Pushed to the brink, White Sox need to relocate their resolve after dropping 2 at home

White Sox catcher Kyle Teel said it best.

"Baseball's a funny game," Teel said.

If this one was funny, only the Guardians were laughing in the opposing clubhouse on Thursday after Cleveland's six-run sixth inning blew open a game the Sox couldn't come back in.

A 9-5 final sends this game back to a winner-take-all Game 5 in Cleveland.

Before then, a wounded White Sox clubhouse has to muster up all its resolve for that one decisive game that will decide who goes to the ALCS, and who goes home.

"We're not done," White Sox centerfielder Tristan Peters said. "This isn't done."

What they're saying:

The White Sox are a confident bunch. Why shouldn't they be? They're playing with house money in a season where they're playing in a game no one thought they'd be in.

It looked like it was going the Sox's way, too.

They chased starter Parker Messick from the game after gaining a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Cleveland fought back, though.

The team that won the AL Central in the last two years and was in the ALCS in 2024 wasn't going to lay down. Jose Ramirez's two-run home run on top of his Wednesday RBI-triple was a sign of that, too.

The Guardians have swung the momentum back to Cleveland, literally. They're a win away from the ALCS for the second time in three years. They're looking like a team that's been there before.

After four wins to start the postseason, White Sox are looking like a team that hasn't been there. They had to either locate the resolve they had in those first few games, or find a new one quickly. This is where a young team learns to grow up, or has to wait an entire year to learn that lesson.

To win that Saturday game, Teel said the team has to stick to its strengths. 

"From a pitching standpoint, it's just leaning on what you do well," Teel said. "From a hitting standpoint, you got to grind out at-bats."

It's different now. The White Sox got away from what they did well. Instead of drawing walks and getting that timely hit, the White Sox have struck out 30 times in their two games at home.

That's brought them to the brink when they were far away from it.

What's next:

The White Sox are wounded. Especially after that disastrous sixth inning sucked the life out of Rate Field.

It doesn't mean they're in despair. They've already won in Cleveland. For as much talk as there has been about how evenly matched this series is, the White Sox have beaten Cleveland nine times so far in 2026.

They just need to get that 10th win. How they get there doesn't really matter. 

"We've been playing with our backs on the wall all season," pitcher Grant Taylor said. "We won two games there already. It's just winning one game."

Still, the wound was apparent. A White Sox clubhouse that's been fun and joyous all season understandably looked like they'd taken one on the chin.

This is what playoff baseball is about. The White Sox found that out first hand.

But, they're holding on to the fact there's one more opportunity. Win, and the Sox further a year that's been one of the best stories in baseball. Lose, and a stellar season would come to an end, right when it felt like more was on deck.

That's decided in a winner-take-all Game 5.

"That's why you play baseball," White Sox outfielder Sam Antonacci said.

It all depends on whether or not this team can take the next step in front of the baseball world on Saturday.

"We're not done," Peters said. "Why can't we do it again?"