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World Series Game 4 Keeps White Sox Record Intact
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- World Series Game 4 Keeps White Sox Record Intact
It took 12 innings and a comeback rally for the Tampa Bay Rays to avoid a sweep in Game 4 of the 2026 World Series on Tuesday night. With their 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, though, the Rays forced a Game 5.
They also prevented the Brewers from matching a long-standing Chicago White Sox record.
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The 2005 White Sox finished with an 11-1 record in the postseason. That World Series championship team dropped just one game to the Los Angeles Angels during the ALCS. Bookend sweeps, one over the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS and another over the Houston Astros in the World Series, made the 2005 White Sox one of, if not the most dominant postseason team of all time.
An 11-1 record translates to a .917 winning percentage, the best by any World Series champion that played at least three postseason rounds. It's a record shared with the 1999 New York Yankees .
The White Sox also share the record of eight consecutive postseason victories. No team has ever won more. But the Brewers entered Game 4 with a chance to take the crown.
After closing out the San Diego Padres in the NLDS, sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, and taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the World Series, the Brewers were looking to stand alone as the only team to ever win nine straight playoff games. With a win in Game 4, Milwaukee would have also finished the postseason with an 11-1 record, giving the White Sox more company.
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That, however, won't be the case. The Rays got a game-tying single from Jonny DeLuca and a walk-off base hit from Ben Williamson. There will be a Game 5. The Brewers have lost their second playoff game, and the White Sox record will hold for at least another year.
Pound for pound, I do think it's hard to top what the 2005 White Sox accomplished in the postseason. It's all of the records I've already mentioned, but it's also the fact that all four wins in the ALCS came via complete games from the starting rotation. It was unprecedented at the time, and it's something you would never come close to seeing in today's game.
Perhaps it's trivial, but White Sox fans take a lot of pride in that 2005 team and just how special that playoff run was. So, for another year, it's nice to know the White Sox won't be knocked off the mantle. And if the Brewers aren't careful, they could blink and find themselves in a tight series if they don't close things out on Wednesday evening in Tampa.
