You Won’t Beat The White Sox Without Beating Grant Taylor

Looking at the raw numbers from 2026, the Chicago White Sox's stable of pitchers ultimately hover around league average, so I guess I can't start by saying something that feels emotionally true to me, which is "The Sox are going to try to be the first team to win the World Series without any pitchers." But when I think back on this stretch run, as I watched my newly adopted sons try and fail to hold off Cleveland in the AL Central and settle instead for the six-seed in the American League, two images stand out to me: that incredibly clutch Randal Grichuk dinger, and Will Venable walking out to the mound to make yet another pitching change. You don't have to worry about getting in your steps when you manage the White Sox The Sox don't have a rotation so much as they do a skeleton crew: the very good Sean Burke and a bunch of rotating temps. Only three players have made more than 15 starts for the team this year, and that weakness has only gotten more glaring as the games get more meaningful. Anthony Kay, one of those few regulars, rarely makes it past the fifth inning and has an ERA of 4.44. Davis Martin has struggled with injury. Erick Fedde is often paired with an opener. Luis Castillo had a go of it when he was traded from the Mariners but is back on mop-up duty. The point is, Venable's had to treat the high-stress games of September like he was cooking a six-course meal, constantly switching between appliances and instruments as he tried to get to the end without burning anything. If we're going to extend this metaphor as far as we can, then Grant Taylor is Venable's rice cooker. You can turn him on, go breathe for a minute, and trust that he won't start a fire. The 24-year-old from Alabama is in his second MLB season, and after looking promising but inconsistent as a rookie on a 102-loss team, he is now the most trusted arm in a group that's up 1-0 on the Astros in a short playoff series. During Game 1 in Houston on Tuesday, it was Taylor who carried the team to victory in a bullpen game, throwing a career-high 54 pitches as he earned the final seven outs of a 6-3 win.

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