The Buzz — Monday, October 19

Yandy Díaz

The take Three-hit Game 5, and Díaz promises a clinch next game

"Sparked" is the right word, and the reason is in the sequence. Díaz led off Game 5 with a double and scored the first run on a bases-loaded walk; later he singled the other way to help set up another. That is not a three-RBI line — it is foundational work at the top of the order, and in a 3-1 game it was the offense.

This is not one night. He is batting .314 this postseason with four doubles, a home run, and an .847 OPS, with hits in seven of eight games and a 5-for-10 run over the last two. The 25 career postseason hits rank third in Rays history, and he is the only active roster player left from the 2020 World Series team.

After the game he said it without hedging: "We're going to win tomorrow." A hot bat making that call is one thing; a hitter with 25 October hits and institutional memory of the last time Tampa Bay got this far is another. The crowd is right that he sparked Game 5. He is right that the Rays are in position to finish it.

Yandy Díaz cards on eBay →(paid link)

Steven Kwan

The take Kwan's Game 5 defense praised even as the Guardians face elimination

The throw came in the fourth, the Rays already up 3-0, Taylor Walls rounding third on a Jonathan Aranda single — and Kwan, from left field, erased him at the plate. In the ninth, shifted to center, he leaped at the wall to rob Victor Mesa Jr. of extra bases. Four Gold Gloves in four seasons, a finalist for a fifth in center this year — this is the identity Cleveland builds around, and Sunday it held the line as long as it could.

Kwan scored the Guardians' only run on a groundout. The defense kept them in the game. The offense did not give them a way out.

Steven Kwan cards on eBay →(paid link)