Date Location Score Winner
9/30/26Daikin ParkSox 7–3Sox
Sox came out fighting once again in the first inning scoring 4 runs by capitalizing on two errors by Houston.

Chase Meidroth puts a dagger in the Astros players' and fans' hopes in the 6th. The Astros had pulled within one run. Meidroth hit a three run homer giving them a four run lead that would hold until the end. Sox take the WC Series 2-0!

Meidroth 2-3, HR, 3 RBI
Teel 2-5, R, RBI
Kay credited with the win going ⅔ IP
Sean Burke 4 IP, 4H, 3ER, 8Ks
9/29/26Daikin ParkSox 6–3Sox
Sox Win Game 1 in Wild Card. Chicago outhit Houston 11–6 and scored in five different innings. The pitching staff held Houston to six hits, and the Astros went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Antonacci: 2 RBI and scored the game's first run.
Colson Montgomery: 432-foot HR.
Hagen Smith: 3 scoreless IP.
Jordan Hicks: 1⅓ scoreless IP and the win.
Grant Taylor: 2⅓ IP, 5 K, finishing it.
9/30/26Petco ParkPadres 4–1Padres
Cubs Lose Game 2 in Wild Card. Cubs starter Kevin Gausman went 3.1 IP, 5 H, 3ER, 1K, 0 BB. Nico Hoerner: 2-for-4— had 2 of the Cubs’ 5 hits and drove in their only run.
Nick Pavetta's line: 3⅓ IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4K, 2 BB. The Padres relievers went the final 5⅔ IP giving up two hits and no runs.
Pete Crow-Armstrong: 0-for-4, 1 K, 0 BB, 0 SB.
Alex Bregman: 0-for-4, 1 K.
Cubs offense: 5 hits, 1 run, 8 Ks.
9/29/26Petco ParkPadres 8–0Padres
Cubs Lose Game 1 in Wild Card. Padres starter King was aptly named and had a line of: 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K (and a no-no into the 7th). While Cubs starter Boyd went: 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R/ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 3 HR.
Nico Hoerner: 2-for-4— had 2 of the Cubs’ 3 hits and broke up the no-hitter in the 7th.
Pete Crow-Armstrong: 0-for-3, 3 K, 1 BB, 1 SB.
Alex Bregman: 0-for-4, 3 K.
Cubs offense: 3 hits, 0 runs, 11 K—shut out 8–0.
2026 Playoff Scenarios/Notes

September 30, 2026
The White Sox come out strong again in game two— scoring four runs. Antonacci doubles, and a Teel single brings Antonacci around to score. Vargas reaches on an error by the third-baseman and Teel moves up to second. Benintendi says, "Next man up" and reaches on a single to CF, Teel scores, Vargas moves up and then scores on a throwing error by Spence (CF), Benintendi moves up to second base. Peters singles to right, Benintendi scores. So that makes? A lot actually. Let's tally it. No wait— Meidroth singles— Peters to second. A few batters later, hey look who has batted around? It's Antonacci. But this time he grounds out to second base. The Astros fans could be heard mocking the throw from the second-baseman as if to say, "Hey— no error occurred!" Sox up 4-0 and the 'Stros haven't even batted yet.

Steve Stone mentions on the Peacock TV broadcast that Sean Burke had a long delay waiting during the Sox top of the first and that may affect how he starts the game and Stone does what he always does, and somehow predicts the Jeremy Pena HR to lead off the Astros 1st inning. The leadoff HR is the only damage. Sox up 4-1 after one inning. Astros scoring by the long-ball. All solo HRs. Peña in the 1st, Smith in the 2nd, and Altuve in the 4th. Sox up 4-3 at the end of the 4th. Then this happened in the 6th inning...


After that, the bullpen held the Astros scoreless the rest of the way and the White Sox are moving on to the ALDS! "I am Japaneeeeeeeese!"

Meanwhile the Cubs exciting season (they led MLB with 13 walk-off wins) came to a drip, drip, drip of the water falling from the kitchen faucet type of ending. Each drop told you that something was occuring, but that it was annoying and needed to be fixed. Whether that fix was a new lineup, waiting for a pitch in your zone, or bringing in a new pitcher— are some of the questions that needed to be asked. In the second game of the Wild Card series vs. the Padres, the Cubs only managed one run. Add that run to the zero they put up in game one and it's pretty obvious that you can't win two games with one run. PCA, Bregman, and Busch were 0-20 in the two games. Chicks may dig the long ball but fans love getting them on, getting them over— and getting them in. None of which the Cubs did.

September 29, 2026
First of all, what the hell is a Daikin? Sounds like something I am going to see the doctor for and should have removed. The Sox now lead the best-of-three 1–0. This was a pretty damn encouraging playoff win because Chicago grabbed control immediately and never actually trailed. The young dudes didn't look overwhelmed whatsoever. Maybe they are just too loose to know the weight of this moment? It worked for the RedSox with Johnny Damon and the "idiots." They jumped Houston immediately, Smith looked completely comfortable, Antonacci delivered with runners on, Colson broke out of his slump with a moonshot, and Taylor slammed the door. And now it's Sean Burke vs. Hunter Brown on 9/30/26, with Houston facing elimination in Game 2.

This was the White Sox's first postseason win since October 10, 2021—and they're now one win from their first postseason series victory since the 2005 World Series against these same Astros.


Now the Cubs...Ooof!
How it all went to hell...On the first pitch. Matthew Boyd threw a changeup to Fernando Tatis Jr., and Tatis deposited it 405 feet into the center-field seats. It was the first leadoff postseason homer in Padres history. End of story. That's all you really needed to know. Seriously. That was the end of the game. You really want more? Alright...you asked for it. Two batters later, Manny Machado homered. In the third, Machado doubled home Tatis to make it 3–0, and Xander Bogaerts homered off Boyd in the fourth for 4–0. Still want more? I mean The Three Stooges are on Channel 32, or was it Channel 44? Maybe WGN? Or how about watching the Clemente movie they used to show during Rain Delay Theater?
Still here? Ok— Chicago baseball usually equals pain. I get it. More pain it is...Meanwhile, the Cubs were doing essentially nothing against Michael King. King took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Nico Hoerner finally broke it up with a one-out infield single that Machado tried his best to handle but it just ate him up. You could tell he felt horrible about not fielding it cleanly— by the look on his face. He probably wouldn't have gotten Nico at first, but who knows? Maybe the ghost of Buckner's hobbled knees would have tripped up Nico.

San Diego really buried the Cubs in the fifth. Jackson Merrill's two-run single made it 6–0, then a Carson Kelly passed ball (oops— like it mattered anymore) brought home another run for 7–0. In the seventh, Tatis singled, stole second and came all the way around when Kelly's throw (oops— like it mattered anymore) went into center field. Ah Cubbies were playing like the good old days. Game 2, current reporting has Kevin Gausman vs. Nick Pivetta. If there's one thing we know about the post-season is this— sometimes you know exactly what is going to happen and then one moment later— everything changes.

Don't think so? (I am writing this recap of yesterday's game and it's 9/30/26). A minute ago the Phillies were down 3-1 in the 8th of game 2 (down 1-0 in a 3 game series) and it looked really bad for them. Then a Schwarbomb and Harper follows it up with a dinger of his own and now it's 3-3. In the 10th, Alec sends a Bohm into the opposite field and over the wall for only his 2nd oppo field HR of the year. Phillies were out of it— until they weren't, and won game two— 4-3. One more thing... the Phillies/Braves game ended on an ABS challenge. The call was "ball" by the ump and J.T. Realmuto challenged and successfully won the challenge and the game. The computers are here... run for your lives! Where was I? Oh yeah— so let's see which it will be for the Cubs in Game 2? Same as it always is? Or new day— new game. You never know.

September 28, 2026
Off Days suck for fans. They are good for players to rest though. Especially those bullpens that have been overused down the stretch and in doubleheaders and other headers. Huh? Hey— it's an 'off day,' I said. So, let's move along...

Tomorrow: September 29, 2026: The White Sox will play at 4PM CST NBC/🦚 against the Astros (and hopefully no garbage cans will be involved) and the Cubs at 9PM CST NBC/🦚 against the Padres. Last year the Cubs took care of the Padres at home in the Wild Card round, but in 1984 against them... well— nevermind. If you need a little Chicago sports fix in the meantime, you can get ready for those games by watching the Bears play the Eagles on Monday Night Football. Playoff rosters will be submitted by 10AM Tuesday. Perhaps Justin Steele makes the roster?

September 27, 2026
Yesterday, the White Sox lost to the Rockies (58-103), who were the worst team in baseball once again. With the Guardians win over the Royals, the White Sox hopes of winning the division were gone— just like my beer, when a fan who was trying to catch a foul ball knocked into me. So, the White Sox have now gone from having a first round bye to being the #6 Wild Card team even though they will have a better record then the team they will be playing, which is either the Astros or the Rangers. At least the Sox know they will be going to Texas in either case. That team will have the worst record of any divisional champion...in MLB history. "Yee-haw, ride 'em cowboy.'"


The Cubs meanwhile were sitting in Tampa Bay waiting it out so that they could play the Tampa Bay, err, the Boston Red Sox in Tampa at Tropicana Field. If you hadn't read the section below, shame on you. But I will recap. Due to bad weather in Bostson, the Cub's schedule was moved around so they could play two on Friday, none on Saturday and then one on Sunday.

Now, that Sunday game doesn't matter really, so they can rest some players. It doesn't matter because the Padres won and by doing so, clinched home field advantage for the entirety of the three Wild Card games vs. the Cubs. Looks like I am getting a refund for my game 3 WC tickets at Wrigley. Maybe the Wrigley field concessions knew about this on Sept 24th, when I tried to order a hot dog and fries in the 4th inning and was told (at that concession stand only), we are out of hot dogs and french fries. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

September 26, 2026
The Cubs lost a doubleheader to the Green Monster and the Red Sox on Friday Sept. 25th— and have one game left. They are 1.5 games behind the Padres in the Wild Card standings. They maintain a .5 game lead over the Phillies who have two games left to play, and 1.5 game lead over the Diamondbacks in the Wild Card standings. They left Boston to play their final game in a neutral and domed stadium of Tropicana Field as Boston is being hit by a Nor'easter.

The White Sox's Montgomery sets single-season strikeout record of 224 whiffs— in a Sox win over the Rockies 6-1. Guardians can clinch AL Central with a win on Saturday Sept. 26th AND a White Sox loss. However the White Sox still have a chance to win their division, so "Don't Stop Believin'!"

If the season ended today...
Wild-card round: (6) White Sox at (3) Astros, (5) Red Sox at (4) Yankees
ALDS: White Sox/Astros vs. (2) Guardians, Red Sox/Yankees vs. (1) Rays
White Sox own tiebreaker over Guardians.

Wild-card round: (6) Phillies at (3) Braves, (5) Cubs at (4) Padres
NLDS: Phillies/Braves vs. (2) Dodgers, Padres/Cubs vs. (1) Brewers
Cubs own tiebreaker over Padres, Phillies, and Diamondbacks.