MLB Playoff Roundup: White Sox pull off Game 1 upset

Elsewhere, the Division Series kicked off across the league, so let's see what the rest of the field accomplished on Saturday night.

Call it divine intervention, but these White Sox are looking to go on a deep run after sweeping the Astros in the Wild Card Series and they went out and stole Game 1 from Cleveland on the road. Parker Messick enjoyed a fabulous first full season for the Guardians, pitching to a 2.56 ERA in 186.1 innings, but his Postseason debut didn't go as well. He managed to work around a pair of baserunners in the first inning and then cruised through the second and third, but in the fourth Miguel Vargas led off with a single bringing Munetaka Murakami to the plate. Messick gave him a first-pitch sinker up and in the zone, and Murakami deposited it 440 feet out to right field.

That would be all the run support Chicago's pitching staff needed as they worked their second bullpen game of the playoffs well enough to shut Cleveland out. Hagen Smith was the opener and provided 2.2 innings, issuing three straight walks in the third to end his outing before Bryan Hudson entered and got him out of that jam. Jordan Hicks took over to start the bottom of the fourth and got two quick outs before issuing a walk of his own, passing the baton over to Anthony Kay. Travis Bazzana greeted him by ripping a double out to right field to put runners in scoring position, and Kay walked Austin Hedges to again load the bases with two outs before Brayan Rocchio bailed him out by flipping a middle-middle sweeper harmlessly into the glove of Braden Montgomery.