White Sox to play at Athletics in AL wild-card series

The White Sox are going to the playoffs, but they’re not exactly storming in.

Defeated 10-8 in the final game of an abbreviated 60-game season Sunday at Guaranteed Rate Field, the Sox (35-25) yielded 10 runs to the crosstown rival Cubs for the second time in the series and head to Oakland, California, for the first round of the American League playoffs having lost seven of their last eight games.

The Sox, who were the No. 1 seed in the AL two weeks ago and seemingly were a shoo-in to host the first round, dropped to the No. 7 seed and will play the No. 2 seed Athletics in the best-of-three wild-card series. Game 1 Tuesday and Game 2 Wednesday start at 2 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN. Game 3, if necessary, would be Thursday in Oakland.

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Upbeat manager Rick Renteria gave his players props for taking the game to the last out — Nomar Mazara, representing the tying run, was called out on strikes by plate umpire Will Little on a hotly disputed pitch to end the game — after the Sox had rallied from a 10-1 deficit by scoring five runs in the eighth inning and two in the ninth.

‘‘A lot of things happened to make me feel like we’re still battling,’’ Renteria said. ‘‘That was the most important thing. Winning the ballgame would have been the icing on the cake, but they showed a lot of fight.’’

The Sox entered the season with playoff expectations in the fourth year of their rebuild but raised the bar when they built their record to 32-16 on Sept. 15. They since have fallen on hard times, but with the Twins losing to the Reds, the Sox would have won their first division title since 2008 with a victory.

‘‘You take into account all the things that happened in that time frame — injuries, things that were occurring,’’ Renteria said. ‘‘We tried to battle through it. We did a lot of different things. We had youngsters coming in. We had a lot of guys establishing themselves as professionals.

‘‘There were a lot of positives that happened [amid] a lot of negative that happened over the last two weeks. We gained a lot of information and a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience, which I hope are going to serve us as we go into this playoff run.’’

The Sox will start right-hander Lucas Giolito and left-hander Dallas Keuchel in Games 1 and 2. The A’s (36-24) will start former Sox right-hander Chris Bassitt in Game 2 but haven’t announced their starter for Game 1. Left-handers Sean Manaea and Jesus Luzardo are possibilities.

‘‘They have some pitching, both in the rotation and the pen,’’ Renteria said. ‘‘They always swing the bat very well — very disciplined, on-base guys. We will have to execute.

‘‘We have our two best going at the beginning. Our bullpen, our main guys, are fully rested and ready to go. I would take my chance with the guys we have going into this postseason.’’

The Sox, who went 3-3 against the Cubs, have seen their bats quiet down recently. On the plus side, July/August rookie of the month Luis Robert had three hits Sunday and is 5-for-11 in his last three games after going 0-for-26 in his previous eight.

‘‘I didn’t get the results I was getting the first month, but I kept working, and the last few days I feel better,’’ Robert said.

The Sox hope the next few days will be better than the last few. It’s the playoffs, and everyone starts fresh.

That’s how they’re approaching it. That’s what you do when you’ve been struggling.

‘‘Once you’re in the playoffs, it’s a whole new season,’’ catcher James McCann said. ‘‘Individual stats no longer matter.’’