Guardians, White Sox renew AL Central rivalry as Division Series opens in Cleveland

CLEVELAND (AP) — Stephen Vogt and Will Venable don't need to pore over extra scouting reports as the Cleveland Guardians get set to host the Chicago White Sox in Saturday's Game 1 of the AL Division Series.

The AL Central rivals last faced each other two weeks ago, when the Guardians took two of three and moved into the division lead . Cleveland ended up winning its third straight division title and 14th since 1995.

Chicago won the season series 7-6 after Cleveland took 11 of 13 in 2025.

It's the third straight year the Guardians will open the postseason against a division opponent. They faced Detroit in the 2024 Division Series and in the Wild Card Series last year.

“There’s a little bit of a rivalry there because all three years that’s who you’ve been racing with to get in. There’s emotion. There’s a lot of things that make this series really exciting,” said Vogt, Cleveland's manager. “I do think there’s no secrets. We know them. They know us. So it’s just go out and execute and let’s see who can win three games before the other team.”

Venable pointed out that only one run separated the teams this season. Chicago had a 58-57 edge.

“I mean, it really has been crazy kind of the back and forth that we’ve had all year. So we’re excited about the opportunity to play these guys, but we know full well how challenging it is to beat them,” the White Sox manager said.

Chicago comes in with momentum after its two-game Wild Card Series sweep at Houston. Nine players made their postseason debuts in that series, including second baseman Chase Meidroth and catcher Kyle Teel. Meidroth went 4 for 7 with a homer and four RBIs against the Astros, while Teel was 3 for 10. Teel also was successful on all five of his ABS challenges behind the plate.

Cleveland (85-77) has the third-youngest lineup in the American League and used 145 different batting orders this season. Depending on final roster decisions, the Guardians could have as many as seven players making their postseason debut, including Jo Adell, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Angels near the trade deadline.

Both teams will send rookies to the mound in Game 1 with Chicago’s Hagen Smith opposing Cleveland’s Parker Messick. According to Sportradar, it will be the 23rd postseason game in which both teams used a rookie starting pitcher.

Chicago will begin the series with a bullpen game. Smith will be the opener again after throwing three scoreless innings in Tuesday’s 6-3 victory at Houston in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series.

Smith (3-3, 1.29 ERA) made three appearances against Cleveland in the regular season, going 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA. The left-hander allowed the go-ahead run during the sixth inning of Cleveland’s 6-3 victory on Sept. 16 that moved the Guardians into the AL Central lead.

“I think he gives us a really good shot up front here. I do feel like we can lean on some of the bullpen arms to get us through some bulk here and Hagen is as good as any for us,” Venable said.

Messick (12-9, 2.56 ERA) will go against the White Sox for the fifth time this season. The left-hander is 2-1 with a 2.81 ERA and has won his last two starts against Chicago.

“Every lineup you’re going to face is pretty good. And I’ve got just as much information on them as they do on me, so I think it’s just best stuff on best stuff and whoever executes more pitches is going to win and whoever hits more mistakes is going to win,” Messick said.

The heartiest of White Sox fans, including Pope Leo XIV , could have envisioned their dramatic turnaround from three consecutive 100-loss seasons to winning their first postseason series in 21 years.

Vogt saw signs beginning last season that Chicago's rebuild would take root.

“I thought they had some really good players last year but records don’t always tell the full story of a team. You could tell at spring training (this year) this is going to be a different team. What they’ve done putting it together has been really cool,” Vogt said.

Cleveland is batting .255 since the Aug. 3 trade deadline, second-best in the American League. The Guardians were 14th with a .231 average before adding Adell and Nathaniel Lowe. Adell had a team-leading 32 RBIs since coming to the Guardians while Lowe drove in 27, including a big league-best eight sacrifice flies.

Steven Kwan's .353 batting average since the All-Star break was best in the majors.

While Cleveland was the only team in the majors without a batter who hit 20 home runs, Chicago had three with at least 30. Japanese rookie slugger Munetaka Murakami led the way with 35, followed by Miguel Vargas (33) and Colson Montgomery (31).

Vargas went 14 of 46 with three homers and 10 RBIs against the Guardians this season. Montgomery also had three homers but was 9 of 47, and Murakami went 3 of 19 while going deep twice.

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