The Chicago White Sox managed to stay alive in the American League Division Series on Sunday, scoring a comeback win over the Houston Astros in Game 3, but two historically-significant events occurred that may point to ultimate championship glory for the South Siders.
The White Sox, who trailed 5-1 at one point during the game, stormed back and won the game 12-6 behind an incredible offensive display that saw Yasmani Grandal and Leury García hit key home runs.
In fact, all nine members of the White Sox starting lineup collected at least one base-hit in the game, which is a rare feat for the South Side nine.
According to NBC Sports Chicago’s Christopher Kamka, Sunday marked only the second time that the White Sox have achieved that feat in a postseason game. The other occurred in 2005, when all nine White Sox starters collected base hits in a victory over the Astros in Game 2 of the World Series, which of course Chicago won.
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That isn’t the only World Series-level nugget of wisdom that Kamka pulled up. White Sox starting pitcher Dylan Cease was pulled from Sunday’s game in the second inning due to some control issues, but the team’s bullpen was able to lock things down and keep the Astros largely at bay for the remainder of the contest.
According to Kamka, the White Sox have not won a playoff game where their starting pitcher failed to pitch for at least two innings since all the way back in Game 5 of the 1917 World Series against the New York Giants.
The White Sox went on to win that championship as well.
Chicago Baseball
Even with those historic facts in mind, the White Sox still face a tough uphill climb in this year’s playoffs. It’s rare for teams to go down by two games in a best-of-five divisional series and to come back and win. The last time a team achieved that feat was in 2017, when the New York Yankees stormed back from an 0-2 deficit and beat the Cleveland Indians in five games.
The last time a team was able to erase an 0-2 division series deficit and win the World Series was back in 2012, when the San Francisco Giants were able to mount a comeback against the Cincinnati Reds.
Oh, and that Reds team was managed by none other than Dusty Baker, the current manager of the Astros.
