The Buzz — Sunday, October 11

José Ramírez

The take Ramírez low two-run HR clinches Guardians ALDS comeback

The swing that sent Cleveland to the ALCS came on a pitch 0.74 feet off the ground — a 78 mph knuckle-curve he golfed out of the dirt and sent 348 feet just over the right-field wall. It is the lowest pitch hit for a postseason home run since Statcast tracking began, and it supplied every run in a 2-0 Game 5 win.

Gavin Williams struck out 12 and the staff combined for 21, so Ramírez's fourth-inning blast was the whole offense. He started the series 0-for-6 and then went 5-for-12 with two home runs and seven RBIs across the three games Cleveland had to win. The Guardians are the 11th team to climb out of an 0-2 hole in a best-of-five, and the bat that carried them through it belongs to one player.

José Ramírez cards on eBay →(paid link)

Jacob Misiorowski

The take Brewers ace starts NLCS Game 1 vs Skubal duel

Misiorowski gets the ball Sunday at American Family Field, and the only surprise would have been someone else. He led baseball with a 1.80 ERA, 252 strikeouts, an 0.80 WHIP, and a .157 opponents' average across 174 2/3 innings — four categories, first place in all of them. His only postseason start was NLDS Game 1: four innings, two runs, 88 pitches, a no-decision in a 3-2 win.

Eight days of rest followed, and he was not needed later in the series, so he arrives lined up for a Game 5 return on normal rest. In three career appearances against the Dodgers — two starts and a relief outing — he has a 1.59 ERA with 27 strikeouts and three walks in 17 innings. The crowd sees a duel. Milwaukee's half of it is the arm that led the league in everything that matters.

Jacob Misiorowski cards on eBay →(paid link)

Tarik Skubal

The take Skubal named Dodgers NLCS Game 1 starter vs Brewers

Dave Roberts made it official Friday: Skubal starts Game 1 Sunday in Milwaukee, Yamamoto in Game 2. The Dodgers acquired him from Detroit on Aug. 2 for outfielder Zyhir Hope and right-handers River Ryan and Brady Smith, and the return so far is a 2.61 ERA in a Dodgers uniform after a 2.72 mark across 26 starts. His NLDS Game 1 line — six innings of one-run ball against Atlanta — says the arm is not arriving on fumes. The price was paid, and so far it is returning.

Tarik Skubal cards on eBay →(paid link)

Munetaka Murakami

The take K'd four times in Game 5 as Sox set K record, lost

Four strikeouts in an elimination game is the kind of line that sticks to a name, and Murakami earned every one. He went 0-for-4 in Game 5, and the at-bat that mattered was the sixth: bases loaded, two outs, trailing 2-0, Erik Sabrowski struck him out on five pitches to end the only rally Chicago mounted. Ramírez's fourth-inning homer was all the scoring, and the White Sox never produced another threat.

The White Sox struck out 21 times in nine innings — the most in any nine-inning game, regular or postseason, since at least 1900. They totaled 75 strikeouts across the five-game ALDS, a Division Series record. An offense that led the AL in runs produced three hits in the game that ended their year.

Afterward, through an interpreter: 'My intent was to win this game, win this series and fly to Tampa. It's obviously disappointing. Losing this one, there is a lot to learn from it.' The crowd is right that Game 5 was a collapse. The verdict is simpler: a high-power, high-whiff approach carried this team all year, and when Cleveland's pitching gave up nothing, the swing-and-miss had nowhere to hide.

Munetaka Murakami cards on eBay →(paid link)