The Guardians won both games in Chicago and now head home to see if they can solve their homefield woes and their inability to hit White Sox ace Sean Burke.
Make sure you read Jake’s great recap from last night here.
Patrick Bailey has a 145 wRC+ since I tweeted that his lack of offense probably made trading for him a mistake. (To be clear, this had nothing to do with the return for Bailey, which I always was clear was fine).
The Guardians internet sphere is going nuts about using Smith with a 5-run
lead. I have to say I find that crazy as someone who has watched a lot of Matt Festa this season and who watched Espino in Chicago on Wednesday. In regards to reliever familiarity, also important to read this from Mike Petriello who does not find reliever familiarity to be that significant of a factor. I like Smith’s chances of being fresh with 48 hours of rest and Vogt went to Gavin Williams at exactly the right spot last night.
Zack Meisel has an article about the Guardians bullpen.
Jose was chirping back at a hostile White Sox crowd yesterday. He now has a 185 wRC+ in the ALDS for everyone who said he was washed and unclutch (language warning):
All of baseball now waits for game five on Saturday at 8pm ET.
