Chicago also has righthander Sean Burke of Sutton and St John’s of Shrewsbury. He started Game 2 of the Division Series against the Astros and left the mound after four innings with a 4-3 lead.

Veteran lefthander Sean Newcomb, from Middleborough, made 60 regular-season appearances and is on the postseason roster. He pitched in 12 games (five starts) for the Red Sox last year.

Hard-throwing righthander reliever Jordan Hicks, who was terrible in 21 appearances for the Red Sox last season, went to Chicago in a salary dump before spring training and rejuvenated his career by becoming a solid late-inning option.

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The Red Sox included righthander David Sandlin in that deal. He made his major league debut this season and is on the postseason roster as a reliever.

The White Sox also have righthander Shane Smith (Danvers/Governor’s Academy) and righthander Mike Vasil (Wellesley/BC High) on their 40-man roster, along with former Red Sox lefthander Chris Murphy.

Manager Will Venable was the Red Sox bench coach under Alex Cora from 2021-22. He lived through 102 losses in 2025 and led the team to an 84-78 record this season before they bounced the Astros in two games in the Division Series while playing on the road.

“I’m really proud, and I’m really just happy for everybody who over the last few years had experienced White Sox baseball when it obviously wasn’t at its best,” Venable said.

It was the franchise’s first postseason series victory since winning the 2005 World Series.

“It’s such a storied franchise and [owner] Jerry [Reinsdorf] puts so much into this team, loves this team so much, and to be able to reward him and the city of Chicago feels really good,” Venable said. “I’m proud of the guys and certainly happy for them, as they’re probably the only ones in this country that believed that they could be in this spot, and they maintained that belief in the beginning of the season and went throughout the season maintaining that, and they made it happen. So it’s awesome to get to this point.”

When the White Sox host Game 3 of the Division Series against the Guardians on Wednesday, it will be their first home playoff game since Oct. 10, 2021.

Meidroth was the least-hyped prospect in the Crochet deal but has proven to be the most impactful major leaguer so far. The infielder’s 4.5 bWAR was second among Chicago’s position players this season. He is also one of the team leaders.

“We’ve got a young, hungry group, some veteran guys that we lean on. But it’s been the same all year. We believe we can win every game,” Meidroth said.

It helps to have the Pope on your side.

Pope Leo XIV, who grew up a White Sox fan, sent Reinsdorf a letter that arrived before the postseason. It said:

“It is my hope that the White Sox will continue to foster bonds of friendship and solidarity among people, and thus bear hopeful witness to the possibility of living and working together in peace.

“With these sentiments, I willingly invoke the Almighty’s abundant blessings upon you and your loved ones.”

Venable was happy to hear about it.

“The Pope having our back and supporting us means a lot,” he said.

Imagine if the White Sox win the World Series and the Popemobile leads the parade down Michigan Avenue?

For a second straight AL Wild Card Series, the Red Sox lost to Walpole native and Northeastern product Cam Schlittler and the Yankees.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

HUMAN ELEMENT

Scouts matter as difference-makers

That Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler grew up in Massachusetts is incidental to the larger point — that the Yankees place great value in what their amateur scouts have to say about prospects.

At a time when many teams, including the Red Sox, are laying off scouts and selecting players based largely on data and video, Rice and Schlittler remind us that area scouts can be organizational difference-makers.

Veteran Yankees scout Matt Hyde followed Rice and Schlittler throughout high school and championed them when they became draft-eligible in college. Rice signed for $125,000 as a 12th-round pick in 2021. Schlittler went in the seventh round a year later out of Northeastern and signed for $205,000.

“Matt Hyde is why I’m standing here,” Schlittler said the day before he shut down the Red Sox in Game 1. “He believed in me.”

Ray Fagnant, who scouts New England for the Red Sox, recommended both players, but the team passed.

The Sox had 13 area scouts at the beginning of this season and three people listed as “Acquisition Specialist, amateur scouting.” The Yankees have 21 area scouts and seven other scouts who are crosscheckers. The Dodgers have 19 area scouts and nine crosscheckers.

Dante Ricciardi, a well-respected scout who covered Florida for the Red Sox, left the organization to join the Dodgers last fall.

