In the hushed environs of a post-playoff loss clubhouse, as White Sox players are asked how they can possibly get themselves ready to win a do-or-die Game 5 in Cleveland after a pair of devastating home defeats, there are reminders that this is a game played largely by 20-somethings.
“We’ve got to get on an airplane,” deadpanned outfielder Sam Antonacci. “That’s what it takes to get there.”
The locker room atmosphere in the wake of the Sox spurning an opportunity to clinch a postseason series in front of their fans for the first time in 120 years wasn’t happy or glib. But if the two members of their position player core whose on-field demeanors are most likely to be described as “intense,” “scary,” or “scary intense,” were immediately putting things in perspective, dented morale isn’t the great challenge the White Sox face to reach the American League Championship Series.
“We get more baseball, not everyone gets that,” second baseman Chase Meidroth said. “Nobody thought ‘Maybe this will go 3-0,’ no shot. Those guys can baseball and so can we. It’s a dogfight and everyone knew that coming into it.”
If anything, the Sox spent their doomed homestand assuring that their season-long preference for playing from behind, or defying expectations, wouldn’t hamper their efforts to close out the ALDS while comfortably ahead. Now playing a win-or-go-home game in hostile territory, they are back to standard operating procedure.
“We’ve shown that all year,” said outfielder Tristan Peters. “We’ve lost games, and we come right back. You just can’t dwell on these kinds of losses. All you can do is look forward.”
Besides, anyone can see the White Sox’ issues are more tangible. Rookie Hagen Smith, pitching on back-to-back days, couldn’t throw enough strikes to complete the first inning on Thursday night. Grant Taylor, stretched to new lengths all postseason, didn’t allow much hard contact while failing to retire any of the six batters he faced. But 18 pitches from Taylor without a swinging strike is a red flag of its own.
The Sox have relied on bullpen games in the name of leaning on their strengths, but to the point that their relievers are no longer an available strength. Game 5 starter Sean Burke is fully rested, but was in the bullpen during Game 4 preparing to pitch had the Sox come back.
“There’s only so many guys on our roster,” said manager Will Venable. “We’ve got outs to get and we gotta go with the guys you think would be the best chance to do it.”
That’s not the most encouraging status report for the freshness of White Sox arms. But it would be a mistake to gawk at the pitching resources exhausted by Venable and ignore the measures Guardians manager Stephen Vogt took to catch him.
Game 5 starter Gavin Williams threw 18 pitches to get the last three outs on Thursday, which the Guardians have sold as just a more intense version of his mid-week bullpen, but is something the right-hander has never done before two days a start in his pro career. Cleveland’s five-best relief arms have all worked three times or more already, with Hunter Gaddis and All-Star closer Cade Smith working each game of the series.
“When you have to play three-straight elimination games, there’s going to be some high volume,” Vogt said. “There’s going to be some unorthodox things that need to happen.”
If recent White Sox history is a lesson, maybe nothing can protect them from annihilation if Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez, troubled by his aching left wrist for most of the year, is as fully operational as his last two games suggest. But in measuring out how both teams have wrung out their bullpens like a wet towel for the last four games, it matches what the ALDS series standings already shows.
For better or worse, they’re even.
“Good pitching, good lineups,” Burke said. “I think we match up.”