Down, But Never Out: Guardians Vanquish White Sox in ALDS

What is it about this team (and this franchise in general) and it's ability to constantly pick themselves up off the mat and keep swinging?

Externally, Cleveland was in serious trouble. They dropped the first two games of the series against the Chicago White Sox and just about everyone around the country counted them out.

Internally, I'm not sure if anyone's blood pressure even measurably raised.

Some way, somehow, this team thrives when the stakes get a little higher and the pressure ratchets up.

The Guardians pulled off a feat rarely seen in Major League Baseball - drop the first two games of a best-of-five series on your home field, then rally to win the next three in a row and move on in the playoffs.

Only the 2015 Toronto Blue Jays (ALDS vs. Texas), 2012 San Francisco Giants (NLDS vs. Cincinnati) and 2001 New York Yankees (ALDS vs. Oakland) had ever previously pulled that rabbit out of their hat.

What's even more impressive is how they flipped the switch.

Offensively, the Guards had only one base hit with a runner on base in the first two games of the series, before they exploded for 18 runs in the two games in Chicago.

Defensively, Cleveland made just one error in the entire five game series.

By the end of Saturday night's 2-0 win , the Cleveland pitching staff struck out 75 White Sox hitters through the five games in the series - shattering the MLB record they set in the 2017 ALDS against New York (64 strikeouts). They allowed an average of 3 runs and 5.8 hits per game against one of the best offenses in Major League Baseball this year.

Gavin Williams led that charge with his overwhelming performance on Saturday. Just 48 hours after coming in out of the bullpen to close out Game 4, and five days after he struck out 11 Chicago hitters in the Game 2 loss, Williams went out and pitched the game of his life. He completely suffocated the White Sox bats, to the tune of a club-postseason-record-tying 12 strikeouts over 5.2 innings. He allowed just one measly hit, walked one and hit a batter.

Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, and Erik Sabrowski all had a monumental impact on the Game 5 clincher as well.

The White Sox had a magnificent season and were one of MLB's all-time great feel-good stories. They lost 100 games or more each of the last three years, and turned it around to come within one win of playing in the ALCS. The Sox were one of baseball's most powerful and most patient offenses.

But they were also pretty vulnerable against Cleveland's power arms.

Consider the performances in the ALDS of Chicago's premier bats:

Andrew Benintendi, who signed the largest contract in franchise history: 0-for-7 with seven strikeouts

Munetaka Murakami, who's homer off Parker Messick in Game 1 elevated them to a win: 1-for-11 with eight strikeouts in Games 3-5

Colson Montgomery, who set the Major League single-season strikeout record this summer: 2-for-12 with eight strikeouts in Games 2-5

Miguel Vargas, who was easily the most feared hitter in the Sox lineup, broke the franchise record with 10 walks in a single postseason (let alone a series), but he never delivered a back-breaking hit that sent Cleveland spinning

All-in-all, in a game that they had to have, the White Sox swung and missed at 38 pitches in Game 5, striking out an MLB single-game postseason record 21 times.

You also can't tell the story of the ALDS without acknowledging the resurgence of Cleveland's franchise cornerstone, Jose Ramirez. Josey's resume is Cooperstown-worthy and by the time he's all done, he just might go down as the greatest player to ever don a Cleveland uniform.

But his postseason resume has certainly been lacking ... until this week.

Ramirez had been dealing with a hamate bone injury that lingered for several months, even after he got back in the lineup. But for those that weighed in on the rest vs. rust debate after the Guardians didn't play in the AL Wild Card round, consider that Jose Ramirez desperately needed that time to let his wrist/hand heal.

Everyone around that world that paid attention to this series saw exactly how important he is to the Guardians' World Series aspirations.

Who knows where this all goes. But after the Guardians went from 39-33 on June 16th to fourth place in the AL Central at 59-64 two months later, there weren't many people outside the franchise that thought they were destined for a first round bye in the playoffs ... let alone an ALCS berth.

In fact, the Guardians trailed the White Sox by 6.0 games in the division on August 16th. Since 1969, the Guardians are the first team to win division titles in back-to-back years, despite being 6.0-or-more games back of first place through at least 125 games played.

But with a flare for the dramatic in a way that only they seem to have, the Guardians closed the regular season 24-11, including a 13-5 record on the road, to surge their way to another AL Central crown.

After overcoming an 0-2 deficit in the ALDS, and certainly after watching what this core group of players has done with their backs against the wall the last three seasons, you'd be crazy to count them out against Tampa Bay.