Schlittler posted a photo of Yankees fans celebrating on his Instagram after dominating the Sox. “I know this city got my back,” he wrote.

Left unsaid: Boston didn’t. He’s not wrong. The Sox selected four pitchers in the 2022 draft before Schlittler was picked, and they missed on the one who pitched two miles from Fenway Park. It looks bad now and will look even worse when Schlittler wins the Cy Young Award.

A few other observations on the Red Sox:

▪ There is no doubt Major League Baseball and the owners will lock out the players when the collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1. That means all communication between teams and players will cease.

That gives the Sox just under two months to work with Roman Anthony and his agents on a plan to get him fully healthy for 2027. Otherwise, it could be months before they speak again.

Once the lockout starts, players will lose access to team facilities and the athletic trainers and therapists who know them best.

Anthony’s health and his frustration with the situation need to be addressed well before the lockout.

▪ Adley Rutschman was 1 for 8 with three strikeouts in the two games against the Yankees. When Game 2 ended, Rutschman was one of the few players not in the clubhouse when reporters were allowed in.

He made a brief appearance after midnight, took some clothing from his locker, and disappeared behind the scenes again before anyone could ask for comment.

Rutschman is a three-time All-Star who is under contract through next season. You’d expect a player of his status to show some accountability and leadership in that situation.

Willson Contreras, Crochet, Sonny Gray, Caleb Durbin, and Wilyer Abreu were among the players who did.

Rutschman posted a .688 OPS in 32 games for the Sox after being acquired for a package that included fellow catcher Carlos Narvaez and three well-regarded prospects. He is under contract through next season.

▪ Another interesting postgame moment after Game 2 was Garrett Whitlock wondering aloud if the Red Sox would pick up his $8.25 million option for next season.

“I really have no idea what they’re thinking,” he said. “I guess I’ll find out soon enough.”

Whitlock had a 1.72 ERA over 54 appearances this season. It would seem like an easy decision to bring him back. Whitlock is the second-longest-tenured player on the roster, behind another righthander, Tanner Houck.

Among the several odd pitching decisions Chad Tracy made in the Wild Card Series was bringing Whitlock back for the seventh inning of Game 2 after he faced six hitters in the sixth inning. The Sox were trailing 8-2 at the time.

▪ Aroldis Chapman entered Game 2 in the eighth inning with the Sox down 9-2. He struck out Cody Bellinger, Luis Garcia Jr., and Spencer Jones, all swinging. Counting that game, Chapman pitched four times between Sept. 7-30 and wasn’t on the injured list.

Chapman’s 76 career postseason strikeouts are third all time by a reliever behind Mariano Rivera (110) and Kenley Jansen (94).

His take on the season?

“We need more offense,” Chapman said. “This was a good team, but we need to score more runs. Hopefully we make some moves.”

Chapman turns 39 in February. He is under contract for $13 million for next season. That could climb from $13.1 million to $14 million depending on how he fares in awards voting.

▪ Johnny Pesky will be posthumously inducted into the Croatian American Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 24 in Eastlake, Ohio.

John Paveskovich — he legally switched to Pesky in 1947 — was born in 1919 to Croatian immigrants who settled in Oregon. He was part of the Red Sox organization as a player, coach, manager, broadcaster, and special assistant from 1940 until his death in 2012.

The Hall of Fame class also includes former Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich.

Chris Sale started for the Braves and pitched into the seventh inning of Game 1 against the Phillies, then closed out NL Wild Card Series by getting the final four outs in Game 3.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

ETC.

Their kingdom for a starter

Nine games were played in the wild-card round of the postseason. Of the 18 starting pitchers, only Max Fried (Yankees), Michael King (Padres), Tyler Mahle (Braves), Chris Sale (Braves), Cristopher Sánchez (Phillies), and Cam Schlittler (Yankees) completed six innings.

Their respective teams won all of those games. The average start in that round lasted only 4⅔ innings.

In 2022, MLB lowered the number of pitchers a team could carry to 13 to encourage teams to let starters work deeper into games. Eight pitchers reached 200 innings that season, up from four in 2021.

But it dropped to four in 2024, three in ′25, and three again this season. Teams worked around the rules by loading up with pitchers with options and burning through them all season.

