AL WILD CARD SERIES: WHITE SOX VS ASTROS

September 30, 2026

Will Venable

Daikin Park

Chicago White Sox

Postgame Press Conference

White Sox - 7, Astros - 3

THE MODERATOR: Just maybe open with your thoughts on tonight's game and what this win means for the city of Chicago.

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, a special win. I think it starts with our fans who showed up here. Gave the guys a lot of energy. We had a lot of 'em behind the dugout there and gave the boys energy and some juice to get through some tough spots, which was awesome and very meaningful.

I know there's a lot of White Sox fans back home too, and the support that they have given us this whole year has been amazing. So just really proud of our group and what they have accomplished here against a really good team and very happy for the fans and everybody in the organization.

Q. A couple of key sequences in the middle of this game. In the 5th, the Astros get a couple of guys on. It looks like they're threatening to catch up after being down 4-0. And then Kay comes in and gets a couple of huge outs. So can you share your thinking on going with Kay and just what you saw in that moment?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, really tough spot there where you obviously have Álvarez, who we have as much respect for as anybody. I think he's arguably the best hitter on the planet, and we had pitched him well throughout the year and in this series.

But, yeah, you're kind of in a tough spot where you don't really want to walk him in that situation, and you have the righties behind him. So we thought that our best chance was to fire Anthony Kay against him, hope to get him out, and then hope for the best with Paredes and the righties behind him.

So it was a gamble. Obviously, Álvarez hit that ball really hard. Antonacci was able to make that play but it paid off.

Q. Another big-picture question. Again, where y'all have been to where y'all are now, not only getting here, but winning the first playoff series in 20 years, can you wrap what all that means and how proud you are of the team?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, I'm really proud and I'm really just happy for everybody who over the last few years had experienced White Sox baseball when it obviously wasn't at its best. And it's such a storied franchise and Jerry puts so much into this team, loves this team so much, and to be able to reward him and the city of Chicago who have been in our corner and supported us from day one that I've been there, it just feels really good.

I'm proud of the guys and certainly happy for them as they're probably the only ones in this country that believed that they could be in this spot, and they maintained that belief in the beginning of the season and went throughout the season maintaining that, and they made it happen. So it's awesome to get to this point.

I can tell you right now that the group isn't satisfied with this. We know how tough an opponent Cleveland is. But we'll celebrate this one tonight and get ready to go for the next one.

Q. You held the likely MVP to 1-8 for two games. Did you guys do anything -- do much different in this series compared to the regular season, or can you talk a little bit about your plan to attack him throughout the series?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, I mean, we'll probably have the same attack plan next year, so don't want to give away all the secrets there. But Zach Bove and the pitching department do a great job of kind of picking zones, picking pitch types that they want to attack him with. At the same time, he hits everything, man, and you really got to do your best to execute and kind of hope for the best. He's just that talented of a hitter. He doesn't really have any holes. The few areas that we believe that we could expose, we've done a good job executing and were able to kind of suppress his offense.

Q. Second game in a series where you guys had a multi-run lead early on. How important is that to establish everyone being calm and collected and having that advantage to play with?

WILL VENABLE: I think it's huge and really starts on the road. Obviously, we get to hit first, and that starts with Sam Antonacci and the type of at-bats that he gives you. We talked about it with you guys the last couple days, in which he really embodies the competitive spirit, the type of grit that you want with your ball club, and he really sets the tone for us. He did it yesterday with a big walk. He did it with a double today.

So really good stuff from him and really the guys respond to that. They respond to him getting on base and then flying around the bases and do their job as well.

Q. Could you give us a little insight into how that sequence in the 6th where you re-established a little bit of a cushion played out. You get a couple guys on, you bring in Acuña as the pinch runner, and really tough pitcher on the mound in Abreu. And then Chase shows bunt on a couple of pitches. Were you looking to sacrifice there? And then how did the double steal happen? And then what can you just say about how that sort of represents the evolution of this team during the season and being able to win with some small ball like did you a lot early, but then coming up big with the long ball when you really needed it?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, I think overall, it's really about us just finding ways, and that's been really kind of the mantra for us all year. Whether it's on the mound, defensively, or at the plate, just find a way. And in that situation specifically, 6th inning -- I believe 6th inning, right? Where you have Benintendi lead off that inning, kind of figuring that you would have Hader in the 8th and 9th, and so his at-bat probably goes to somebody else at that point anyway. And Acuña is our guy that we really trust out there as our number one pinch runner, with Doyle as well.

So once we made that move, he got to second, we were in first and second, they made the pitching change, and we just talked about, you know, do we want to bunt Chase or do we want to go ahead and try and steal these bags. And we went with let's go ahead and be aggressive and steal the bags, have Chase show bunt, pull back, if we don't get the steal, then would he go ahead and bunt.

But they were able to get the steal after the inside move there. Acuña did a great job. Peters, I believe, on the back side. I don't remember who was on the back side there. But both of 'em did a great job advancing, then obviously Chase worked a 3-1 count and the rest is history.

Q. Kind of, again, about that inning, what do you think about the poise your team showed in being able to kind of break it open after the Astros really got it close, and do you think the fact that they were able to do that will help you guys moving forward?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, for sure. And I think we talked about this club throughout the year, the ability to just keep fighting. I think that it's fair to say in those middle innings there you get the early lead and they score three runs on the three solo homers, they definitely had the momentum there in the middle innings of the game. So it was really important for us to just try and find a way. I thought the guys really beared down and starting with Benny drawing that walk, did a great job of making it happen. I think it's a really good inning, really good moment to point to that really exemplifies this team and their spirit and they're just, you know, them not giving up. They just never gave up. They always think they have a chance. Obviously we have a lead at that point too, but it really didn't feel like it, the Astros definitely had the momentum, but the guys did a great job of continuing to fight.

THE MODERATOR: Will, thanks for coming in, we'll see you in Cleveland.