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The Chicago White Sox are chasing the Houston Astros for the No. 2 seed in the AL playoffs. How important is home-field advantage for the division series?

lamond pope, chicago tribune
·5 min read

Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa sees the advantages of having the home-field edge in the postseason. He also has managed teams that have navigated the road well in the playoffs.

La Russa has confidence if the Sox are faced with either scenario.

“If you have a really strong home record, it makes sense,” La Russa said. “But — I’m not bragging, it’s just fact — in ‘11 (with the St. Louis Cardinals), we were the wild card, so we had to play on the road against (top-seeded) Philadelphia (and) on the road against (the second-seeded Milwaukee Brewers). And we won in six games (against the Brewers). My point is that we would love to have home-field advantage because you can see our numbers are better here. But we’ve played well on the road at times — most times.

“But the postseason’s what it is, which means (home field is) relevant but it’s not — what’s the word I heard someone use: determinative. We’ve had the home field and been beaten by the club that didn’t have it. So it just proves that that’s the unpredictability of the postseason. It’s nice to have it, but it’s nicer just to get in and have a chance to compete.”

The Sox entered Saturday trailing the Houston Astros by three games for the No. 2 seed for the division series. The Sox are 49-27 at home, the best winning percentage in the American League. They were 35-36 on the road.

“You guys see how well we play at home with this crowd and this fan base here, we want this place to be where teams have to come through,” outfielder Gavin Sheets said. “I think I speak for all of us when I say we want to have home-field advantage and play in front of these fans as much as possible.”

The Sox’s most likely matchup is with the Astros in the division series. The Astros swept the Sox in a four-game series at Minute Maid Park in June, but the Sox took two of three against the Astros at Guaranteed Rate Field in the first series after the All-Star break.

Under the current format, recent history has not been kind to the AL’s No. 3 seeds.

The last time a No. 3 seed in the AL made the World Series was 2012, when the Detroit Tigers beat the second-seeded Oakland Athletics in five games in the division series and swept the top-seeded New York Yankees in the ALCS. The San Francisco Giants, the No. 3 seed in the NL, swept the Tigers in the World Series.

The 2013 Tigers are the last No. 3 seed to win a division series in the AL. They again beat the second-seeded Athletics in five games before losing to the top-seeded Boston Red Sox in six.

In 2014, the second-seeded Baltimore Orioles swept the third-seeded Tigers. The next year, the second-seeded Toronto Blue Jays beat the third-seeded Texas Rangers in five games.

In 2016, the second-seeded Cleveland Indians swept the third-seeded Red Sox on their way to making it to the World Series. The Red Sox were the No. 3 seed again in 2017 and lost in four games to the second-seeded Astros, who went on to win the World Series.

The Astros were the No. 2 seed again in 2018 and swept the third-seeded Indians. And in 2019, the second-seeded Yankees swept the third-seeded Minnesota Twins.

No. 3 seeds have had more success in division series in the NL.

In 2013, the No. 3 Los Angeles Dodgers beat the second-seeded Atlanta Braves in four games before losing to the top-seeded St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals were the No. 3 seed in 2014 and beat the second-seeded Dodgers in four games before losing to the fifth-seeded Giants in the NLCS.

The Mets were the No. 3 seed the next season and went on to the World Series after beating the second-seeded Dodgers in five games and sweeping the fifth-seed Chicago Cubs.

The Dodgers were the No. 3 seed in 2016 and beat the second-seeded Washington Nationals in five before losing to the top-seeded Cubs in the NLCS.

The Cubs were the No. 3 seed in 2017 and beat the Nationals in the division series in five games before losing in five to the Dodgers in the NLCS.

In 2018, the third-seeded Braves lost to the Dodgers in four games in the NLDS. The Cardinals were the No. 3 seed in 2019 and won in five games against the second-seeded Braves.

From a historical perspective, the results are mixed and obviously won’t affect what happens this season. There’s no doubt Sox players want the opportunity to have as many games as possible in front of the home crowd.

“There’s a reason (home field) exists, we all want it,” said Sox reliever Evan Marshall, who is on the injured list. “Yes, we had to go to Oakland last year (for the wild-card series), and it didn’t work out. We definitely want to be here on the South Side.

“This is our home, these are our fans, and the home-field advantage that we have is something. We play well here, our fans are loud and crazy, and we want other teams to be uncomfortable coming in here to play the White Sox.”