The White Sox put their Game 3 lineup in place for the American League Division Series on Wednesday, and the shape of it told the story: they expected another opener, another quick hook and another game built around reacting rather than settling in. Left-hander Sean Newcomb was lined up to start the night, with the White Sox preparing for the Guardians to answer with right-hander Daniel Espino before turning to a bulk arm.
That is why the search around Tanner Bibee matters here, even without him taking the ball in this game. The White Sox were making their decisions against a pitching plan that looked like the kind of opener-heavy setup that can change by the third batter. Will Venable said the club would be “reading and reacting” in Game 3, and he added that the White Sox knew they would get Espino up front, then had to plan for whatever came next. In practical terms, that meant the lineup had to account for a short first look and an uncertain middle, with Andrew Benintendi, Tommy Pham and Brenton Doyle available to move around depending on the matchup.
Newcomb said the job was simple: get in there, work a couple innings and hand it off. Venable framed it the same way. He said the White Sox had used a fairly small group of high-leverage relievers and Sean Burke in their first four postseason games, but that some pitchers who had not yet appeared could factor into Game 3. Davis Martin and Noah Schultz were possibilities for playoff debuts, which gave the White Sox more moving parts than a normal October night.
The lineup itself showed how sharply the White Sox were tailoring every spot. Venable said the first four hitters stayed the same because Espino was expected to open for the Guardians, while the second part of the order was built as a response to the unknown pitcher after him. Chase Meidroth fit into that thinking after posting the third-highest OPS against left-handed pitching among qualified hitters during the 2026 season, a useful edge in a game where matchups were driving almost every decision.
Miguel Vargas was part of the same calculation, even though his postseason line looked rough on the surface. He was hitting.154 with no extra-base hits, but he had also walked five times and carried a.389 on-base percentage. That split captured the White Sox dilemma as well as anything else: Vargas’s swing was described as out of sorts, yet he was still getting on base often enough to matter. “At this point it’s not about me anymore,” he said, and the line landed like a reminder that his value in October was no longer tied only to hard contact.
The larger stakes sat behind all of it. The White Sox were one win away from clinching a postseason series at home for the first time in 120 years, and they had no more off days to smooth out the pitching plan. That leaves Game 3 to do the work of deciding whether the White Sox can keep forcing opponents into short looks and constant adjustments — or whether the unknown arm waiting behind Espino turns the night in a different direction.
