The White Sox jump on the Astros, hang on for a 6-3 Game 1 victory

Sometimes you have to go with the bullpen. Not exciting, but just a modern baseball thing. With the White Sox and Astros battling each other until the end of the season for their respective division titles, the Game 1 matchup set up ill-rested staffs without full, conventional rotations. Both managers looked primarily at the fact that they were available on full rest (none), primarily looked at the fact that they had already been used on short rest last week, and each sat in the bullpen for the game. And that is, after a long disjointed struggle, where in the first hour it was decided that the event had been felt.

Venable and the White Sox pitching staff put their best foot forward to open Game 1. Hagen Smith, to get the start of the opening game as a starter before his career ended; The fifth overall pick in the 2024 draft, he tore himself through the minors and looked impressive in multi-inning relief roles down the stretch. When people talk about pitching the playoffs as a nine-inning pitch, they think of guys like Smith dealing with short spurts. He came out fully gassed up, a tick and a half faster than he had all season, and pulled off the electric teams at the drop of a hat. Max-out trip through three innings of work. Perhaps most impressively, he followed Yordan Alvarez in every fight he faced, with the exception of a runner at the point guard spot, and won both bouts.

The Astros went a different way with their NCAA bullpen strategy. Instead of bringing in young prospect Big Octane and asking him to cover a lot of innings, they dug into the bag of middle relievers (a little light on the high hopes of the young, starting in their defense). Unfortunately for them, they don’t really have any good middle relievers, and AJ Blubaugh, who drew the start, has been in slow motion for about a month now. Not much of a bat at the best of times, since it has been especially cold lately, with as many walks as there are vacations during the month of the game.