Gavin Williams keeps pitching his way into rare air this October.
The Cleveland Guardians right-hander struck out nine more batters Thursday in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, a big part of Cleveland’s 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays and its 2-1 series lead. With that outing, Williams moved even deeper into postseason territory shared by only a tiny group of pitchers.
OptaSTATS noted that Williams now has 44 strikeouts in the first five starts of his postseason career. That puts him behind only two names in MLB history through that same span: Sandy Koufax, who had 48, and Bob Gibson, who had 47.
Those are not just any names. Koufax and Gibson are Hall of Famers, and their October work has long stood as the standard for overpowering postseason pitching. Koufax fanned 15 Yankees in Game 1 of the 1963 World Series, while Gibson set a World Series record with 17 strikeouts against Detroit in Game 1 of the 1968 Fall Classic.
Williams has become the latest pitcher to put himself in that conversation. His first two postseason starts came before this year, and he struck out 12 batters across those outings. This October, he has taken another step.
Through 16 2/3 innings this month, Williams has piled up 33 strikeouts, including one inning of relief in Game 4 against Chicago. That works out to nearly two strikeouts per inning against playoff lineups, a ridiculous pace by any standard.
It also fits what he did in the regular season, when he led the American League with 248 strikeouts.
The comparison to Koufax and Gibson only sharpens when you consider the era Williams is doing this in. Today’s hitters are bigger, stronger and built to wear pitchers down with long at-bats. Williams has still managed to overpower them on the biggest stage.
And with the Guardians now two wins from their first World Series trip since 2016, there’s still a chance for him to keep climbing that list of October legends.
In Other News...
Guardians' Most Painful Trade Looks Even Worse After New Report
The 2021 swap that sent Junior Caminero from Cleveland to Tampa Bay has long lingered as one of the organizations toughest second guesses, and fresh reporting only adds another layer to the regret. The Guardians moved the then-rising prospect for pitcher Tobias Myers, a deal made with the hope of solving a pitching need while parting with a young hitter who was still far from the majors.
Now the sting is not just what Cleveland gave up, but how close the Rays came to asking for something else from the system before settling on Caminero. Xzavion Curry was among the minor leaguers Tampa Bay initially sought, and the fact that Caminero has developed into a top prospect while Myers and Curry have had quieter big league careers makes the trade look even harder to defend in hindsight. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Schedule Change Created An Unusual MLB Playoff Ripple
MLBs postseason calendar picked up an odd little domino effect Wednesday, with the league moving Game 4 of the NLCS between the Dodgers and Brewers up an hour to 8 p.m. ET. The change did not come out of nowhere. It followed the earlier decision to shift ALCS Game 3 between the Guardians and Rays from 6 p.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET because of expected inclement weather, a reminder of how one playoff adjustment can ripple across the rest of the bracket.
For Cleveland fans, the practical part is simple: the team confirmed that tickets and parking passes will still work for the new start time. The bigger picture is a postseason schedule that can still bend quickly around weather, TV and the rest of the leagues needs, even as the Guardians try to stay focused on the field rather than the clock. [Read more 🡒]
Gavin Williams Is Giving Guardians Fans Another Reason To Believe
Gavin Williams has already done his share to fuel Clevelands October run, and now he is looking to add something else to the mix as the Guardians head into the next round. The young starting pitcher said he wants to be a more vocal leader as the club prepares for Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, a sign of how quickly he has grown from power arm to one of the voices in the room.
Williams backed up that confidence with his latest outing, throwing 5.2 scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts in the series-clinching win over the Chicago White Sox. Cleveland now turns to a Game 3 matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays, set for 1 PM ET Thursday after a weather-related delay from the original 6 PM start, and the Guardians will be hoping their emerging starter brings the same edge both on the mound and in the clubhouse. [Read more 🡒]