AL DIVISION SERIES: WHITE SOX VS GUARDIANS

October 10, 2026

Will Venable

Progressive Field

Chicago White Sox

Pregame 5 Press Conference

Q. Will, the change in the lineup, you have Brenton Doyle in there today. Just explain the thought process on him?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. Really excited about Brenton, where he's at, number one. Yeah, just excited about the defense that he brings, and as we've evaluated him in this environment, the at-bat quality that he's given us has been really good. So I feel really good about where he's at.

I also expect there to be a lot of twists and turns in this one. And so having him there and kind of locking in him at the bottom of the order there in center field felt like the right thing to do.

Q. I guess related with that, Brady has been struggling a bit since having a big Game 2. Is that kind of part of the formula in terms of assessing where he's at?

WILL VENABLE: Well, I mean, it really is about Brenton as far as Brenton being in the starting lineup. We also, as I mentioned, expect there to be a lot of twists and turns to this one and certainly going to use our bench.

And having Brady's flexibility off the bench as a switch hitter, that's a plus as well. It is exciting. Yeah, we're evaluating the whole thing, not knowing exactly what's going to happen with how far Gavin is going to go or what's behind it, I felt really strongly about Brenton.

Q. Obviously Miguel had the homer the other night, a lot of walks for him so far. What goes into your kind of offensive game plan in a series where it seems like they want to really work around Vargas in a way? Did that change kind of the outlook for you guys at all in any given series?

WILL VENABLE: Well, I think the great thing about Vargy is that we've seen these stretches in which -- and I'm not suggesting that they're pitching around Vargas, by any means, but these stretches in which Vargy gets on base a ton, and that's whether he's being attacked and he's getting hits or if he's making good swing decisions and taking his walks. I think that's why he's been able to be so consistent is that he hasn't chased hits or expanded the zone for stretches. He's really locked in and taken what the opposition gives him.

So that's just what he'll continue to do. I don't think that there is a change for us offensively if it continues to be where he's not getting pitches to hit. If he's not getting pitches to hit, that means he's getting on base, he's doing a great job of getting on base. You just gotta pass the baton and give it to the next guy.

Q. You've talked all year, specifically against Cleveland, don't walk these guys, and there's been a lot of walks. What's the level of frustration? And I'm also curious about Burke was in the zone last time, and maybe that's the opener for him today. Like are you confident that Burke will do that again today?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, confident about Burke for a lot of reasons. At the same time, yeah, you mentioned the walks. We know that the walks are going to make it tough on us. I can promise you that we're not trying to walk guys. These guys are doing everything they can to attack the zone.

You gotta give the Guardians a lot of credit because they're making a lot of good swing decisions. You see where these at-bats, where they're fouling balls off and getting in the zone and putting the ball in play.

So they're making it really tough on us. They really are earning those walks. But we have to find a way and certainly an answer that we are very confident is Sean Burke. We saw how effective he was his last outing against these guys. We expect him to continue to go out there and be aggressive and pound the zone.

Q. We've talked really all year about resiliency being an identity of this club. How has that developed throughout the year for this team?

WILL VENABLE: I think it's really just the guys. It's the kind of guys that we have. We have guys that I think the underdog mentality suits us. I think that there's a lot of guys and personalities that feed into that.

I think the perception of us and this organization has enhanced that for us in which we're even more motivated to prove everyone wrong and to change the perception of what the White Sox are.

And so yeah, we have a bunch of guys that are committed to that, that have gone out and done that on a daily basis. And throughout the year, we've seen that be challenged at a lot of points. You come out and you have this great belief that this year is going to be a good year and you get kicked in the teeth pretty good there early on in Milwaukee. And even through the first 15, 20 games of the season, it wasn't good. And there's been rough stretches, as there are in every Major League season.

So these guys have just continued to answer the bell. They've continued to shake off what happens yesterday, whether it's good or bad, and come to the ballpark ready to play, and we expect that to be the same thing here.

Q. This is the first elimination game for a lot of these -- Major League elimination game for a lot of these guys. Does that get addressed? Does the anxiety that might come with it discussed, or is it they know what's at stake and they don't need to be told?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. They know what's at stake, and I think that there is more time spent on a day like today on individual messaging and adjustments that we need to make, knowing that this is another game, Game 5 of a series, game however many we've played these guys this year. So we're focused on those things.

As far as the broader message, I'm not sure that, you know, if I sat these guys down and had some amazing motivational speech, that it's going to stick or help. That's not really my style anyway. So I think that we're really confident that this group is well positioned and understand what it takes to win a game here, understand that it's a Game 5 and the stakes are as high as they get, but these guys are ready for the moment.

Q. Understanding you can't look ahead, obviously, but how do you handle your pitching staff when you know that if you do win in two days, you're going to have to do this all over again?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. We're just trying to win today so we have that problem, you know. And that's going to take every single guy that we have, potentially when we don't know exactly how it's all going to play out. We know that it's going to start with Sean Burke and probably see Sean Newcomb and Grant Taylor at some point after that.

But there's going to be a number of guys that we're going to have to lean on for this one, and there is no tomorrow for us right now.

Q. So you can't rule anyone out?

WILL VENABLE: Can't rule anyone out. No. We're not saving anybody for the next game. We have to do everything we can to get through this one, and we know it's going to be really challenging to do.

Q. Back to Doyle, as you've been around him up close, what do you think it is that makes him such a good defensive outfielder?

WILL VENABLE: He's a really confident guy, and he works really hard. I think that's the one thing that you notice with a lot of our guys, and we definitely have this relaxed environment, but these guys are going out there and putting in a ton of work. You see Brenton out there every day getting his reads, doing his drills, then going out and getting live reads off the bat.

So you have a really, really good athlete who works really hard and is really confident and goes out there and makes plays.

Q. You mentioned Grant. How do you think he's doing 48 hours later after getting punched a little bit there for the first time and also just his fatigue factor. Where do you think he is?

WILL VENABLE: I think he's in a great spot. I mean, yeah, I don't think anyone wanted that last outing to go like that. But I think that the belief in Grant -- I should rephrase that. Not I think. My belief in Grant is as high as it's ever been.

He has been our guy the entire year. He's the guy every single game in which we are in a tough spot that we put in when he's available. And when he's not available, we wish he was. And so that's not going to change today just because of one outing.

We know that they're having really good at-bats against Grant, and there's going to be adjustments that he's going to have to make from hitter to hitter. He's going to go to work on that and be in a good spot to go out and get the job done tonight.

Q. What you guys have done in this postseason, pinch hitting, the openers and all this stuff you've been doing all year, but I wonder like from the shift from regular season to postseason, is there anything you've found out about your process or the inputs that go into it or has it been kind of finding out that it stays pretty consistent from the regular season? What is kind of taking this operation into the postseason and all the leverage and all the different factors, what does that kind of show you about how you guys operate?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. Well, I think that what we've done in the postseason has been necessary. And as we've tried to find on a daily basis here in the postseason a way to get through these games and try and figure out whatever the best path is that we believe in, that was really all set up by what we did during the regular season, I think, in asking these guys to do different things.

So I think that it's paying off, and that the things we're asking these guys to do, they've been asked to do before, and hopefully it works one more time, at least.