The matchup is officially set, and it is one that has been well over a century in the making. The Chicago White Sox finished off a sweep of the Houston Astros in the American League Wild Card Series on Wednesday, setting up a division series showdown with the Cleveland Guardians. The two AL Central rivals spent the final month of the regular season battling for the division, with Cleveland passing Chicago in the last days of the season to claim the crown by a single game. Now they will meet again with a trip to the American League Championship Series on the line. As hard as it may be to believe for two franchises that have shared a league for so long, this is completely uncharted territory.
Saturday will mark “the first time in MLB history” that the White Sox and Cleveland have met in the postseason, as WKYC’s Nick Camino pointed out.
“Saturday will mark the first time in MLB history that the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland have met in the postseason. The White Sox began playing baseball in 1894 as the Sioux City Cornhuskers. The Guardians began playing baseball in 1896 as the Columbus Buckeyes/Senators,” Camino wrote.
Saturday will mark the first time in MLB history that the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland have met in the postseason.
The White Sox began playing baseball in 1894 as the Sioux City Cornhuskers.
The Guardians began playing baseball in 1896 as the Columbus Buckeyes/Senators.
— Nick Camino (@NickCaminoWKYC) October 1, 2026
Camino also noted just how far back these two franchises go. The White Sox trace their roots to 1894, when they played as the Sioux City Cornhuskers, while Cleveland’s history dates back to 1896 as the Columbus Buckeyes and Senators. Both clubs became charter members of the American League in 1901 and have been in the same division since the AL Central was created in 1994. Somehow, through all of those seasons, they have never faced each other in October.
Part of the reason is the way the postseason used to work. For most of the 20th century, the only playoff series was the World Series, which made a meeting between two American League teams impossible. Even after the postseason expanded, the timing never lined up for both clubs to be good at the same time and land on the same side of the bracket. That finally changes on Saturday.
The White Sox have taken a remarkable path to get here. Chicago went 60-102 last season and became the first team in big league history to reach the playoffs after back to back 100 loss seasons. The White Sox led the division for more than two months in the second half, built their success around one of the most productive offenses in the American League, and then went on the road to knock out Houston in their first postseason appearance since 2021.
Cleveland enters the series at 85-77 after going 24-11 over its final 35 games to win a third straight division title. The Guardians will lean on a rotation led by Parker Messick and AL strikeout leader Gavin Williams, and Steven Kwan has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball for months. The big question on the other side of the ball is whether José RamÃrez can find his swing after a rough final month.
Game 1 of the best of five series is set for Saturday at Progressive Field, with Game 2 to follow on Monday. Cleveland and Chicago have chased each other all summer. Now, for the first time in more than 125 years, they will settle things in October.
NEXT: Steven Kwan Makes Honest Admission About His Midseason Demotion
