Tommy Pham was in disbelief as he rounded first base Saturday afternoon.
With runners on first and second and the Chicago White Sox leading 2-0 in the sixth inning, Pham thought he had delivered a key insurance run. He crushed a first-pitch fastball over the heart of the plate from Cleveland Guardians left-hander Erik Sabrowski, sending it 366 feet toward the left-field wall. But instead of clearing the fence, the ball landed in the glove of Angel Martinez, who fired it back to first base for an inning-ending double play.
The broadcast captured a bewildered Pham muttering to himself as he tried to process what had just happened. And for good reason. He had hit the ball 106 mph off the bat to his pull side with a 31-degree launch angle.
Of the 82 balls hit 106 mph or harder at 31 degrees this year in MLB, 81 were home runs. That includes 14 balls hit to the pull side with those exact metrics during the regular season at Progressive Field, all of which left the yard.
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In an interview with Jeff Agrest of the Chicago Sun-Times, Pham reportedly asked Rob Manfred if something was going on with the baseballs, telling the MLB commissioner:
“How am I supposed to get a job next year if that ball don’t go out?”
Pham did not take kindly to the report, taking to X to call out Agrest for failing to clarify that he was joking during the interaction and, in his view, using the quote as clickbait. Pham also said Agrest would not be allowed around the rest of his White Sox teammates.
As strange as the moment was, it didn’t cost the White Sox.
Munetaka Murakami’s two-run homer in the top of the fourth provided all the offense the White Sox needed, while Grant Taylor delivered a gutsy four-inning save to secure a 3-0 victory in Game 1 of the ALDS.
And then, two days later, the baseball gods appeared to even the score.
Fast forward to Monday, and the White Sox found themselves in an early 2-0 hole after a throwing error by Sean Newcomb in the first inning allowed both runs to score. But, as they have done all season, the White Sox bats refused to go quietly.
After being held scoreless through the first four innings, Murakami once again delivered the first offensive blow, ripping a single down the right field line to cut the deficit in half. Two innings later, it was Braden Montgomery’s turn to play hero. With runners on second and third and two outs, Montgomery delivered a go-ahead double to put the White Sox ahead 3-2. Chase Meidroth followed with an RBI single, and suddenly, Chicago had a 4-2 lead.
Once again, the White Sox turned to Taylor to protect the lead. And once again, he delivered — though not without a little help from the baseball gods.
With two outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the eighth, Guardians outfielder Jo Adell connected on what he thought was a game-tying home run. The ball left his bat at 108 mph and traveled an estimated 413 feet. In 19 of MLB’s 30 ballparks, including Rate Field, it would have been a home run.
But with the wind blowing in, the ball slammed off the top of the left-field wall and bounced back into play, forcing Adell to settle for a triple and leaving the tying run just 90 feet away.
That was enough breathing room for Taylor. He escaped the inning by getting Nathaniel Lowe to pop out to left field, then returned for the ninth and retired the side in order to secure a 4-3 victory — and, more importantly, a 2-0 series lead in the ALDS.
There is already little room for error in a postseason series, but that margin becomes even slimmer when two teams are as evenly matched as the White Sox and Guardians. Chicago won seven of the 13 regular-season meetings, outscoring Cleveland by just 58-57. In a series this tight, the smallest breaks can become the biggest difference-makers.
In Chicago’s case, they came out on the right side of it and took full advantage.
