The Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros out of the American League Wild Card Series on Wednesday night, closing out a 7-3 win at Daikin Park to clinch the franchise's first postseason series victory since its 2005 World Series championship run.
The best-of-three series never left Houston, where the higher-seeded Astros hosted every game, but it was the White Sox who controlled it from the opening pitch of Game 1. Chicago won the opener 6-3 on Tuesday, then finished the job in Game 2 behind an early offensive outburst and another strong turn from its bullpen. The result, confirmed on the final wild-card scoreboard, sends the White Sox into the Division Series as the only remaining No. 6 seed in either league.
A Four-Run First and a Deep Night for Houston
Chicago jumped on Houston early in Game 2, scoring four runs in the first inning before the Astros' bullpen had settled in. Infielder Chase Meidroth put the game out of reach with a three-run home run, the decisive blow in a lineup that had little trouble finding the gaps in Daikin Park all series. The White Sox finished with seven runs on a mix of early-inning pressure and the long ball, enough support for a pitching staff that limited Houston's high-powered lineup to a trio of solo shots.
Houston's offense was built entirely around the home run in the finale. Cam Smith, José Altuve and Jeremy Peña each connected for a solo homer, but with no one reaching base ahead of them, the Astros never threatened to make up the four-run deficit they faced from the first inning on. It was a quiet end to a season in which Houston had claimed the American League West title on the final weekend, only to be bounced in the first round for the second time in four years.
For the White Sox, the sweep closes the book on a 21-year stretch without a playoff series win, a span that included a 101-loss season in 2023 and a multi-year rebuild that shipped out veteran names in exchange for the young core now carrying the roster. The last time Chicago won a postseason series, it swept the Astros in the 2005 World Series — a bit of symmetry the South Side has not let go unnoticed this week.
The turnaround has been gradual rather than sudden. Chicago finished the regular season well behind the division-winning Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central, backing into the postseason as the AL's No. 6 seed before the matchup with Houston. That path to the White Sox's current position has drawn plenty of skepticism from around the league all year, skepticism this series did nothing to validate for Houston.
Reaction around the sport Wednesday night centered less on any single player and more on the scale of the result: a team that lost 101 games two years ago knocking out a division champion in back-to-back road wins. Houston, by contrast, now faces an offseason of questions after another early postseason exit despite a roster built to contend.
What Comes Next
Under MLB's postseason reseeding format, the lowest surviving wild-card team draws the bracket's top overall seed in the Division Series. That sets up a trip to Florida for Chicago, with the Tampa Bay Rays — who clinched the AL East early and finished with the league's best record — waiting as the Division Series opponent. The Rays enter with a full week of rest after their bye, while the White Sox arrive on a three-game winning streak and the momentum of having already won two true road elimination games this month.
The Division Series schedule is expected to open later this week, with the away team from the Wild Card round — in this case, Chicago — opening on the road once again. For a White Sox team that spent most of the 2020s rebuilding from the bottom up, two more wins would put them within one series of their first World Series appearance since that 2005 championship season.
