CLEVELAND — The gave it everything they had, truly fighting until the bitter end.
It wasn't nearly enough. When all was said and done, the Bronx Bombers' firepower was just too much to overcome.
The Guardians' magical 2024 season came to an agonizing conclusion Saturday night with a 5-2 loss to the Yankees in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. New York takes the AL pennant four games to one, and marches on to the World Series for the 41st time in franchise history.
Simply put, the Yanks' stars came through when it mattered, while the Guards' top players did not. Giancarlo Stanton tied things up with a towering two-run homer in the sixth inning, while in the 10th, Juan Soto took Hunter Gaddis deep to put Cleveland away for good.
All of the runs on Soto's blast were unearned, as the at-bat was set up by a costly Brayan Rocchio error at shortstop. It was one of several costly miscues from the Guardians in this series, ones they could ill-afford to make against a team with as many big hitters as the Yankees.
Cleveland struck first for the first time in the ALCS thanks to RBI hits by Bo Naylor and Steven Kwan, and with No. 1 starter Tanner Bibee hurling a gem, manager Stephen Vogt elected to let the 25-year-old come out for the sixth in a 2-0 game. Even after allowing back-to-back singles, he got Aaron Judge to ground into a double play, bringing up Stanton with two out and a man at third.
Stanton had struck out twice on the night, which was maybe why Vogt elected not to walk him. Indeed, Bibee was one pitch away from fanning him again, but made his lone mistake and hung a slider over the plate. He and Naylor didn't even have to look, as the Yanks' slugger had put the ball into the bleachers 446 feet away.
Stanton had only four hits in the series, but all were homers, driving in a total of seven runs. For his efforts, he was voted ALCS MVP.
For the third straight evening, the showdown developed into a masterpiece, with both bullpens matching each other pitch-for-pitch. Guards closer Emmanuel Clase even redeemed himself after back-to-back rough outings, striking out Stanton in a scoreless ninth to help send the game into extra innings.
Gaddis replaced Clase in the 10th, and after a one-out walk to Austin Wells, Alex Verdugo hit a grounder to second base that seemed certain to at least get one. But Rocchio rushed Andrés Giménez's flip and missed the ball, making Wells safe at second and putting Wells at first on Rocchio's third error of the series.
Gleyber Torres K'd for what should've been the third out of the inning. Soto battled against Gaddis before swinging at a 95 mph fastball up in the zone, and though center fielder Lane Thomas looked to have a beat on it, the ball carried over the fence for the game's decisive blow.
Throughout the entire campaign, the Guards' bullpen has been the best in MLB. In the ALCS, however, Gaddis, Clase, and Cade Smith combined to go 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA and five home runs allowed.
While Cleveland's relievers struggled, New York's thrived in the clinching effort with 5 1/3 scoreless innings and just two hits surrendered. All of Jake Cousins' four recorded outs were via strikeout, and closer Luke Weaver bounced back from his own poor performance in Game 3 to pitch shutout ball over the last two frames.
Cleveland star José Ramírez went a dismal 0 for 4 on Saturday, and while he had a solid OPS of .807 over the five games, he failed to come up with a show-stopping hit. All-Star Josh Naylor recovered with three hits in the final two games, but still finished with a lackluster .531 OPS during the postseason, while ALDS hero Lane Thomas slumped in the championship series by going 2 for 17 with no RBIs.
When the year began, not many saw the Guardians as even realistic contenders for the playoffs, much less battling the Yankees for the pennant. With a first-year manager and several young and talented stars, the team has a lot to be proud of, and the season had no doubt been a successful one.
And yet, that will be of little consolation to Cleveland players and fans, for the club's World Series championship drought will now extend to 77 years since 1948. Even with all the fun and memories, the hurt is very real.
