Guardians ace Gavin Williams to
start vs Sean Burke and White Sox in winner-take-all ALDS Game 5
[October 10, 2026]
By JOE REEDY
CLEVELAND (AP) — After coming out of the bullpen Thursday night to
get the final three outs, Gavin Williams will start for the
Cleveland Guardians in Saturday night's winner-take-all Game 5 of
their AL Division Series against Sean Burke and the Chicago White
Sox.
“Gavin wants the ball. We want him to have the ball, and it’s his
game,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said Friday.
Williams was the eighth Cleveland pitcher used during a 9-5 win in
Game 4 at Chicago. He made his first major league relief appearance
after All-Star closer Cade Smith got into trouble in the ninth
inning when Miguel Vargas homered and Munetaka Murakami drew a walk.
The right-hander threw 18 pitches, allowing one hit and striking out
one batter, to nail down the victory and even the best-of-five
series at two games apiece.
Williams said he walked by Vogt's office after the game and told the
third-year manager he was ready to go.
“The body feels good right now. I've been in the training room all
morning, just figuring it out. But it’s just a normal day really,”
said Williams, who went 14-8 with a 3.76 ERA during the regular
season and led the AL with 248 strikeouts. "I throw a 'pen on those
days and everybody knows it. So there’s nothing different. Just
being able to feel the mound in a game situation is even better at
that point."
Williams struck out 11 over five-plus innings during Monday's 4-3
loss in Game 2. He was the first pitcher in franchise history to
whiff five straight batters in a postseason game. He also threw 16
pitches over 100 mph, the fourth-most by an AL pitcher in a playoff
game since tracking started in 2008.
The 27-year-old Williams allowed two runs and four hits. He threw 98
pitches, 59 for strikes, but got into trouble by allowing the
leadoff hitter to get aboard in the fourth, fifth and sixth. The
Guardians had a 2-0 lead before the White Sox rallied with three
runs in the sixth to take the lead.
This will be Williams' sixth start and seventh appearance against
the White Sox this season. He is 0-1 with a 3.76 ERA with 40
strikeouts and 11 walks.
“They’re still a hard team to pitch to. There’s nothing really to
learn at this point of the season. I know what they've got, and they
know what I've got,” Williams said.
Burke will be making his fifth appearance and third start against
Cleveland this year. He is 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA.
The right-hander came in during the third inning of Monday's game
and earned the win. He retired 13 straight batters in one stretch
while allowing one run and one hit with six strikeouts overall.
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Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Sean Burke (59) delivers during
the first inning in Game 2 of baseball's American League Wild Card
Series against the Houston Astros, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in
Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)
“I think I did a pretty good job of commanding all
my stuff in the zone. I think that’s kind of the key with this team.
You see the last couple games how they were able to piece together
bigger innings when you’re not as sharp with command, or you get
behind guys, you walk guys, and then this team kind of thrives,”
Burke said.
It is the first time in seven games this postseason the White Sox
will go with a traditional starter rather than an opener. Burke said
manager Will Venable approached him on Wednesday about that
scenario.
“Sean is someone that’s going to play a big role in tomorrow’s game
as the bulk guy. As we kind of evaluated the set of guys that we
have and that we’ll use tomorrow, it made sense to start him,”
Venable said.
It will be all hands on deck for both teams, with the winner heading
to Tampa Bay for Game 1 of the American League Championship Series
on Monday.
Chicago is 9-8 against the Guardians this year, but Cleveland was
able to win its third straight AL Central title by one game over the
White Sox, which gave the Guardians home-field advantage for this
series.
That hasn't mattered much to this point, though, because the road
team has won all four games.
“We would obviously have loved to win Game 3 or 4. There’s been a
couple of times that Vogter and I have just looked at each other and
laughed because this is just how it goes with these two clubs. And I
think it’s a special thing,” Venable said. “If you look at just the
story of the battle that we’ve had with these guys throughout this
season coming down to that last weekend for the division and then
here we are with a Game 5 for a chance to go to the CS, I think it’s
fitting two really good clubs that are both just very competitive,
really talented, and the heart and soul of the club and identity of
the club comes through, and I think it’s been cool to watch that
play out in competition throughout the year.”
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