Guardians Stay Alive: 9-3 Game 3 Rout Sets Up a Must-Win Thursday in Chicago

CHICAGO — José Ramírez had gone hitless in six at-bats through the first two games of the ALDS, and the Guardians' season was down to nine innings on a Wednesday afternoon at Rate Field. Then the franchise cornerstone did what franchise cornerstones do: 2-for-4 with a triple, a double, two RBIs, two runs and a walk — plus a diving stop at third base in the sixth that took away a bases-loaded hit. Cleveland 9, Chicago 3. The Guardians are still alive, and now the White Sox have to win one more game to do what no South Side team has done since 1906: clinch a postseason series at home.

Game 4 is Thursday at Rate Field — first pitch at 5 p.m. ET, or 8 p.m. ET depending on the Rays-Yankees series, per the Akron Beacon Journal. Cleveland's season is on the line. Chicago is one win from the ALCS. Our ALDS Game 3s roundup has the full Wednesday picture; this is the Game 4 preview.

The 9-3 rout: how the Guardians refused to go quietly

Chicago struck first when catcher Kyle Teel doubled in the game's first run, and for a moment it looked like the White Sox might roll right through the clincher. Then Cleveland's offense — three runs and seven hits across the first two games combined — finally detonated.

Jo Adell's bases-clearing triple keyed a four-run third. Ramírez scalded a 106.5-mph double off White Sox rookie Noah Schultz in the fifth, swiped second and scored on a fielder's choice. And in the eighth, with two on and two out, he lined a triple down the left-field line just out of the reach of a diving Sam Antonacci, scoring both runners to make it 7-3. Angel Genao and Brayan Rocchio drove in ninth-inning runs, Cade Smith closed the door, and a six-run cushion meant even the closer's usage stayed manageable.

The numbers were historic in the margins: Cleveland hit two triples in a postseason game for the first time in franchise history — the first major league team to do it since the Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series. Guardians pitchers struck out 19, a postseason franchise record for White Sox batters, per theScore. Adell, Ramírez, Bailey and Rocchio each had two of the team's 11 hits. And none of it happens without the sixth-inning defense — Ramírez's diving stop at the hot corner took a potential bases-loaded hit away from Miguel Vargas and kept the game from tilting.

The crowd of 40,590 — the franchise's first home playoff game since 2021 — had nothing to cheer in the late innings. It was Chicago's first postseason loss this year.

Thursday's matchup: Messick's moment, Chicago's mystery

Cleveland's season rides on a 25-year-old left-hander's right — well, left — arm. Parker Messick gets the ball on normal rest after allowing two runs over 4 1/3 innings in Game 1, and NBC Sports' Rotoworld desk isn't underselling it: this is, in their words, “the most important outing of his young career.” He has the chance to force a winner-take-all Game 5 back in Cleveland.

The White Sox, remarkably, had not named a starter at research time — and said plainly, that is part of the story. Manager Will Venable has options from a staff that has carried this team all October: Davis Martin, Sean Burke, Noah Schultz, Erick Fedde, Hagen Smith and David Sandlin are all on the table. Burke worked as the bulk pitcher in Game 2, high-leverage reliever Hunter Gaddis has already been deployed in big spots, and Grant Taylor — 42 pitches in Game 1, then five pitches to close Game 2 — has covered 5.1 innings across two appearances. Venable can mix and match; the question is whether he opens with a traditional starter or goes straight to the bullpen game that modern October loves.

If Cleveland wins Thursday, the series goes back to Ohio for a Game 5 on Saturday — and Gavin Williams is likely to start the decider for the Guardians, per the Beacon Journal.

The White Sox's impossible season meets its first real test

Step back for a second and appreciate what Chicago is trying to close out. This is a franchise that went 60-102 a year ago and lost 324 games over the previous three years. Then they swept the Houston Astros in the wild-card round, won their first four postseason games, and walked into Wednesday with the AL Central champions on the ropes. Nobody saw this coming — not like this.

Now comes the hard part. The White Sox last clinched a postseason series at home in the 1906 World Series, per the Associated Press — Jiggs Donahue and George Davis beat the Cubs in Game 6, more than a century ago. The Guardians, for their part, haven't reached the ALCS since 2005. One of those droughts is going to feel a lot longer by the weekend.

Remember how this series started, too: Chicago took Game 1 3-0 in Cleveland on Oct. 3 behind Munetaka Murakami's 440-foot two-run homer, then Game 2 4-3 on Oct. 5 — a comeback win sealed when Grant Taylor, two days after throwing 42 pitches in Game 1, finished it himself on five pitches in the ninth. This team has already shown it can win the weird ones. Thursday asks them to win the expected one.

What I'm watching

Three things. First, whether Ramírez is actually awake. He was hitless in six at-bats through Games 1 and 2, and Wednesday looked like the real José — the double was 106.5 mph off the bat, the triple went to the opposite field with two outs, and the defense was the best play of the game. If that version shows up Thursday, Cleveland's lineup looks completely different.

Second, Messick the second time through. The White Sox saw him for 4 1/3 innings in Game 1 and managed two runs; now they get the scouting report and the adjustments. Young pitchers in elimination games either rise to it or the moment gets too big — there is no in-between, and Thursday will tell us which one Messick is.

Third, Venable's starter announcement — whenever it comes. An opener-and-bulk plan says Chicago wants to steal outs early and lean on the bullpen that got them here. A traditional starter says they trust the rotation to do what it did in the first two games. Either way, the White Sox are one win from the ALCS, and the Guardians are one loss from going home. That's October. More MLB postseason coverage is right here.