The Cleveland Guardians will be playing to live another day on Thursday.
After losing Game 3 of the American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, they are now down 2-1 in the best-of-five matchup.
It means that if they lose on Thursday night in Detroit, their season will be over.
That’s how cruel and unforgiving postseason baseball can be sometimes: this is a team that won 92 games in the regular season, yet here they are, close to being booted by an 86-76 squad.
But the Guardians are not dead yet.
Their offense seems dead, make no mistake, having been held scoreless in the last 20 innings.
But they still have a chance.
One win on Thursday, and they will force a winner-takes-all game at home this weekend.
To do that, however, they will need their star player to show up.
The Guards’ hopes begin and end with Jose Ramirez.
The underrated star who hit 39 home runs, stole 41 bases and drove in 118 runs in the regular season is 0-for-9 in the playoffs, with just one run scored.
Teams that don’t have a particularly explosive offense often rely on one or two star-level talents.
This is the Guardians’ case, in case you were wondering.
Other teams have struggling stars but enough supporting cast producing to take them afloat.
In Cleveland, if J-Ram is not producing, it’s 100 times more evident.
There is still time: they need Ramirez to come through with something.
It doesn’t have to be a home run: they need to get something, anything going at the plate.
This doesn’t have anything to do with Ramirez’s legacy in Cleveland: nothing will affect the fact he is a hero in this town.
However, if the Guardians want to advance, it’s time for their star player to show up when it matters the most.
NEXT: Guardians Need To Change Recent Pattern To Survive Another Day
