CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians completed a stunning Division Series comeback Saturday night at Progressive Field, blanking the Chicago White Sox 2-0 in Game 5 to win the series 3-2 and advance to the American League Championship Series. After dropping the first two games at home in the rain, Cleveland won three straight to become the 11th team in postseason history to overcome a 2-0 deficit.
José Ramírez fueled the turnaround after a quiet start. The third baseman went 0-for-6 as Cleveland scored just two runs in the opening two losses, then went 5-for-12 with a double, triple, home run and seven RBI across the three wins. His two-run homer Saturday provided the only runs Cleveland needed and was tracked as the lowest pitch hit for a home run in postseason history. Ramírez had one of the worst years of his career after breaking the hamate bone in his wrist in June, missing a month, with hamate injuries known for long recovery times that may keep him from being 100 percent until next year.
Cleveland's pitching made the lead stand with historic dominance. Guardians pitchers struck out 21 White Sox in the nine-inning shutout, a record for any nine-inning game in MLB history, regular season or postseason. The previous postseason record of 19 strikeouts in a nine-inning game had been set by the White Sox on Wednesday. Chicago struck out 75 times in the five-game series for a 40.5 percent strikeout rate.
The series win capped a late-season surge that decided home-field advantage. Cleveland trailed Chicago by 4.5 games on Aug. 30 before finishing on a 17-9 run to take the American League Central title. The Guardians have made a habit of finding a way, overcoming a 12.5-game deficit to the Detroit Tigers to win the Central last year before Detroit eliminated them in a Wild Card Series. For Chicago, the 84-win season was a major step forward after three straight 100-loss seasons, including a record-setting 121 defeats, behind young players Miguel Vargas, Chase Meidroth and Colson Montgomery and newcomer Munetaka Murakami from Japan.
Cleveland now faces the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS as it chases its first championship in 77 years. The performance followed Gavin Williams' 12-strikeout shutout in Game 5 that helped punch Cleveland's ticket. The postseason continues with NLCS Game 1 between the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers tonight at 7 p.m. CT.