[XxVols98xX]

Dodger Stadium tried to turn this into a “welcome to the big stage” week for Chicago.

Instead, the White Sox walked out of Los Angeles with a signature series under their belt — the kind that tells the clubhouse (and the rest of the league) they belong in the same sentence as the Dodgers. Three games, three wildly different scripts, and one loud takeaway: Chicago can win ugly, win loud, and even when it finally stumbled, it didn’t blink.

By the time the getaway day dust settled, the Sox stood at 42-32, while the Dodgers — still the measuring stick — sat at 46-29.

Game 1 (June 23): White Sox 6, Dodgers 5 (12 innings) — the “refuse to fold” win

This one had every opportunity to spiral.

Los Angeles jumped Shane Smith early — Ohtani’s 21st homer plus a three-run blast from James Outman detonated the third inning and had the Sox staring up at a 5-1 hole. Dustin May had enough movement to keep Chicago chasing, and Dodger Stadium had that “here we go again” energy.

Then Colson Montgomery changed the mood with one swing: a 450-foot solo shot in the fifth that didn’t win the game, but absolutely re-opened it.

The real gut-punch came in the seventh, when Chicago finally got its hands on the leverage arms:

Eguy Rosario worked a walk, stole third.

Edgar Quero punched a single.

Montgomery ripped a two-run double to tie it at 5.

Eliezer Alfonzo dropped an infield hit to keep the inning alive.

A sac fly brought home the tying run and turned the place quiet.

From there, it became a bullpen brawl. Ky Bush and Brandon Eisert stabilized the middle innings, and then Edwin Díaz slammed the door in extras, striking out big bats with the automatic runner looming every frame.

In the 12th, Luis Robert Jr. delivered the separator — a go-ahead RBI double — and the Sox finally cashed the kind of win that good teams steal on the road.

Player of the Game: Colson Montgomery (power early, table-setter late, and the biggest hit before the final punch)

Game 2 (June 24): White Sox 8, Dodgers 0 — the “statement” win

The middle game looked like Chicago grabbed the controller and turned the difficulty down.

Against Shohei Ohtani on the mound, the Sox blitzed the first inning with patience and pressure:

Walks to set the table.

Montgomery’s two-run double to open the scoring.

Josh Salmonson’s RBI single to make it 3-0 before LA could even breathe.

And then the pitching took over. Victor Mendez carved up the Dodgers for five hitless innings, and the Sox layered it with Drew Thorpe to finish the job. LA’s lineup — Betts, Freeman, Ohtani, Bregman — spent the afternoon getting fed empty swings and routine outs.

Offensively, Chicago kept adding:

Eguy Rosario’s two-run homer pushed it out of reach.

Montgomery went full headliner again with a solo HR as the knockout punctuation.

Only sour note: Salmonson left injured while running the bases, a moment that briefly sucked the air out of a game that otherwise felt like Chicago announcing itself in neon.

Final vibe: total control. No drama. Just dominance.

Game 3 (June 25): Dodgers 6, White Sox 2 — Snell and LA finally land a counterpunch

After two games of Sox momentum, the Dodgers came out with playoff-edge urgency — and Blake Snell looked like a man trying to personally make the series 2-1 instead of 3-0.

Los Angeles struck early and kept stacking:

Freddie Freeman launched a solo shot.

Teoscar Hernández added one of his own.

The Dodgers kept forcing traffic and cashing it in, pushing the lead to 6-0.

Chicago’s response was gritty, if late. In the seventh, Montgomery sparked chaos with a walk, then turned it into a run with pure aggression — stealing second and third before Robert Jr. poked home the first run. Alfonzo followed with an RBI double to make it 6-2, but the comeback never got the big swing it needed.

The Dodgers bullpen closed it, and the Sox took their first real punch of the series — then kept walking forward.

Series takeaways

Colson Montgomery looked built for this. Big extra-base hits in the opener, damage again in the blowout, and he was still creating pressure in the loss. He didn’t just produce — he dictated innings.

Chicago’s bullpen showed October traits in Game 1. Holding that lineup scoreless through extras with the ghost runner in play is the kind of thing contenders do.

When the Sox offense gets selective, it’s scary. LA’s arms lived in bad counts in Games 1 and 2, and Chicago made them pay.

The Salmonson injury is the cloud to monitor. That’s the one development from LA that could ripple forward.

If this series was a measuring tape, the White Sox didn’t come up short. They went into the Dodgers’ park, played three different kinds of games, and proved they can win in more than one way — which is usually the last box a contender checks.