Instead of a string, you can use a function as the first argument of the sortBy method.
$archive = page('page://YQ74DX24BOLNDBOE')
->children()
->filterBy(function ($item) {
return $item->generalInfo()->toObject()->startDate()->toDate('ymd') < date('ymd') && $item->generalInfo()->toObject()->closeDate()->toDate('ymd') < date('ymd');
})
->sortBy(function ($item) {
return $item->generalInfo()->toObject()->startDate()->toDate('ymd');
}, 'asc')
More Information on sorting: