White Sox, Guardians heat up AL Central race
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CLEVELAND -- Stephen Vogt and the Cleveland Guardians are used to the late-season pressure of trying not only to clinch a postseason spot, but also to win a division title.
That experience showed during their series against the Chicago White Sox.
After dropping Monday’s opener, the Guardians rallied to win the last two games and took sole possession of first place in the AL Central for the first time since July 3.
Wednesday’s 6-3 win moved the Guardians (78-75) one-half game ahead of the White Sox (77-75). Cleveland was off Thursday before starting a three-game series against the Athletics tonight. That’s followed by a six-game trip to Boston and Kansas City to end the regular season.
The White Sox -- looking to become the first team in major league history to make the postseason after losing 100-plus games in each of the previous two seasons -- could move back into a tie atop the division with a win over Detroit Thursday night to start a four-game series.
But the Tigers, currently five games back of the Sox at 72-80, could move within a game of Chicago with a sweep of their four-game road series that ends Sunday. Though the Sox currently hold down the final wild card spot, a Tigers’ sweep doesn’t guarantee they’ll be within a game of the playoffs at that point, considering that Texas, Toronto and Baltimore stand between Detroit and Chicago in the AL standings.
After facing the Tigers, Chicago ends the season with three games at Kansas City and hosting Colorado for three games. Detroit hosts NL teams Washington and Pittsburgh to end its regular season.
The Chicago White Sox’s Sam Antonacci, left, advances to third base past Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez in the sixth inning in Cleveland on Tuesday. (AP photo)
The White Sox have dropped seven of nine and 12 of 17, but manager Will Venable was trying to keep a tight focus.
“Regardless of how this series went, we knew that this wasn’t going to define how the end of this year goes for us,” he said. “So yeah, tough to not have that lead, but at the same time, we got a long way to go here.”
The Guardians’ road to a playoff spot this season is a cakewalk compared to last year, when they had the greatest September comeback in baseball history. They were 69-70 and 11 games behind the Tigers on Sept. 4 before going 15-1, including a 10-game winning streak. The previous biggest margin overcome in September was 8 1/2 games by the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals.