For the first time in a while, a Cleveland Guardians starter cleared the five-inning threshold, as Tanner Bibee pitched 5.2 frames allowing just two runs on Saturday.
However, as it happened many times in the American League Championship Series, the New York Yankees stars hit clutch home runs to power their way to victories.
In this case, there were to highly opportune blasts: a game-tying homer by Giancarlo Stanton (the ALCS MVP, deservedly so) in the sixth inning and a go-ahead three-run blast by Juan Soto in the bottom of the tenth to break a 2-2 tie and give New York an insurmountable 5-2 lead.
Luke Weaver tossed two scoreless innings in relief to seal the deal and give the Yankees their ticket to the Fall Classic by virtue of a 4-1 series victory over Cleveland.
It was a majestic season by the Guardians, winning 92 regular season games, beating the red-hot Detroit Tigers in the Division Series, and earning one of the most memorable playoff wins against the Yanks in Game 3 at Progressive Field.
However, their lack of starting pitching depth and quality (mainly because of injuries and unexpected underperformance) ended up sealing their fate.
Guardians' unexpected season ends with emotional, 10-inning loss to Yankees in Game 5 of tight ALCS (from @AP) https://t.co/ztROZbalTP
— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) October 20, 2024
Manager Stephen Vogt, who did a fantastic job overall, also had some questionable decisions in Game 5, like opting to face Stanton instead of pitching around him in the sixth inning prior to his homer or not going with the left-hander (Erik Sabrowski) to face Soto in the tenth, leaving right-hander Hunter Gaddis instead.
The Yanks are now moving on to face the winner of the National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets.
The Guardians, on the other hand, will have a big offseason ahead with the goal of reinforcing the rotation with at least a couple of quality arms and bringing in some outfield help.
The pieces are there for this time to come back strong, though.
NEXT: Guardians Manager To Implement 'All Hands On Deck's Approach In Game 5
