It’s only July 4th weekend, and the Cleveland Guardians are already playing pennant-race baseball. Locked in a struggle with the Chicago White Sox for first place in the AL Central over the past few months, any game between the teams has taken on an added importance.
After a three-game series in Chicago last week, the Guardians and White Sox opened a four-game set at Progressive Field on Thursday. Cleveland prevailed when Brayan Rocchio hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth for a 6-5 victory.
In the bottom of the seventh, Guardians pinch-hitter David Fry hit a solo homer to set the stage for Rocchio’s heroics, which he believes sends a message about the tight division race.
“There’s a lot of season left,” Fry told MLB.com. “We’re gonna play these guys a lot more times. But at the end of the season, it usually comes [down] to one or two games. If it’s going to be between us and them, obviously every game is big.”
Entering the game Friday, Cleveland and Chicago are tied for first place. Each of the four games between the teams this season has been decided by one run, and each team has won two of them.
The White Sox took the first two at home at Rate Field, 6-5 and 2-1, respectively, before the Guardians avoided a sweep with a 6-5 extra-inning victory on June 24. On Thursday, Chicago built a 5-2 lead before Cleveland rallied for the win.
After playing three more games this weekend, the teams will meet again from Aug. 7-9 for a three-game series in Chicago. They wrap up their season series with a three-game set in Cleveland from Sept. 14-16, which could go a long way toward deciding the AL Central winner, with just nine games remaining after that.
The Guardians certainly know that every game is important, no matter who they’re facing. Last year, entering play on July 4, Cleveland was 12.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers for the division lead. It still trailed by 10.5 games on Labor Day.
But the Guardians authored a historic comeback to win the division on the final day of the season. That included five wins in six September games against the Tigers.
With the third-place Minnesota Twins just four games back entering play Friday, there could be even more important head-to-head matchups over the second half of the 2026 season.
NEXT: Brayan Rocchio Earns Notable Defensive Honor
