Following their road map to success in the Division Series, the Birmingham Barons set aside a disappointing Game 1 loss at home with a resounding Game 2 win on the road, this time knotting up the Southern League Championship Series. The Barons jumped out to a big lead and cruised to a 7-3 victory over the Biscuits on Tuesday night, setting the stage for a winner-take-all Game 3 tonight at 6:35 p.m.
The three-headed piranha of Rikuu Nishida, William Bergolla and Sam Antonacci all opened the game with hits, and after a throwing error and a wild pitch, the Barons had a lightning quick three-run lead that would never grow smaller.
Heightening the feeling of inevitable Birmingham triumph were four perfect innings (six strikeouts) from starter Tanner McDougal. Shaking off the shackles of his three-inning limit for the first time since July, the 22-year-old allowed one baserunner in two playoff starts for the Barons this year, and if White Sox minor league playoff legend is a thing that exists, McDougal is him.
| Year | IP | H | ER | BB | K | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low-A 2024 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 1 | 3.00 |
| AA 2025 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Total | 16 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 26 | 1 | 1.69 |
Of course, if minor league playoff exploits are the top resume item for McDougal nine months from now, he's likely to be grumpy about it.
Maintaining that edge was at least part of the calculus for the White Sox keeping McDougal in Birmingham through the end of his rate-limited finish, rather than offering a major league bullpen cameo. It's in line with the logic that his 117 combined innings of 3.17 ERA with 142 strikeouts over 49 walks in 2025 were driven by the intensity of McDougal's offseason, which itself was originally spurred by how singularly pissed he was to be finishing his 2024 campaign in Kannapolis after a midseason demotion.
So while McDougal has been taking the stick to Southern League hitters, earning a spot on the major league pitching staff remains the carrot. But with McDougal being Rule 5 eligible this winter, there won't be any drama on whether he'll on the 40-man roster and in big league camp next spring.
"He's going to be a guy that's going to have to be protected," said Brian Bannister. "He'll have an opportunity to prove himself at spring training and with the stuff I saw on multiple occasions, it was overwhelming."
McDougal can threaten 100 mph, but his slider and curveball might be better, and while it's often been shelved in favor of a supination-heavy attack, his changeup is actually the only secondary his father -- a former pro pitcher himself -- let him throw when he was growing up. Such is his stuff that as he entered this spring with a reputation for control problems, Sox officials were speculating on the possibility of a quick rise as a reliever for McDougal, if his starter development remain stagnant.
Ironically, McDougal's monster season once more puts him in the position where he might more quickly crack the majors by unleashing his stuff in the bullpen, but he's made too much progress for the White Sox to have too much affection for that option.
"He can pitch in multiple roles like a Grant Taylor, but I think for now, especially with what he did midway through the year and second half, he proved that he's a starter for now and can handle the durability of starting," Bannister said. "Even though we did have to throttle his workload a little bit just because he was so far past what he had thrown in the past, innings-wise, there's definitely a starter future for him. But breaking in, it's just the best way to fit him into a team."
McDougal's similarities to Taylor go further, as they both tease triple-digit velocity from an over-the-top arm slot. They both throw too hard for their fastballs not to play, even with a downward plane, but they have to be used in moderation and paired with secondaries that tunnel well alongside them. Perhaps the strongest endorsement of McDougal's command gains is the Sox think he can pull off such a mix as a starter in the majors.
"You even see it with [Dylan] Cease or these guys that have higher releases [over 6 feet], where they can't just go out and throw 50-60 percent fastballs; the league just punishes it too much, those middle-approach-angle ranges," Bannister said. "So I could definitely see [McDougal] being a 30-35 percent fastball guy despite the velo and really just leveraging his spin talent. His overall strike-throwing has just gotten so much better this year, and he's able to sustain that really premium velo really deep into games. So I think you proactively get out in front of the fastball usage and just say, 'OK, you're overwhelming at this level.' There's a reason those guys' [release points] are up there and they can handle velo, I think you dial in that usage right, and you can still get the most out of them."
Birmingham 7, Montgomery 3
- Rikuu Nishida went 3-for-5.
- William Bergolla was 2-for-4 with a walk.
- Sam Antonacci was 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Ryan Galanie didn't join in the fun, finishing 0-for-5 with a strikeout and a GIDP.
- Tanner McDougal: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 33 of 47 pitches for strikes.
- Tyler Schweitzer got an earlier hook this time: 1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 18 of 26 pitches for strikes.
- Lucas Gordon: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 19 of 34 pitches for strikes.