“We’re training pitchers to throw with maximum effort on every pitch, so of course they don’t go deep in games,” Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis said. “Change needs to start in the lower levels.”

The Guardians are trying. Three of their starters — Tanner Bibee, Parker Messick, and Gavin Williams — made at least 32 starts and pitched at least 184 innings this season.

The MLB Players Association has proposed limiting players to three optional assignments per season instead of five to reduce roster churn.

The league has proposed that teams set their rosters on Monday and not be allowed to make changes for a week, except for injuries, personal leave, trades, or waiver claims.

Teams shouldn’t be criticized for doing whatever it takes to win. But when a third of the starting pitchers in the first round of the postseason didn’t get to the fourth inning, something needs to change.

A packed house in New York celebrated Ben Rice’s grand slam in the Yankees’ Game 1 win over the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

Despite MLB’s insistence that fans are concerned with payroll disparity, they’re showing up at the ballpark. Attendance rose for a fourth straight year and hit 71.75 million. That’s the highest since 2017 and came with the Athletics playing at a minor league park in Sacramento. Attendance has climbed four straight years for the first time since 2004-07 … Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo agreed to a two-year extension. Both he and general manager Mike Hazen are under contract through 2028. Hazen would make both their jobs easier by finding a way to trade disruptive second baseman Ketel Marte … Surprise statistic: Sale has a 2.25 ERA in four postseason relief appearances but has a 6.68 ERA in eight starts … Jake Rogers has had quite the season. The 31-year-old backup catcher started the season with the Tigers, then was traded to the Orioles on July 30. After three games with Baltimore, he went to the Red Sox as part of the Rutschman trade. Rogers played three games with the Sox (3 for 6, two doubles) before being designated for assignment Aug. 11, when Rutschman was activated off the injured list. The White Sox claimed Rogers off waivers Aug. 14. Rogers played 18 games for Chicago and was on the postseason roster. That’s 58 games for four teams … The Mariners are the only team looking for a new manager right now. With Lovullo out of the picture, Rocco Baldelli is a leading candidate. Baldelli spent the season as a special assistant in baseball operations with the Dodgers. Former Mariner Raul Ibanez, another Dodgers executive, is an interesting candidate despite his lack of managerial experience … The Phillies lost the 2022 World Series. They were eliminated in the NLCS in 2023, the Division Series in 2024 and ’25, and now in the Wild Card Series. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has to do something to shake up what has become an underachieving group of players. Hiring Cora as manager isn’t enough … Carl Yastrzemski drove in 11 runs in the postseason during his Hall of Fame career. The last one came Oct. 22, 1975, in Game 7 of the World Series, when he singled off the Reds’ Don Gullett to drive in Bernie Carbo from third. It took nearly 51 years for another Yastrzemski to drive in a run in the playoffs before Mike Yastrzemski got it done for the Braves with an RBI single against the Phillies in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series … The Giants will keep Tony Vitello as manager despite suffering the fourth-most losses season in franchise history. During his end-of-season press conference with president of baseball operations Buster Posey, Vitello said he faced more challenges than expected. “This game is beautiful, and it’s also a pain in the ass,” he said … It always feels odd that the television broadcasters who guide fans through the regular season disappear once the postseason starts. But Michael Kay, who has called the Yankees on TV for 25 years, worked the Wild Card Series against the Red Sox for ESPN Radio with Eduardo Pérez and Tim Kurkjian. It was the first Yankees postseason game Kay called in 25 years. NESN’s Dave O’Brien had the Phillies-Braves series for ESPN Radio and is now working the Braves-Dodgers Division Series … Former Red Sox third base coach Brian Butterfield was inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame last Sunday. Butterfield was in professional baseball from 1979-2021. He spent five years as a minor league player before starting a long career as a minor league manager and major league coach. He was with the Sox from 2013-17 … Happy birthday to Chris James, who is 64. The outfielder and occasional third baseman finished his 10-year MLB career with 16 games for the Red Sox in 1995 after being acquired from the Royals on Aug. 14 for Wes Chamberlain. James was 4 for 24 and was not on the playoff roster. But he did drive in a run with a single off the Blue Jays’ Al Leiter on Sept. 23 at Fenway Park. James is the younger brother of former Patriots running back Craig James.

Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social‬.