Baseball used to have a simple rulebook for pitching staffs. You had your five starters who ate up the bulk of the games, a locked-down closer for the ninth inning, a couple of setup guys to bridge the gap, and a mop-up man to clean up the leftovers. Managers stuck to that playbook for decades, especially in the postseason, where they let their top three or four starters run deep into games because the clock was ticking on the season.
But those days are long gone, and the 2026 Chicago White Sox are living proof that the new way can work, at least they hope it can. Manager Will Venable has rolled out a “no-rotation” rotation for the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians. Lefty reliever Hagen Smith is slated to start Game 1, acting as an opener just like he did in the wild-card round in Houston. The Sox used openers a league-leading 32 times during the regular season, so why change a good thing now?
The big question is how far this bullpen-first strategy can actually take them. Venable hinted that Sean Burke might get the nod for Game 2, but beyond that, it’s basically a guessing game. They could mix and match their best arms—guys like Grant Taylor, Jordan Hicks, David Sandlin, and Sean Newcomb—as bookends and middle pieces, while keeping Anthony Kay, Erick Fedde, and Davis Martin in their back pockets as wild cards. Can Smith pitch again for a third start in their first five playoff games? Who knows, but Venable is ready to mix and match to use their best arms in the most optimal way.
This approach is the complete opposite of what happened in 2005, when manager Ozzie Guillén trusted his starting rotation—José Contreras, Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia, and Jon Garland—to carry the load. That group posted a 2.84 ERA over 12 starts during the postseason, and in the ALCS against Anaheim, the starters threw four straight complete games, covering almost the entire series. Catcher A.J. Pierzynski famously said afterward that you’ll never see that again because modern managers lack the confidence to let guys throw 120 pitches for nine innings.
General manager Chris Getz knew he didn’t have a powerhouse rotation when he put the roster together this year. Opening-day starter Shane Smith got sent down to Triple-A pretty fast, leaving guys like Burke, Kay, Fedde, and Martin as the main options, though Fedde only made 15 starts. Instead of forcing a traditional structure, Getz decided to lean into the strengths of the bullpen, turning Taylor into a de facto closer who can also pitch multiple innings, and using openers whenever they had the chance.
It’s a massive gamble, and even Ozzie Guillén has said he isn’t a fan of the opener trend. But if the Sox can pull off a deep run without a traditional rotation, the players might never have to buy a meal or a drink in Chicago again. As former Sox player Geoff Blum put it, the ’05 team still carries some weight in the local bars, and if this group pulls it off, they’ll be treated like legends. The ultimate test of whether this no-rotation gamble pays off starts Saturday in Cleveland.
