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Is the clock about to strike midnight on MLB’s Cinderella? The Cleveland Guardians avoided elimination for the second day in a row, preventing a celebration by the Chicago White Sox and forcing a decisive Game 5 of the NL Division Series on Saturday.
Check out this link for the schedule for the League Championship Series.
Division Series Digest
Guardians Stay Alive, Take White Sox To Game 5
Final score: Guardians 9, White Sox 5
Series: Tied 2-2
Next game: White Sox (TBA) at Guardians (TBA), Saturday, 8:08 p.m. ET (TBS)
What was so close to happening for the first time since 1906 will have to wait for another time. Behind the resurgent José Ramírez, the Cleveland Guardians scored six runs in the sixth inning to foil the upstart Chicago White Sox 9-5 in Game 4 of the AL Division Series. The two AL Central teams will now have a do-or-die game Saturday to determine who will face the AL’s No. 1 seed, the Tampa Bay Rays, in the AL Championship Series beginning Monday. The White Sox, in the playoffs after three straight 100-loss seasons, were trying to clinch a postseason series at home for the first time since 1906.
A day after having two hits and two RBIs in a 9-3 win, Ramirez had two more hits, including a two-run homer, as the Guardians returned the favor of sweeping the first two road games of this best-of-five series. Patrick Bailey also homered in the fifth, the same inning Ramirez went deep, a pinch-hit solo shot. Those two homers put the Guardians up 3-2, but the White Sox scored a pair in the bottom of the fifth to go up 4-3. The Guardians took control with a six-run sixth inning, four coming off White Sox right-handed closer Grant Taylor. Travis Bazzana tied the game with an RBI double, then scored on Bailey’s go-ahead single. After two walks, Ramirez made it 6-4 with a run-scoring fielder’s choice and Chase DeLauter singled home another. That brought Jo Adell to the plate and he laced an opposite-field single to run to bring in two more for a 9-4 lead.
Miguel Vargas brought the White Sox within 9-5 by leading off the bottom of the ninth with a homer off Guardians right-handed closer Cade Smith, who was trying for a six-out save. A walk to Munetaka Murakami forced Guardians manager Stephen Vogt to call on right-hander Gavin Williams, thought to be the Game 5 starter, to close it out, making his first MLB relief apperance. Williams yielded a single to Sam Antonacci, then struck out Andrew Benintendi, got Kyle Teel to hit a grounder to short with a forceout at second, then Braden Montgomery lined out to left to end the game, sending the series back to Cleveland.
By The Numbers
5 Guardians catcher Patrick Bailey became the fifth player in MLB postseason history to have multiple RBI hits in a game he did not start.
5 The Guardians are the fifth team to score at least nine runs in back-to-back games when facing elimination.
6 White Sox-Guardians is the sixth best-of-five series to have the road team win the first four games. Two of those series were won by the road team in Game 5.
70-68 Home teams in winner-take-all games are 70-68 in MLB history, but 19-22 in the Division Series.
Best Moments From Yesterday
Butt, It’s History
Sam Antonacci of the White Sox went into the record books by turning a cheek.
RT @SlangsOnSports: Sam Antonacci is the first player in postseason history with multiple bases-loaded hit by pitches in a career He’s done it in back-to-back games
An Encore
We all need a little more J-Ram in our life.
lol
That’s A Strike, Baby!
Even ceremonial first pitches are being challenged.
Brendan Hunt aka Coach Beard with the first pitch ABS challenge 😭
Around The League
MLB Proposes 154-Game Season, 7-Game Division Series
Owners are proposing reducing the season from 162 to 154 games and expanding the Division Series from best-of-five to best-of-seven. Those two proposals would go into effect in 2029, when a new television contract would go into effect. Another aspect of Thursday’s proposal would be allowing the top-seeded teams to choose their opponent in the Wild Card Series and Division Series beginning in 2027. An MLB spokesman said the reduced schedule would allow for a weekly day off, thus not really shortening the season by a week. As for the seeding, the No. 3 seed in each league (worst division winner) would get to select either the No. 5 or 6 seed (two worst wild cards) for its Wild Card Series opponent. For the Division Series, the No. 1 seed would get to choose from either of the teams that advance from the Wild Card Series. MLB said salaries and bonuses would not be scaled down due to the reduced schedule.
As with most of the other proposals MLB has made, these are dependent on players accepting a salary cap.
Articles You Should Read
In NLCS, 4 reasons to believe in Dodgers and 4 reasons for concern — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times
Rays are doing more with less. Here are 5 case studies. — Will Sammon, The Athletic
Meet the secret weapon behind dominant run by Brewers’ Gasser — Adam McCalvy, MLB.com
Have the Yankees gone all in? “Tough to say,” Aaron Judge says — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News
