Two years removed from the worst season in modern major league history, the Chicago White Sox opened their first playoff series since 2021 by shocking the AL West-champion Houston Astros 6-3 in Game 1 of an American League Wild Card Series on Tuesday night at Daikin Park.

Colson Montgomery, dropped to ninth in the order by manager Will Venable, drove a 432-foot solo homer to dead center in the fourth inning to make it 4-0, and Sam Antonacci and Chase Meidroth each added bases-loaded RBI hits as Chicago built a lead it never relinquished. Houston clawed back on a two-run pinch-hit homer from Nelson Velázquez and a late throwing error, but the White Sox bullpen — which combined with Houston's staff for 13 pitchers on the night — held on behind rookie opener Hagen Smith's three scoreless innings, according to the Associated Press game account.

From 121 losses to October baseball

The win is the latest chapter in one of the sport's most improbable turnarounds. The White Sox lost at least 100 games in three consecutive seasons, including 121 defeats in 2024 — the most in the majors since 1899 — before this year's roster became the first team in major league history to follow consecutive 100-loss seasons with a playoff berth, let alone three in a row. Their opponent arrived with a historical asterisk of its own: the Astros won the AL West at 81-81, becoming the first team to reach the postseason without a winning record in a full season. Chicago's win was one of four series that opened the day under baseball's expanded postseason format, with a separate roundup tracking how the other three Wild Card matchups broke Tuesday.

Houston has now lost eight straight home playoff games, part of a rough stretch in its ninth postseason trip in ten years. The Astros' struggles played out in front of what AP described as a surprisingly thin, at times unforgiving crowd of 34,011 in a ballpark that seats nearly 41,000, with boos raining down once Houston fell behind early.

Chicago's revival has attracted an unlikely booster: Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born pontiff and self-described lifelong White Sox fan, who sent the team a letter of support ahead of the series. Asked afterward whether he deserved credit for the club's turnaround, the Pope kept it humble.

"NO COMMENT." GREAT THINGS HAPPEN IN CHICAGO. — Pope Leo XIV

On the field, Houston nearly made a game of it. Down 5-0, Velázquez's homer cut the margin to 5-2 in the fifth, and a wild pitch plus a Miguel Vargas fielding error allowed two more runs to trickle across in the later innings, pulling the Astros to 6-3 before Chicago's relievers closed it out. Houston's rookie opener, AJ Blubaugh, walked two batters in the first inning, and an error by first baseman Christian Walker left runners on first and third, setting up Chicago's first run on a sacrifice fly.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Wednesday in Houston, with the Astros' Hunter Brown (6-4, 3.19 ERA) on the mound trying to even things up. The bullpen-heavy White Sox, who have leaned on relievers all season, had not named a starter as of Tuesday night. A Chicago win would complete the sweep and send the White Sox to the American League Division Series for the first time since that same 2021 season; an Astros win would force a decisive Game 3.