White Sox Enter Critical Series 4 GB of Guardians in AL Central

The Chicago White Sox will open a three-game home series against the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago. The White Sox will need to sweep the Guardians in order to have a realistic shot at winning the American League Central.

The Cleveland Guardians knocked the Minnesota Twins out of contention Monday, completing a series in which the Guardians took four of five from the Twins in Cleveland. The Guardians won Monday afternoon by a score of 11-4.

Over the past week and a half, the Guardians played eight games against the Twins, going 7-1 over that stretch.

Now seven games back of the Guardians, standing at 73-74 with just over two weeks remaining in the 2022 Major League Baseball regular season, the Twins season is all but over.

The Chicago White Sox, who picked up a key 8-2 victory in Cleveland last Thursday, are the last team standing in the Guardians' way of their fifth playoff appearance in seven years.

The Guardians (80-67) lead the Chicago White Sox (76-71) by four games in the American League Central entering a critical three-game series in Chicago Tuesday.

In order for the White Sox to realistically have a shot at the playoffs, they will need to sweep the Guardians this week.

With a sweep, the White Sox would enter the weekend just one game back of the division-lead. If the Sox lose a game, they'll still be three games back of the Guardians, which would really feel like four games.

With Major League Baseball expanding its postseason to include 12 teams for the first time and introducing a new playoff format, there will be no more play-in games. If there is a tie between the White Sox and the Guardians for the American League Central title, the team with the better head-to-head record would advance to the postseason.

If the White Sox lose one of the three games, they would also lose the division tiebreaker.

For the White Sox, it's sweep or bust.