught them that even a chance to play in such a series is sacred.
‘‘How many people get the opportunity?’’ said right-hander Davis Martin, 29 and getting ready for the biggest start of his life Tuesday. ‘‘Every day in the playoffs is going to be stressful. Why not get a crack at practicing that right now?’’