A historic opportunity was within the Chicago White Sox’s grasp, but two losses later, the dream is suddenly hanging by a thread. After an impressive 84-78 regular season, the White Sox stormed into the 2026 postseason. They swept the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Series. They won the first two games of the ALDS against the Cleveland Guardians. For a franchise that hasn’t clinched a postseason series at home since 1906, one more victory would have ended a 106-year drought. But Cleveland had other plans, turning the series on its head with back-to-back wins to force a decisive Game 5.

Now, with their postseason fate resting on a winner-takes-all showdown, the White Sox are facing questions about whether the mounting pressure has finally caught up with them. Yet former White Sox World Series champion A.J. Pierzynski rejects the narrative that Chicago has crumbled, attributing the losses instead to a specific tactical failure.

“I don’t agree with the pressure because they’re playing at home. It was just two bad games,” Pierzynski said in a Foul Territory podcast with Erik Kratz.

“To me, it looked like a team that started to get a little bit exposed. But also possibly the Guardians started to change their approach. The Guardians realized, like, we’re full swinging against Grant Taylor, and the ball is not even going to the warning track. We are going to start taking pitches, elevating them to the opposite field,” Kratz responded.

Chicago’s 2026 postseason start was dominant: they won 4 consecutive games (2 Wild Card, 2 ALDS). So, entering ALDS Game 3 at home after winning 4 consecutive road games suggests there was not much pressure on the White Sox, rather adrenaline.

Yet the analysts saw a different culprit:

Grant Taylor’s sudden collapse in Game 4 exposed a critical weakness.

Taylor appeared in three ALDS games, but his sudden sixth-inning collapse in Game 4 unraveled everything. The hard-throwing rookie reliever had been the absolute hero of the series, preserving early wins with rare multi-inning efficiency.

In Game 1, Taylor threw 4 scoreless innings for a 3-0 shutout, becoming the sixth pitcher ever to earn a 4+ inning postseason save, and the first with 6+ strikeouts and zero walks. He got more innings than the team’s starter (Hagen Smith pitched 2 2/3 innings).

In Game 2, he was tasked with a four-out save scenario on only one day of rest.

Taylor threw 7 pitches, all of them strikes, to secure a 2-0 series lead for Chicago. Even before his high-leverage ALDS outings, Taylor had already logged an intense 54-pitch, 2.1-inning performance during Game 1 of the Wild Card round against Houston.

Taylor didn’t enter in Game 3, and the White Sox’s bullpen collapsed.

Bryan Hudson and Hagen Smith struggled heavily with control, issuing three walks in the top of the third inning. Still, Chicago kept the game tight at 5-3 till late, but their relievers surrendered four runs in the final two innings, turning a competitive game into a 9-3 blowout.

Despite Taylor not being in Game 3, fatigue caught up when he returned for Game 4 because of 4th postseason appearance.

He was sent to halt a sixth-inning Cleveland rally after Anthony Kay yielded a game-tying double to Travis Bazzana. Instead, he surrendered an RBI single to Patrick Bailey, followed by base hits to Jose Ramirez and Chase DeLauter. Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan were walked.

Taylor threw 18 pitches, gave up 4 hits and 2 walks, and failed to record an out, turning a 4-4 tie into a 7-4 deficit. His ERA plummeted to 4.70.

“They’re making contact. … When you walk guys, they make you pay. We were able to get away with it a couple times the first couple of games. These last two just weren’t able to,” Chicago manager Will Venable said.

But currently, Chicago’s pitching staff looks nothing but gassed. Losing the do-or-die Game 5 would mean the White Sox would immediately transition to offseason mode and analyze their taxed, bullpen-heavy pitching architecture that ran out of arms under the pressure of back-to-back postseason games.

Now, on Saturday, Chicago will come back to Cleveland with a chance to stun Progressive Field, which they couldn’t do at Rate Field, failing to end their 120-year postseason drought at home. Sean Burke will start in Game 5, who is likely their most reliable starter this postseason.

With a 1.04 ERA against the Guardians in three regular-season appearances, and allowing one run in 5.1 innings in Game 3, Burke seems the White Sox’s best hope to go deep. With that, most of their high-leverage relievers would be available, along with Taylor.

“I’m going to be available for anything,” Taylor noted. “They want me to go nine, then go for it. I’m going to do everything in the next couple of days to be ready to go and put my body on the line for this team.”

Countdown to an exciting yet stressful Game 5 begins.