There were a lot of ways a magical Chicago White Sox season could have ended. This would be one of the worse ones.
Previously riding the high of a wild-card sweep of the Houston Astros and a 2-0 lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS, the White Sox crashed out of the playoffs on Saturday with a 2-0 loss in Game 5. They not only choked, they choked against a division rival they were taunting via music earlier this week.
Game 5 was no normal loss either. The White Sox were shutout, with José Ramírez’s homer producing the only two runs of the game. Collectively, Chicago went 3-for-30 at the plate with no extra-base hits.
And 21 strikeouts.
In a number that defies belief, 78% of the White Sox outs came via strikeouts. Munetaka Murakami — their No. 4 and 5 hitters and their two highest-paid position players — both posted golden sombreros: 0-for-4 with 4 strikeouts. Four other hitters struck out multiple times.
That total is an MLB postseason record for a nine-inning game (the 1996 Baltimore Orioles hold the overall record with 23 strikeouts in 12 innings, also against Cleveland).
It also breaks a record held by… the White Sox on Wednesday, when they struck out 19 times in Game 3. To reiterate: the White Sox, on the verge of a series win, posted the two games with the most strikeouts in regulation in the history of MLB. This team was strikeout-prone in the regular season — with shortstop Colson Montgomery setting the MLB single-season record with 227 — and that tendency bit them hard this series.
Munetaka Murakami had the biggest strikeout of the game.
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
In total, the White Sox broke the record for most strikeouts in a best-of-five series with 75, breaking the previous record of 64 according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs. Had this been a seven-game series, they almost certainly would have broken the overall record for a series, which is 82.
Plenty of credit is due, of course, to the Guardians pitching staff, particularly in Game 5. Starting pitcher Gavin Williams was untouchable for five innings, allowing his first hit in the sixth inning. By that point, he was up to 12 strikeouts.
Erik Sabrowski entered and defused the biggest threat of the game with a bases-loaded strikeout of Murakami. Hunter Gaddis took over from there and got all four of his outs via strikeouts. Then Cade Smith posted a five-out save, with four more strikeouts.
The Guardians used their best on Saturday, and it shows not only in the box score but in the record book. And now they’ll square off against another top pitching staff in the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS.