AL DIVISION SERIES: WHITE SOX VS GUARDIANS

October 5, 2026

Chase DeLauter

Progressive Field

Cleveland Guardians

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Chase, having that off day is so unusual. Wait five days to play a game, wait another day. Did that make it even more difficult, the game one result? Was that even harder to swallow because you have the day to kind of dwell on it?

CHASE DeLAUTER: I mean, not necessarily. I think show up, practice to the best ability you can, fix some things that we don't think we did well in game one and forget about it and come out here in game two, play your ass off.

Q. You guys have faced bullpen games all throughout the year. You know them really well as an opponent. What are the challenges, if any, when they're throwing multiple guys and multiple starters?

CHASE DeLAUTER: I mean, I think it's just the fact that you're going to get -- I think the difference really is like postseason, it's very match up related, right? You can match up guys throughout the entire game one. You get the off day. The bullpen can kind of recuperate, do it again for game two. You get another off day. So I'm assuming guys we saw in game one, we'll see a lot in game three, stuff like that.

At the end of the day, it's baseball. They got their strikes and you gotta hit strikes. That's the name of the game, but I think it just becomes very much more like match up based in these games.

Q. In the postseason, the emphasis is on not missing those mistakes. Do you feel that there were pitches maybe in game one that you guys sort of didn't swing at that were mistake pitches that you could have --

CHASE DeLAUTER: I mean, I have no idea. I didn't really look at the pitch locations and stuff. I mean, I know on my end bases loaded, deep count, I get 2-0 advantage there. Gotta get the job done at the end of the day.

I wouldn't necessarily say there's mistakes here and there. I know it's easy for the average fan to watch the game on TV, see a ball in the zone, and be like, well, why didn't you swing. Well, maybe you didn't see it. Like it's tougher than people think.

Yeah, I feel like when we get traffic or get guys on, that's when we gotta come through.

Q. Chase, how much does just the overall approach change, if any, just entering the game down 0-1?

CHASE DeLAUTER: I don't know if it really does. Like I think the more you dwell on game one and what you did wrong, it's just going to affect game two.

I think you flush it, turn around. We had the off day yesterday and came in here, had a good day of work and come out for game two. It's a brand new day and just play.

Q. This ballpark is notorious for those late afternoon shadows down the left field side there. With a 5:00 start, how tough is that as a hitter seeing the ball coming from the pitcher with those shadows where they're at?

CHASE DeLAUTER: Yeah. It's definitely a real thing. It's kind of something I feel like a lot of players joke about throughout the year, are we going to get shadows, we are not going to get shadows.

I think when you're in that position, you gotta try to trick your brain as much as. You'll see it the best you've ever seen it, for instance.

It's a real thing. Shadows are tough. I think it shrinks the decision making. It kind of shrinks the window of spin, I guess you would say you would see out of a pitcher's hand. Obviously you go from like a bright white ball into a dark gray, I would say, in that between the mound and home plate.

So it definitely makes it tougher, but I think the more you think about it and make it a thing, the worse it's going to be. The sun is not moving. It's been there for a long time. So I think it's something we come out with. We dealt with it. We practiced yesterday around this time and go out there and get the best swings off you can.

Q. Knowing what Espino went through to get to the major leagues, how cool is it for you guys to see him up here contributing like he did in game one?

CHASE DeLAUTER: It's so sick. Those are conversations we've had out in Arizona just kind of being guys that have kind of been stuck out there for some time. Same with George Valera last year. We just had these conversations about like it's going to be our time eventually and we'll impact the game. So super happy to see Espino doing what he's doing this here. It's been special.

Q. Early in the year, Kwan had mentioned his perspective watching Gavin when he gets on a roll. You can see the panic kind of in hitters. I just want to kind of get your perspective on what it's like being out there when Gavin has got his best stuff?

CHASE DeLAUTER: Yeah. I feel very confident in the score board on those days, but Gavin is special talent. I mean, I think I've only faced him maybe one time. But when he's on and he's got the velo and everything is working, it's special.

And I mean, I think the human eye just struggles to kind of see and react to stuff like that. There's certain guys in this game that kind of have that extra oomph on the ball and Gavin be is one of those guys. It's special to watch.

Q. What makes Taylor such a difficult matchup and was there anything -- did you see anything different from him versus the regular season?

CHASE DeLAUTER: I mean, I don't know. He throws hard, really good at throwing the fastball kind of where he wants, especially up in the zone and tunnelling it off of a tighter breaking ball that has a lot of depth.

I think typically when guys throw like hard like that, I mean, it's kind of the same with Gavin. When guys throw that hard, they don't typically have that break on the breaker. It's almost like you get on time for a fastball and you kind of run through everything else. I think when you can really separate those two pitches with that kind of velocity, it makes it really tough on hitters, and I think that's where that's at.

Q. Chase, when you talk about the importance of like flushing it, can you pick up on that? Do you think you can tell when like the clubhouse is there?

CHASE DeLAUTER: I mean, I don't really know. Like I think it's just not bringing the conversation up more than be you need to. I mean, we all were here. We all know what happened in the first game. Let's get the off day. We're facing different arms, come in and play ball.

Like I said, I think the more we bring it up or think about it or talk about it, that's where your mind goes. So it's in the past, and we got a game today at 5:00, and there's no outcome of the score yet. So we'll see what happens at the end of that game.

Q. Chase, what's your favorite story about the energy that Travis Bazzana has brought to the team during the course of the season?

CHASE DeLAUTER: The one that has stuck with me the most, but it's probably earlier on in the year, he had come up and I think played maybe a week worth of games, and he had hit a homer here, his first career homer here, and he was coming to the dugout screaming like finally, finally I got one.

And yeah, dude, you've played four games in the Majors. He is a special player. That edge he's got is going to carry him a long way and makes him really good, but it's definitely funny sometimes.

Q. The Yankees yesterday went over to the spring training facility on the off day to use the trajectory machine. How helpful was that to you a year ago when you were getting ready to join these guys? Was that relatable to what you ended up facing in the postseason?

CHASE DeLAUTER: Yeah, definitely. I mean, a machine is a machine always, right? But like in terms of getting yourself ready for live pitching to the best of your ability, that's definitely at the top of the list.

It's got -- I mean, obviously got the projection of the pitcher, and it's got their metrics of all their pitches and stuff like that. I mean, the one thing you don't get is obviously like extension down the mound or like I think the depth perception gets a little bit thrown off.

But, yeah, in terms of seeing velocity and matching it up with a pitcher's windup, yeah, that's the best you're going to get.

Q. Regarding the rivalry between the Sox and the Guardians, there doesn't seem to be much animosity. It seems to be a very respectful and competitive series. What is the perspective among the players in the season-long series and now the postseason series?

CHASE DeLAUTER: Yeah. I think they always make for really good games and high energy on both sides. I mean, I don't think we're going to necessarily come out and be chippy at each other.

I mean, you know, I think you play each other so many times throughout the season, unless there's some bad blood, you typically see these guys the most. So you kind of make little conversation with some of the younger guys. Like for me, I've played against Colson a good bit in the fall league and stuff like that.

So, of course, there's guys you're going to catch up with and everything like that, but I think seeing each other that many times, then obviously seeing each other here, it does add that fire to like, man, we know what we're going to get in this kind of ball game. It's going to take fight, and it's going to take grit, but that's what we're here for.