On a rainy night in Cleveland, the White Sox and Guardians meet in Game 5 of the 2026 ALDS. Thanks to fantastic pitching from Guardians pitchers, coupled with inefficient at-bats by the White Sox, Cleveland advanced to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series.

Guardians take ALDS

The Guardians shut out the White Sox 2-0 to complete the series comeback, as Cleveland exited Game 2 down 2-0 before the club reeled off three wins.

Strikeouts by the White Sox were a key reason why Chicago was in this predicament. Gavin Williams, who closed out Game 4, continued the trend for Chicago, as he punched out 12 more Sox after a double-digit performance earlier in the series.

Overall, the Sox struck out 21 times. Munetaka Murakami and Andrew Benintendi each had four in the game for Chicago. Back to the pitching staff for Cleveland, Williams had a Whiff% of 44% in Game 5, and Erik Sabrowski (100%), Hunter Gaddis (50%), and Cade Smith (50%) followed up in kind.

The lone damage on the day came from Jose Ramirez. Ramirez, who was the hero in Game 4, hit a two-run home run off Sean Burke in the fourth inning. Cleveland’s lineup was productive at the top, as all four hitters in the top four (Steven Kwan, Ramirez, Chase DeLauter, Jo Adell) each had a hit.

Petey Halpin, inserted in the lineup for Game 5, had two hits.

Cleveland will face the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS. Tampa Bay defeated the Yankees in three games to advance earlier in the week.

What’s ahead?

Game 1 of the 2026 NLCS will take place on October 11 in Milwaukee. As for the ALCS, that will start in St. Petersburg starting on October 12.

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