Taylor Made: White Sox Shut Out Guardians To Capture Game 1
When the Chicago White Sox pushed aside the Houston Astros in a Wild Card sweep, they set up a tilt against a familiar opponent. The Cleveland Guardians are the hereditary rulers of the AL Central, and they nipped the Sox by a single game this year. But other than playing in the same division and having nearly the same record, the two teams present quite the clash in styles. The White Sox are a group of young guys who hit home runs. The Guardians are a group of veterans who play small ball. It’s so compelling that it’s hard to find any other way to look at the series.
The difference between the two teams was on display immediately in Game 1. The Guardians sent Parker Messick to the mound for his first playoff start. He’s one of the best starters in baseball, and he’d be the Rookie of the Year favorite if Kevin McGonigle weren’t from another planet. The White Sox countered with opener Hagen Smith, coming off of an electric three innings against Houston. The White Sox aren’t deploying a “rotation” in the way you’d normally think of one; they’re heavy on multi-inning relievers and light on true starters, so their games are mix-and-match, while the Guardians hope to run their starter out for a decent stretch, then turn the game over to a series of one-inning relievers.
That’s the kind of game plan you can execute against the White Sox if you’re sharp enough. Messick came out a bit scattershot, walking Miguel Vargas and surrendering a hard-hit single to Munetaka Murakami in the first. But he also posted six strikeouts through the first three scoreless innings, the exact kind of numbers you’d expect against the aggressive White Sox lineup. Messick leans on his fastball, and he works the edges. That mattered more today, because to put it charitably, home plate umpire Cory Blaser’s strike zone was uneven. Five of those six strikeouts came on called strike threes, though White Sox hitters were clearly under dugout orders not to challenge early. A particularly egregious pitch to Randal Grichuk – 3-2 count, two inches off the plate outside – got Messick out of the third, and quite frankly, the combination of stuff and zone looked incredibly inhospitable to the White Sox.
Ben is a writer at FanGraphs. He can be found on Bluesky @benclemens.
It was almost painfully obvious early on that the hitters on both sides were instructed to save the challenges for the catchers, which was weird given the bad strike zone.
But also, Grant f’ing Taylor!!!! He has thrown more than 40 pitches in a game, just not in the regular season. He threw 54 a few days ago against the Astros in the WC round.
It is too bad there wasn’t a chat while Taylor was going 4 while striking out 6. The chat room would have been on fire yelling at Venable. It was great seeing a pitcher do what was commonplace in the days of Gossage, Fingers, Sutter, McGraw and too many more to mention who routinely did what Taylor has done, not once but twice in a span of 5 days. He threw 54 in his 2.1 outing in Game 1 and “only” needed 42, 34 strikes in today’s superb effort. Just seeing these 2 men defy today’s conventional wisdom, and succeed, has brought a nice warm glow to this baseball fan
I’ve been trying to tell people that Grant Taylor is the ace of the White Sox staff, lol.
Well I assume they are going the Sale, Crochet route w him next year
Their front office’s “director of pitching” has made several comments before about Taylor being an archetype that they feel never stays healthy as a starter. Compared him to Glasnow in a way that wasn’t totally complimentary.
That is odd. Even if they feel that way why would you say that out loud about a player whose on your team and pitching great, and healthy
He said it in early 2025 while justifying promoting him as a reliever after he suffered a season-ending lat strain as a starter in 2024 while rehabbing from TJS. The comparison to Glasnow (as well as Kenley Jansen and Emmanuel Clase) was because those guys all get massive extension, which he cited as both a positive and as potentially increasing injury risk, while also describing Taylor as “electric” and “one of the best arms [he’s] ever seen.”
The whole thing was in the context of explaining why they moved him to the bullpen at all. Getz, from the start, has also repeatedly invoked Garrett Crochet’s development as a possible roadmap. I wouldn’t read too much into it.
And he will be in 2027. Taylor reminds me of Marlins’ Josh Beckett – the healthy version – with the overpowering fastball, arm-side run, and the sharp-breaking curve
There is definitely an argument for it.
Grant Taylor, while 6th in Innings:
[minimum 10 IP]
I mean but this may be coming at the cost of “real starting pitchers”. White Sox have been pushing guys like this. Grant Taylor and Sean Newcomb this year, Mike Vasil last year. Pushing good pitchers as bulk guys with high leverage ability and length.
Taylor and Newcomb were 2 of the top 4 pitchers on the White Sox for the year, based on WAR or RA9-WAR. Being able to get them 2 of the highest Leverage Index has been very successful.
This game was just the first to show the necessity to increase the available challenges so that these egregious calls don’t destroy the ABS system. The umpires are clearly flaunting the realization that the players are under wraps until late in the game and are seizing their opportunity to regain their power over the hitters. Tom Hamilton, the Guardians legendary play-by-play voice, called Cory Blaser out during the broadcast and Blaser was awful. No sooner had that game ended than Mookie Betts was rung up in the 1st inning on a brutal call by Roberto Ortiz on a pitch that was barely in the shadow zone. It was easy to see from Betts reaction that he knew it was a ball but was restricted from using a challenge. Ortiz was overturned on 6 of 9 challenges throughout the game and missed many more. Sad and pathetic to see this occurring.
“ The umpires are clearly flaunting the realization that the players are under wraps until late in the game and are seizing their opportunity to regain their power over the hitters.”
This is the baseball equivalent of a flat-earth conspiracy theory. You’re arguing that umpires are purposely making bad borderline calls early in the game so that they can feel powerful?
Umpires flex sometimes. We’ve all seen it.
I hope what I have watched so far today isn’t a harbinger of the future of baseball but, IMHO, this has not been a good day for this great game. In the three games that have been completed there have been a total of 27 hits and 57 strikeouts. The cumulative batting average is an uninspiring .152 and all but one of the runs scored has been on a home run. These are the best pitchers and that, most definitely, enters the discussion but if the hitters can’t defend the strike zone until the 8th inning we are going to see more and more somnolent games. I wish I could see an answer but as more and more Misiorowski’s, Tolle’s and Skenes, all 6’6″ or taller emerge, the game of pitch and catch between the battery mates will only become more prevalent. These types of games will do nothing to interest more fans in the game and bold steps are required to assist the hitters and regain some semblance of the balance that has been a part of the history of baseball.
Downvotes surprise me. Pitchers are getting taller and better. Pitching has gotten better faster than hitting and we can’t realistically expect hitting to keep up
I wonder if teams’ approaches change as well.
The “home runs matter more in the postseason” fact has been thoroughly drilled in. Teams obviously know it. I wouldn’t be surprised if the gameplan for certain players/situations changes from “get a base hit” to “swing for the fences”.
When God is in your team, you simply cannot lose!
Great game yesterday. Great to see these young exciting White Sox players. And yes, I agree with others regarding the ump and the strike zone issues.