{"id":817006,"date":"2026-09-29T07:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T07:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/817006\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T07:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T07:10:08","slug":"chicago-white-sox-3-keys-to-wild-card-series-vs-houston-astros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/817006\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox: 3 keys to wild-card series vs. Houston Astros"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2014 Colson Montgomery\u2019s pro career was just getting underway the last time the Chicago White Sox reached the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when I got drafted (in 2021)<\/a>, that was the last time we were in the playoffs,\u201d the shortstop said Sunday at Rate Field. \u201cFirst we were high on top of the world being in the playoffs, and then down years.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, (the) second half of last year was a huge step in the right direction. We talked about that a lot. That\u2019s what led into this year. I think Davis (Martin) or someone said we started off 6-13 (this season), and that definitely could have been a time where you\u2019re like, \u2018Well, here we go again.\u2019 But it\u2019s just not the mindset that we had. We all had belief and belief in ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

That belief has the Sox in an American League wild-card series against the Houston Astros beginning Tuesday at Daikin Park (4 p.m., NBCSN, Peacock).<\/p>\n

Here are three keys to the best-of-three matchup.<\/p>\n

1. Which star hitter will rise to the occasion?
\n\"AstrosAstros manager Joe Espada, right, presents Yordan Alvarez with a championship belt after defeating the Athletics 9-0 to win the American League West on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle via AP)<\/p>\n

The Sox know how dangerous the Astros\u2019 Yordan Alvarez can be at the plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou give him as much attention as you can, understanding how he can impact you,\u201d Sox manager Will Venable said Monday, \u201cbut also knowing that offering a free base can hurt you, too, with the quality of hitters that they have behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvarez finished the season first in the AL in batting average (.316), tied for second in home runs (42) and second in RBIs (106).<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think about what he did for (the) 162(-game) season. We couldn\u2019t be in this position without him,\u201d Astros manager Joe Espada said Monday, also noting Isaac Paredes\u2019 season (25 home runs, 94 RBIs).\u00a0\u201cThe year (Alvarez) had and what he brings to our team, having him on our side, he\u2019s a game changer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Astros had five players hit at least 20 home runs this year. The Sox have three 30-homer hitters in Munetaka Murakami (35), Miguel Vargas (33)<\/a> and Montgomery (31).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to do whatever it takes to help the team win,\u201d Murakami said through an interpreter Monday.<\/p>\n

Montgomery is looking forward to a reset after setting a major-league record with 227 strikeouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely something that you don\u2019t want your name to be a part of,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you can\u2019t be looking at so much of the negative stuff. I\u2019ve looked at a lot of the stuff we\u2019ve all done this year, and me personally, and felt like it\u2019s been a lot of positives.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially right now, I feel like for me to go into the dumps about what just happened and to be so upset about it and not try to get better in the position we\u2019re at as a team right now would be selfish. That\u2019s where my head is at.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. How will both managers handle the pitching in Game 1?
\n\"WhiteWhite Sox reliever Hagen Smith delivers to the Tigers in the fifth inning Sept. 18, 2026, at Rate Field. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Tuesday will be a battle of the bullpens.<\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on how some guys feel,\u201d Venable said, \u201cand as we are trying to match up availability with how these guys are feeling, we\u2019ll map it out with more certainty after these guys throw (during Monday\u2019s workout). But you can expect more of a bullpen-type game from us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sox later announced left-hander Hagen Smith will start. The Astros will counter with right-hander AJ Blubaugh.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Espada said they were \u201cworking through\u201d their pitching options for Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201c(It) will be a bullpen day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As for who will follow Smith, Venable said the Sox could go in many possible ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would anticipate less of a traditional bulk guy in there, although guys who you might have seen in bulk may pitch in shorter stints,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot on the table, but having a traditional opener followed by a three- or four-inning bulk guy is probably not how we\u2019re going to go about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. What will be the X-factor?
\n\"TheThe Astros’ Jose Altuve celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the White Sox during the first inning Sept. 3, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\n

Chase Meidroth rested two of the final three regular-season games as he recovered from a sore left hamstring. Venable said the second baseman is \u201cin a really good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pretty confident that he\u2019s going to be, maybe not 100%, but as close to a normal version of Chase as we can get right now,\u201d Venable said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one possible X-factor.<\/p>\n

Meidroth hit .304 (7-for-23) in the seven regular-season games against the Astros. But the Sox went 2-5 in those meetings<\/a> \u2014 including losing three of four Aug. 31-Sept. 3 at Daikin Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe time that we last played the Astros, not sure we were quite clicking on all cylinders there,\u201d Venable said. \u201cFeel a lot better about where our offense is coming into this one. At the same time, they beat us. It wasn\u2019t like we were making a bunch of errors all over the place and giving them extra bases. Sure, there was some of that, but they just beat us because they\u2019re a good team and they played better than us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to find a way. It starts with our pitching and trying to get some outs, especially early. Then we\u2019re going to have to find ways to score \u2014 and I think that we\u2019re in a better spot to do both of those things than we were the last time \u2014 but we\u2019ll see. Astros are a really good team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 Colson Montgomery\u2019s pro career was just getting underway the last time the Chicago White Sox reached…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[51211,42,5,1001,49,10448,3632,139,54,3211,4,2305,73,998,2264],"class_list":["post-817006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-astros","tag-al-wild-card-series","tag-astros","tag-baseball","tag-chase-meidroth","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-colson-montgomery","tag-hagen-smith","tag-houston","tag-houston-astros","tag-houstonastros","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-munetaka-murakami","tag-will-venable","tag-yordan-alvarez"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117353082471926336","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}