AL DIVISION SERIES: WHITE SOX VS GUARDIANS

October 3, 2026

Will Venable

Progressive Field

Chicago White Sox

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. You made one change on the roster. Just talk about the decision behind Davis for Brazobán.

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. Just Davis in kind of looking at the roster we expected from the Guardians, which is pretty much the same position player group that we know is very heavy left-handed. They have matchup, switch hitters. And so having Tyler Davis, who is more neutral, and we like a little bit better versus lefties was really kind of the calculus where Brazo against Houston, for example, who is very right-handed was a better fit.

Q. How are you feeling your first Division Series as a manager? What goes through your mind in preparation and just having yourself ready for this?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. Very similar to last series, very similar to the preparation for all of the series this year in which very excited, number one. But, yeah, know that we have a lot of work to do in preparation specifically against the Guardians who do such a good job matching up and making things difficult to really kind of throw off our pitching plan.

A lot of time will be spent this morning kind of preparing for that, but as far as me personally, very excited just like last year's.

Q. In a lot of ways this season has prepared you guys for the mobility that a team needs in the postseason, whether it's on defense with some of the lefties you'll bring in or the way the pitching has kind of worked. Was there any thought to this will get us better later when those kind of moves were getting made when you guys started applying those kind of switches two months ago?

WILL VENABLE: You know, I don't think that we went into it saying, hey, this is what we want to do because down the road it's going to be what we want to do for in the playoffs. I think that it's always been about trying to find the best path to victory and that there is different utility for different players that we thought could help us do that.

And so doing that from day one and being open and up front about that, and our players being open to it has really let us come down the path in which we've been able to use guys in different ways and continue to do so here in the postseason.

Q. When you look at their lineup and their switch hitters, especially does Martinez represent any kind of pressure point in the middle of their order?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. I mean, he and the rest of the guys do. I mean, I think that we really respect all of these guys and not just that they're good hitters, but as far as us trying to find the best spots for our pitchers to attack these guys, it makes it very challenging when you do have guys like Martinez who are very capable on both sides of the plate. Obviously José Ramirez is maybe having a little bit of a down year, but we have as much respect for him as anybody as well.

So, yeah, they do a really good job with switch hitters in between hitters that they're potentially going to pinch-hit for. The lefties that they have hit lefties well, so they pose a lot of problems. Certainly Martinez is part of that.

Q. You referenced analytics there earlier about the decision made with the roster, just talked about how outfield analytics can come into play and helping in certain areas as well.

How much in a playoff series do you lean on these analytics based on what is happening, but also looking at what you see with the eye test as well?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. So my approach, I should say our approach, has been that we do want to have an objective foundation, and that's something that I think is very important. So we don't have a bunch of moving targets based on how I or anybody else on our staff is feeling that day.

And so we do want to be grounded in objectivity, but then we collaborate on how we're going to deviate from that. That means how does the player feel, what's he going through physically, mentally, and having coaches that have an understanding of that, having an understanding of the player, talking to the player, like you mentioned, what you see, what's been going on. A number of subjective factors that we layer on top of that as well.

So that's been our process through the whole year. It's continued here in the playoffs. And at this point, I think we have a really good understanding of who our players are and kind of what subjective information we want to layer on top of the objective stuff.

Q. In terms of results, Messick has had reverse splits this year. You guys kind of treat him like a traditional lefty in terms of your lineup or is that about these are our hitters who hit lefties as well and we're going with that or maybe he profiles in the way that the results aren't necessarily showing on the surface level?

WILL VENABLE: When you talk about a pitcher reverse, that's one part of it, and then you have hitters and that's the other part of it. So you kind of line those both up. And for us, that's something that we've taken into consideration. But just because he has reverse splits doesn't mean that we believe that all of our lefties are a better match up in this case today.

So, yeah, we look at all of that stuff, and try and think about whether it's the matchup at the plate, defensive implications, how it kind of all lines up for our whole group. It kind of all led to the group that we're throwing out there today.

Q. Similarly, I guess, going into that last series, you guys have struggled some against Hunter Brown. You got good results against him. Parker has been good against you guys. Is there anything about the way you kind of went back in on Hunter Brown that has helped inform a way you can relook at some things going into tonight's matchup or today's matchup?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. I think when you get beat by a guy and get beat in a certain type of way, in Hunter Brown's case, it really started with the fastball. And that really became kind of the center piece of the discussions as we were game planning for him is that we were going to have to take away the fastball from him if we had any chance.

So obviously with Messick, he's beat us before. We know how he's beat us, and so that, again, will be kind of the center piece of our discussions as we formulate our attack plan and communicate with the players.

Q. You're able to come into a playoff game and you've got Doyle, Pham and Grichuk in acquisitions starting Game 1. What does that say about your organization and the way your roster is built?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. It's been really cool to see our club continue to get better throughout the year, and I think that that has been certainly from external additions. It's also been guys internally that have come up and helped and that's what it's really all about is just continuing to get better every day, and the current players that we have and their improvement.

So I think it says a lot about Getzy and his group, the front office in which they've really been mindful and done a great job of adding to this group in ways that we needed it.

Q. I know you mentioned Ángel Martínez, but when it comes to planning for a player like José Ramírez a switch hitter, who can cause problems to any pitcher on the mound, how is the preparation different for someone of that magnitude as well?

WILL VENABLE: I mean, you just have to be really careful, and I think that there is -- that individual player in which you give a lot of credit to in the case of the Guardians, it's about the guys around him, too. And it would be one thing if there weren't good players around him, but there are a lot of good players in that lineup surrounding him.

And so you have to be careful about how you're attacking him, but I don't think that this is a scenario where we can just walk him every time. We certainly respect him enough to do that, but with the hitters that are around him, that's very scary to do.

So, yeah, we're going to have to attack him like we're going to have to attack all these guys. And then later in the game situationally if there's spots in which we get a choice between he and the next person and we get to choose which match up we like, maybe you'll see an intentional walk, but otherwise we're going to have to attack all these guys.