CLEVELAND — After spending nearly six months trying to separate themselves from one another, the Guardians and White Sox are right back where they started: facing head-to-head.
Chicago punched its ticket to the American League Division Series by sweeping Houston in the Wild Card round, finishing the job with a 7-3 victory Wednesday. The White Sox advanced to the Division Series for the first time since 2005 and now get another crack at the team that finished ahead of them in the AL Central.
Cleveland went 85-77 and won the division by one game over Chicago, which finished 84-78. The White Sox actually won the regular-season series 7-6 and outscored the Guardians 58-57, which is about as close as it gets over 13 games. Eleven were decided by three runs or fewer, seven were decided by one, and four ended in walk-offs.
The division race followed a similar script.
Chicago held at least a share of first place for 96 days, while Cleveland did so for 89. The Guardians finally moved into first by taking the Sept. 14-16 series at Progressive Field and never gave it back, but the White Sox remained close enough that Cleveland had to keep winning all the way to the finish.
Now none of that matters very much.
What matters is what comes next.
Game 1 of the best-of-five ALDS is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. at Progressive Field, with Game 2 set for Monday at 5 p.m. The series then shifts to Chicago for Game 3.
There will be plenty of time before Saturday to break down the pitching matchups, lineups, bullpens, and everything else that could decide the series.
For now, the matchup itself is enough.
Cleveland and Chicago spent the entire season fighting over the AL Central. Apparently, 162 games were not enough to settle things.
