Guardians complete 2-0 ALDS comeback, reach ALCS with 2-0 win over White Sox on October 11
The Cleveland Guardians erased a two-game deficit in the ALDS, becoming the 11th team to complete such a comeback in a best-of-five series, and advanced to the ALCS with a 2-0 victory over the White Sox on October 11. José Ramírez went 5-for-12 with two homers and seven RBIs in the three-game comeback stretch. The Guardians face the Tampa Bay Rays, who finished with the AL's best record and won five of six regular-season matchups against Cleveland.
The Cleveland Guardians erased a two-game deficit in the ALDS, advancing to the AL Championship Series with a 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on October 11. The comeback made the Guardians the 11th team in postseason history to lose the first two games of a best-of-five series and return to win, according to MLB.com.
The Guardians' path to the ALCS showcases a pattern of mid-season resilience. In 2025, the team completed a historic comeback en route to the AL Central title. In 2026, they erased a 5.5-game deficit over the final six weeks of the regular season to track down the White Sox and win the division again, per MLB.com.
José Ramírez went 0-for-6 in Games 1 and 2, both losses. In the three-game comeback stretch, he went 5-for-12 with a double, two homers and seven RBIs, per MLB.com. Ramírez hit a two-run home run in Saturday's clinching Game 5. Ramírez underwent left hamate surgery in June and was still managing the impacts of that procedure entering the postseason, according to MLB.com.
Gavin Williams racked up 12 strikeouts over 5⅔ scoreless innings on Saturday, two days after closing out Game 4 with an emergency relief appearance. Closer Cade Smith threw 1⅔ scoreless innings to earn the save; he had thrown 50 pitches across Games 3 and 4, per MLB.com. Williams, Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Smith struck out a combined 21 batters on Saturday, the most in a nine-inning postseason or regular-season game in MLB history, according to MLB.com.
The Guardians enter the ALCS as underdogs against Tampa Bay, which finished the regular season with the AL's best record. The Rays won five of six head-to-head games against Cleveland during the regular season and enter the matchup on ample rest after sweeping the Yankees, per MLB.com. Cleveland's historical record in high-stakes games bears noting: the Guardians entered Saturday 2-9 in win-or-go-home games, according to MLB.com.
The ALCS opens Monday night at Tropicana Field. Left-hander Foster Griffin will start for the Guardians in Game 1 against Rays ace Drew Rasmussen, per MLB.com. Griffin threw 2⅔ clutch innings as a bulk reliever in Game 3 of the ALDS and struck out seven, setting a new single-game record for strikeouts by a Cleveland reliever in the postseason. Griffin was acquired from the Nationals at this year's Trade Deadline after posting a 3.06 ERA in 22 starts and posted a 5.19 ERA in nine starts down the stretch with Cleveland, according to MLB.com.
The Guardians erased a 0-2 deficit to beat the White Sox 2-0 in Game 5, becoming the 11th team ever to complete a two-game comeback in a best-of-five postseason series.
The Guardians face the Rays in Game 1 of the ALCS on Monday night at Tropicana Field. Whether Cleveland can sustain its postseason momentum against Tampa Bay's best-in-league regular-season record and 5-1 head-to-head edge will clarify whether this comeback run represents a genuine shift in the Guardians' clutch performance or a deviation from their historical 2-9 mark in elimination games.
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