AL DIVISION SERIES: WHITE SOX VS GUARDIANS

October 10, 2026

Will Venable

Progressive Field

Chicago White Sox

Postgame 5 Press Conference

White Sox, 0 - Guardians, 2

WILL VENABLE: First of all, just congratulations to the Guardians and their organization. Hard-fought battle, obviously, this whole year. Came down to the end there, but those guys earned it. So congratulations to Vogter and those guys.

Q. Will, what did you see from some events tonight and how tough was Gavin Williams?

WILL VENABLE: He was really good. He was really good. He attacked us. A lot of spin in the zone and has a really good fastball, too. We weren't able to move enough forward to really put the pressure on him. Obviously he was in had command the whole night. So credit to him for having his stuff and attacking us.

Q. From your at-bat standpoint, 21 strikeouts. What did you see from the at-bats?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. I thought it was less about chase and more about being attacked in the zone and swing and miss in the zone. Just didn't have what it would have took to move some balls forward there. And I think obviously the story just being able to put the ball in play, really.

It's a really tough thing to do with those arms. Those guys are really, really good. I think they made some nice adjustments, and obviously Gavin, whatever he did the day before or a couple days ago, it didn't impact him. He was as crisp as we've seen him.

Q. What do you say to a pitcher that gives up the home run, just off the ground? I mean, you never see something like that happen.

WILL VENABLE: Yeah. Burke knows that that was a good pitch, and obviously a better swing by Ramírez there. That's what he does. He does special things, especially in the high-leverage spots, in these big moments, and that's what we saw tonight. But again, that's a good pitch, just went down and got it.

Q. What did you see from Sean and just the effort that he was able to give you guys on that stage tonight?

WILL VENABLE: No. Sean was great. We talked about how confident we were in him being the guy to take the ball for us and that he was every bit as advertised as far as attacking the zone, thought he had really good stuff, really good fast ball, really good spin tonight, too. He really stepped up and pitched really well and gave us a chance.

Q. I realize the season has just been over for a few minutes. It is kind of hard-to-ask-a-perspective question, but considering where you were last year and the year before you got here to get to this point this quickly, what does that kind of say for the organization and the future?

WILL VENABLE: I think it says a lot. Number one, we are sitting in disappointment, obviously, and it hurts not to be able to advance here. That's what we came to do. So we're not just happy that we got here. We understand what it takes to get here and have more clarity on what it's going to take the next time around to go even further.

At the same time, you know, you do zoom out and look what this group accomplished and what they did to bring baseball back to White Sox and the pride back to the organization and then really the city.

It's just amazing what these guys did. So very proud of our group. The way that they did it, too, in coming to the ballpark every day excited. I told those guys after the game, this was easily the most fun that I've had in all my years in Major League baseball, and it's because of the personalities in that room, the character of the group, and they went out there every day, fought and did things the right way.

Q. In the sixth inning, they bring in the leftie, any consideration to have Randal hitting that spot?

WILL VENABLE: The leftie for?

Q. Obviously to face Mune in that spot, any consideration to bringing in Randal?

WILL VENABLE: For Mune?

Q. Yeah.

WILL VENABLE: No. Zero.