White Sox Eliminate Astros, Box Score Stats, Highlights & Bracket After 2026 MLB Wild Card Game 2

The Chicago White Sox, for the first time since 2005's World Series title, have won a playoff series.

The Pope's favorite team defeated the Houston Astros 7-3 on Wednesday, sweeping the Wild Card Round matchup and setting up a showdown against the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS.

Below we'll break down the game's key stats and moments, along with the updated MLB playoff bracket

Box Score

Key Batters	R	H	RBI	HR	BB
Chase Meidroth, CHW	1	2	3	1	1
Kyle Teel, CHW	1	2	1	0	0
Andrew Benintendi, CHW	1	1	1	0	1
Munetaka Murakami, CHW	0	0	0	0	0
Jeremy Peña, HOU	1	2	1	1	0
Cam Smith, HOU	1	1	1	1	0
Jose Altuve, HOU	1	2	1	1	0
Yordan Alvarez, HOU	0	0	0	0	0
Key Pitchers	IP	H	ER	K	BB
Sean Burke, CHW	4.0	4	3	8	0
Jordan Hicks, CHW	2.0	0	0	3	0
Erick Fedde, CHW	2.0	0	0	3	0
Hunter Brown, HOU	0.2	5	3	2	1
Peter Lambert, HOU	3.0	0	2	2	2
Bryan Abreu, HOU	2.2	1	1	6	1

Updated Bracket

Recap and Highlights

Game 2 couldn't have gotten off to a much worse start for the Astros, as five hits and two Houston errors led to the White Sox jumping out to a 4-0 lead and starter Hunter Brown getting chased less than an inning into the contest.

But the Astros slowly clawed their way back into the game.

Jeremy Peña homered in the bottom of the first, Cam Smith blasted a solo shot one inning later and Jose Altuve lined the 28th postseason homer of his career in the bottom of the fourth—putting him just one behind Manny Ramírez for the most in MLB history—cutting the deficit to 4-3.

The Astros appeared set to steal the lead in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with two outs for Altuve, but he lined out to right field to end the threat.

That would prove to be costly almost immediately, as Chase Meidroth blasted a three-run homer in the top of the sixth to restore Chicago's four-run advantage.

And that was more than enough.

Up next for the White Sox is their divisional rivals, the Guardians, in the ALDS. Game 1 will be Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.