CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians have had a lot of regular season success under manager Terry Francona playoff bound for their fifth time in their last seven seasons.
However, since 2016, playoff series wins have eluded Cleveland. That all changed Saturday afternoon.
The Guardians punched their ticket to the American League Divisional Series after a marathon-like 15 inning pitchers duel on the back of an Oscar Gonzalez walk-off home run.
For a life long Cleveland Guardians fan simply known as Pap Pap, at 87 years old and a ticket holder for 40, the ending was well worth the wait.
"That ending was great, I was worried for a while, but that ending was great," Pap Pap said.
Three generations of his family are here on the search for the elusive World Series, much like the other 35,000 who packed Progressive Field.
Then they filtered out around downtown some were wearing brand new gear, but Pap Pap had his hat and it has several stories to tell according to his granddaughter Nina.
"This is his hat he collects tickets for all of them, he's an Indians/ Guardians fan for life and but he moved to Cleveland after high school and gave up being a Steelers fan to be a Cleveland fan," Nina said.
The series also meant a lot more than just playoff baseball to some Tampa Bay fans who came up to Cleveland to take in the series.
Rays fans braving the aftermath of a hurricane to flew up to Cleveland and bought tickets to the Wild Card series for a brief escape from the carnage left behind by Hurricane Ian.
"Great game, great time, great atmosphere, this place is amazing," One Tampa Bay fan said.
They're headed to the Browns game and then home, sporting some brand new gear to support the Guards the rest of this post season.
"Brand new, 35 dollars, it was worth every penny," A Tampa Bay fan said.
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