Quick research (possibly incomplete) indicates the White Sox have played only one max-series playoff game ever: The 6-4 loss to Oakland in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series in 2020. But there are at least three other do-or-die regular season games as well, all having a direct impact on the postseason.
As we head into a very rare beast in the White Sox universe — a do-or die game for the White Sox and their opponent as we’ll have in this year’s ALDS Game 5 — let’s look back on the others in club history.
October 6, 1908
Regular season finale
Detroit Tigers 7, Chicago White Sox 0
The White Sox entered their final series of the season back at home, trailing first-place Detroit by 2 ½ games. So on the White Sox side, this was three straight do-or-die games (and, technically, their 3-2 win at Cleveland in their final road game of the year was do-or-die for the Pale Hose as well).
A 3-1 win in the Sunday opener of the series saw the White Sox strike for three in the first inning, and starter Doc White did the rest, holding Detroit to five hits in the complete-game win. The South Siders in fact struck just two hits in the game, but with no play-by-play data it’s hard to figure out how and why runs scored. Left fielder Patsy Daughterty had one of the team’s two hits, one of the two RBIs, and three steals to torment the Tigers. Despite the 15,000 capacity of the West Side Grounds, 26,000 fans were counted as in attendance for the game.
On Monday, the White Sox offense was much more robust, pounding out 11 hits in a 6-1 win that would make the season finale a nail biter for both teams. The 5-7 spots in the order (second baseman George Davis, shortstop Freddy Parent, catcher Billy Sullivan,) all had two hits apiece and drove home four of the team’s six runs. The Pale Hose staked Big Ed Walsh to a 5-0 lead by the fifth and the Chicago ace did the rest, striking out nine against one walk and four hits en route to his 40th win of the season. The White Sox were now just a half-game from a pennant and closer to first place than any day since June 24, with the title boiling down to the season’s final day.
On Tuesday, White was selected to go on two days’ rest and could face just four batters, touched for three hits and two runs with just a K to his name; next in was Walsh on one day’s rest, and he fared little better: five hits and three runs in 3 2/2 innings. Coupled with that was the death of the Chicago bats, who mustered just two singles, and desiccation of its leather, piling up SIX errors in the game.
And yes, the Chicago Cubs had clinched the National League pennant, so the baseball world was one game from a second all-Chicago World Series in three years. Detroit went on to roll over to the Cubs in the Fall Classic in just five games.
September 30, 2008
Game 163 Tiebreaker
Chicago White Sox 2, Minnesota Twins 0
Nearly a century later on the dot came the second time the White Sox saw their postseason hopes come down to the final day of the season, and just like the club of 1oo years previous it took a succession of wins to even reach a do-or-die game.
The White Sox had spent the vast majority of the season in first place, although never by more than six games. Over the course of the season the rival Twins had caught them, and even passed, several times over the course of the year. But just as the White Sox were enjoying their longest stranglehold on first of the year, three weeks comprising almost all of September, the Pirhañas struck back one last time — and perhaps with a fatal blow: A 7-6 win in 10 innings at the Twinkiedome had put Minny back in first with just three games to play (the White Sox had four remaining). Making matters worse, the White Sox dropped their next two contests, at home, vs. Cleveland. In what was becoming a race to the bottom, the Twins had also lost their next two games, keeping their lead wafer-thin, at a half-game.
Minnesota had one game left to play, a Sunday finale hosting Kansas City, an easy 6-0 win. The White Sox countered with a 5-1 win over Cleveland behind Mark Buehrle, forcing a makeup of a rain-postponed game from September 13, hosting Detroit. Game 162 for the White Sox was a hairy one, as former hero Freddy García faced his former mates and largely shut them down on two hits and one walk over a scoreless five innings. But the White Sox opened the sixth with a walk and stolen base from DeWayne Wise, running García from the game. Armando Galarraga wild-pitched Wise to third, and then to home, slicing Detroit’s lead in half, at 2-1. Three straight walks had packed the sacks, and on the first pitch from reliever Gary Glover, Alexei Ramírez did this:
It was a rookie record fourth grand slam for Ramírez, who also tied Albert Belle for the most grand slams in a season by a White Sox player. It was a fatal blow for the Tigers, and the White Sox pocketed win No. 88 on the season, 8-2.
Minnesota, forced into a tiebreaker game by the pesky White Sox, came to Sox Park for a do-or-die game for both teams, and it was a classic — the very first Blackout Game. John Danks was masterful over eight innings, yielding two hits and helped by an all-time great White Sox moment, as Ken Griffey Jr. gunned down Michael Cuddyer at home plate to end the fifth inning a scoreless tie:
Two innings later, Jim Thome led off the seventh inning with one of the best combinations of high-leverage and long distance in White Sox history:
The 1-0 lead held up, and the White Sox were postseason-bound after becoming the first and only team in major league history to win three straight games against three different opponents, regardless of the time of season or circumstance.
Michael Kenny recounted the game in 2018 in his 2008 White Sox retrospective for South Side Sox. The Cheat had the in-the-moment coverage for us in 2008, but sadly those stories (written in html code boxes?) are now just comprised of a few photographs.
October 1, 2020
Game 3, AL Wild Card Series
Oakland A’s 6, Chicago White Sox 4
On the heels of a late collapse during the pandemic season that saw the White Sox drop from first place to a first-round road assignment in the space of five days thanks to four losses in five games, the White Sox had rebounded nicely with a 4-1 win in Game at Oakland thanks to Lucas Giolito going six perfect innings to start the game, and seven strong. The A’s jumped on Dallas Keuchel early in Game 2 and held on for a 5-3 win, which forced the only do-or-die playoff game for both teams over the first 120 years of White Sox baseball.
In a game that saw the White Sox use nine pitchers and Oakland eight, the A’s advanced, 6-4, rallying from down 3-0 in the third.
The resulting outrage over Renteria’s pitching deployment in the game, punctuated by his hunched posture in the dugout during the game, was said to be the cause of his firing; I have long suspected Renteria was dismissed because he wasn’t willing to be demoted to bench coach to allow Tony La Russa to cosplay as a big-league manager one more time.
Leigh Allan had our recap coverage, with Joe Kiang-Resis providing the Six Pack.
With only one postseason do-or-die in 126 years of White Sox baseball, a win on Saturday in Cleveland will even the ledger at 1-1. It’s a tall order, and the similarities to 2020 (relative collapse down the stretch, completely taxed arms) are daunting. But Game 5 will be played, and the game starts 0-0 and runs nine innings. Let’s see how it plays out.
