Earlier this week I wrote an article about Jose Ramirez. After a sluggish second half and a 0/6 postseason begin, I assumed we have been in for one more tough October for the perfect participant in Cleveland baseball historical past.
Effectively, three video games and a sequence win later, Ramirez raised his profession postseason OPS by over 60 factors, and he single-handedly saved an ice-cold Cleveland offense. Extra than simply that, I really feel I didn’t give Ramirez a good shake in my final article on him.
Jose had troublesome postseason runs from 2016-2018, however since then he’s been extremely strong for Cleveland. Extra importantly, since 2020, in lineups with zero safety round him, he has been the one constant bat for the Guardians. 2026 has been no completely different.
Within the first two video games, Ramirez was hitless, and the Guardians scored three runs whole. Within the subsequent two video games, he reached base 5 occasions, and Cleveland scored 18 runs. Lastly, in one of many greatest moments of his profession, Ramirez went yard, driving in the one two runs of the sport.
Sure, Ramirez had a tough first two video games of the sequence, however when the season was on the ropes, he completely carried Cleveland’s offense. Ramirez slashed .417/500/1.167 over his ultimate three video games of the sequence, good for a 1.667 OPS.
He’s additionally third in baseball in postseason homers, second in RBIs, and fourth in OPS for the sequence. Jose not solely carried Cleveland’s offense, however he was additionally probably the greatest postseason performers in baseball.
In a season the place Cleveland was wildly inconsistent, you by no means anticipated this roster to make an October run, however they now sit simply 4 video games away from a visit to the World Sequence. As loopy because it sounds, this Guardians workforce now seems to have the items round Ramirez to go on slightly run.
Gavin Williams leads all pitchers in strikeouts this postseason, and the workforce additionally has what might be baseball’s most harmful bullpen piece in Cade Smith. Williams tied the document for strikeouts in a sport by a Guardian, whereas Smith shut down the ultimate inning or two each time he toed the rubber.
If Hunter Gaddis, Erik Sabrowski, Tim Herrin, Shaun Armstrong, and the additional starters within the rotation can piece collectively the center innings, Cleveland will solely want a number of runs a sport to tug off an upset.
Fortuitously for Cleveland, the man who could have a statue in entrance of the stadium in a number of years will possible get them the lacking runs.
