3 Chicago White Sox keys vs. Cleveland Guardians in ALDS, including how off days will shape pitching plans

CLEVELAND — Hagen Smith excelled as an opener for the Chicago White Sox in Game 1 of the American League wild-card series against the Houston Astros.

Smith looks to set the tone again as the starter of the AL Division Series opener Saturday against the Cleveland Guardians.

“Excited about Hagen for the same reason that we chose him in Houston, I think he gives us a really good shot up front here,” manager Will Venable said Friday during a workout day at Progressive Field. “Considering the lineup that we expect the Guardians to have, obviously the type of team that we know very well, Hagen is our guy.”

Smith allowed two hits and struck out one over three scoreless innings in the 6-3 victory against the Astros on Tuesday.

“It’s cool, obviously,” Smith said of Saturday’s assignment. “I want to go out there and do the best I can for the team.”

Parker Messick is starting Game 1 for the Guardians. He made four starts against the Sox in the regular season, going 2-1 with a 2.81 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 25⅔ innings.

“It’s just another time where we get to face a fun team and they get to face us,” Messick said.

Here are three keys for the best-of-five matchup.

1. What type of weapon will the off days be?

Game 1 is Saturday and the teams are off Sunday. Game 2 is Monday and the teams are off Tuesday before the series switches to Rate Field for Game 3 on Wednesday.

The schedule could help the clubs as they build their pitching plans.

“We are very much going to utilize these off days to help us best utilize our best pitchers,” Venable said. “And I think that’s one of the advantages of these off days for us and how we are built is that — we’ll use Hagen Smith and Grant Taylor as an example, we could potentially use them in each one of these first three games.

“That’s very, very helpful. They have a bunch of resilient guys over there, too, but as you look at the guys that you want to cover the most innings in this series, I don’t think it’s any secret Hagen and Grant are two of our best arms. These off days serve us well to be able to expose them to each one of these games if need be.”

The Sox will be mindful of usage.

“If we use Hagen for three innings, let’s say, tomorrow and he needs an extra day, maybe he’s not in the mix in Game 2, but we’ll take it game by game,” Venable said. “We can use our guys frequently up front here just knowing we have the off days.”

2. Will rest or rhythm prevail?

A common debate during this time is whether it will be more beneficial to rest/recover — as the Guardians had the opportunity to do with the bye. Or is it more important to maintain the rhythm established during the season — as the Sox did during the wild-card series.

Venable saw the opportunity for so many young players to get postseason games under their belt as a plus.

“That was a good environment as a playoff environment in which they felt the environment, they felt the leverage of different moments and have that experience under their belt now,” Venable said.

Tristan Peters was one of those players. The outfielder described his first postseason series as “incredibly fun, intense (and) stressful, honestly.”

“It’s just a different environment so far and it’s been a ton of fun,” Peters said Friday.

Venable noted that the sweep of the Astros did allow for the team to get a breather.

“Yes, it would be great to have the rest,” Venable said. “At the same time, kind of feel like we’re coming in rested. We didn’t have to totally gas out our pitching staff. These guys got two days off and they’re in a good spot. Hagen and Grant got three days off. So we feel like we got a little bit of both.”

3. How will familiarity factor into the matchup?

Just how tight were the regular-season games between the teams? The Sox held a 7-6 series edge, outscoring the Guardians 58-57.

“I think every game against them felt kind of like a playoff game the way that the games were played,” Sox left fielder Sam Antonacci said Friday.

It’s fitting the teams meet in the playoffs. Venable said the Guardians have threats up and down the lineup.

“The thing with the Guardians that will be driving a lot of our approach is if we give them free passes, they will beat us,” Venable said. “That means if we don’t catch the ball and we make errors, they will beat us. If we walk guys, they will beat us. If we allow a bunch of stolen bases, they will beat us.”

This is the third year in a row the Guardians have played a division foe in the playoffs (Detroit Tigers in the 2024 ALDS and 2025 wild-card series).

“There’s no secrets,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We know them. They know us. So it’s just go out and execute and let’s see who can win three games before the other team.”