AL WILD CARD SERIES: WHITE SOX VS ASTROS

September 29, 2026

Sean Burke

Daikin Park

Chicago White Sox

Pregame Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with Sean Burke, who may or may not start tomorrow, from what Will said. Start in the back.

Q. Sean, you talked a little bit Sunday about what this all means to you, but now that it's becoming a reality and you're going to be in there in some form tomorrow, how did it feel going into it?

SEAN BURKE: Yeah, it's exciting, I think, just getting to Houston and kind of getting into this environment. Seeing kind of the extra stuff that comes with the playoffs, the media, the whole TV presentation stuff has been cool. So yeah, I mean, our guys are ready to go and we're looking forward to it.

Q. Obviously so many of you guys' first playoff experience. Who have been some of the guys that you leaned on, and what's the best piece of advice that you've received?

SEAN BURKE: I talked to Benny a lot. Me and Benny sat next to each other one the flight here. Kind of just talked about playoffs, his past experiences, some stuff that we need to do. His advice was just kind of keep doing what we've been doing the whole year. I don't think really anything needs to change. We got here for a reason, and we know we have a good team, we have a talented group. I said this earlier in the week, but I think just focusing on playing our brand of baseball is going to be good enough for us.

Q. Has anybody told you about -- you've obviously played here, but has anybody told you about just the playoff environment and how loud it can get in this environment?

SEAN BURKE: Yeah, we haven't discussed it too much. I think, obviously, as a baseball fan, there's been a ton of playoff games played here over the last decade or so. Just watching games you kind of can see the environment that they create here. It's going to be loud. It's a dome, so I feel like domes are typically a little bit louder in general.

But like I said, I mean, I think we're all looking forward to that environment as more of an exciting thing than worried about any effect on our play.

Q. One of the things you mentioned -- I think it was after your last start what you were really happy about is your communication with Kyle Teel, just how well that's gone. I don't want you to speak for every pitcher there, but how well has that come together since he's come back from the injured list and how good does everybody feel with working him at this point?

SEAN BURKE: Yeah, good. I think that obviously the catchers we've had over the last year or two have all kind of been younger guys, and I think it's given them a good opportunity to learn. It's helped us too, I think. You know, we really haven't had too many pitchers on this staff, at least starting pitchers with too much experience too. So I think just learning together with all the catchers, whether it be Romo or Teel, Quero, whoever it was, and their ability to bounce ideas off each other.

And I think bringing in Rog has been huge for us and him just getting with the catchers and giving them some advice with his experience and the amount of baseball he's played, the amount of really good pitchers he's caught.

So, yeah, we feel good with it. I think, like I said, it's been getting better each week and it's harder to make up for lost time like that when you miss a lot of the year, but Teel cares a lot about that side of the game and he's been really diligent working on it.

Q. What have you appreciated about playing for Will Venable and how he's impacted you guys, whether it's on and off the field this year?

SEAN BURKE: Yeah, it's been awesome. I think that he really embraces the personality of our team and let's us be ourselves. He's a voice to be heard and he says what he needs to say when there's something that we need to address. But I think, honestly, one of his best traits is he let's us be a lot, and he let's us be ourselves. He let's the clubhouse identity try to form itself. He's not really trying to push us one direction or force the team to have some identity or personality. It's really just become our natural thing where we have a group of guys that we all like, we all love hanging out with each other, we love playing together, and he's accepted that and he loves that. He loves to see us go out there and have fun with ourselves. I don't think there's ever, you know, from his perspective, I don't think he ever needs to step in and be like, Hey, we got to do this, or we're trending too far in this direction with how we're being or how we're playing. He's been great. I think, like, just keeping us in line and keeping our goals and our mindset on the main thing, and then at the same time letting us be ourselves.

Q. Given that you don't know what you're doing tomorrow, and then the postseason, so many roles are spontaneous, how does that change your preparation?

SEAN BURKE: I don't think it changes anything really. I know that see how this game goes and regardless of what happens I'll be in there in some form or fashion tomorrow. It's just preparing for any other game. Once I get the schedule or see whether it's starting or opener or coming in after that, whatever it may be, just making sure my schedule with my prep, getting myself physically and mentally ready to go in the game, and then from there it's just baseball.

Q. I think this is your third time facing the Astros this season. It's almost like kind of a division opponent in terms of facing them over time. Is that something you try to take into your mind as far as approach of showing them different, or is that maybe a bad instinct and you just want to focus on you in terms of what you're doing out there?

SEAN BURKE: Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both. I think that obviously using the games and using the at-bats I've had against these guys to my advantage, kind of, you get to collect some data on them and how they have reacted, how they have put swings on different pitches, how they have reacted to certain sequences, different stuff like that. I think that using that information and watching that back and understanding, what was their approach against me the first two times I faced them. And then trying to figure out pretty early what their approach is again against me this time, if it's changed or if individual guys are doing anything different. So I think it's just using the information I have with them and then obviously making adjustments as this game tomorrow goes on.

Q. With the moment, knowing that you have to pitch tomorrow, how excited are you to go out there and get to watch a playoff game with your team?

SEAN BURKE: Yeah, it's the best. I mean, we have pretty much all hands on deck today. So I'll kind of be that only cheerleader in the dugout for our pitchers. But, hey, I'm super excited. I feel like I'm a little kid getting to watch my team growing up playing in the playoffs. And then just for the opportunity to pitch tomorrow, it's something I dreamed of since I started playing baseball. This is everybody's goal, everybody wants to be here, and I think just the opportunity to be able to do it with this group and those guys in that clubhouse is special to me.

Q. (No microphone.)

SEAN BURKE: Yeah, he's a permanent cheerleader.

Q. I was going to ask whether you worked with Mike on that. We're set now.

THE MODERATOR: All right, thanks for coming in, Sean.

SEAN BURKE: Thanks, guys.