Gavin Williams did everything a manager could ask for in a game that had the Guardians’ season hanging by a thread. He punched out 11, generated 22 swings and misses, set a franchise postseason record in the pitch-tracking era and fired 16 pitches at 100 miles per hour or harder.
He even carried a one-run lead into the sixth. And then Stephen Vogt took the ball away.
That decision became the center of the conversation after Game 2, and for good reason. Williams was at 98 pitches, and they were not the kind of clean, low-stress pitches that let a starter cruise.
The bottom third of Chicago’s order had already done damage in the fourth, with Murakami and Vargas giving him trouble. Vogt later explained that if Williams had stayed in, he might have reached 115 or 120 pitches, which raised the possibility that he wouldn’t be available again for a Game 4 or Game 5.
Still, not everyone was interested in the long game with the season right there in front of them.
“You can’t be thinking about tomorrow when today is on the line,” Hoynes said. “You have to advance to tomorrow. You’ve got to win today.”
What followed only made the move look rougher. Eric Sabrowski entered, walked Randall Grichuk, threw a wild pitch and then watched Braden Montgomery - a switch-hitter who doesn’t typically hit well from the right side - drive a two-run double down the right-field line to turn the game.
Sabrowski was blunt afterward: he simply didn’t have his control.
The question then turned to whether Cade Smith should have been the answer in that spot instead. Hoynes put it directly: “What about Cade Smith in the sixth inning there?”
Noga laid out the case. Sabrowski’s fastball is his weapon, but the White Sox had already shown throughout the series that they could handle fastballs. Smith’s heater is a different problem entirely, one hitters have a much harder time squaring up.
Of course, using Smith there would have meant going to the bullpen’s biggest weapon before the game even reached its final stretch.
“That leaves you barren,” Hoynes stated.
Williams didn’t hide behind the pitch count afterward. He brushed off the strikeout total and said he wasn’t chasing numbers, only trying to put the team in position to win.
And he did that. The larger issue was that Cleveland gave him almost no margin for error.
When the offense leaves you living on one-run leads, one walk and one wild pitch can flip everything in a hurry.
That’s the real trap Vogt was working inside of. The move was defensible. It just became much easier to question because the lineup never gave Williams the breathing room a start like that deserved.
In Other News...
Jose Ramirez Decision Could Define Clevelands ALDS Fight
Jose Ramirezs October has become one of the quietest pressure points in Clevelands ALDS push. The seven-time All-Star has dealt with both performance and injury issues across the regular season and the first two games of the series, and the Guardians have spent enough time around him to know how much his presence usually shapes their offense. Even without a hit yet in the postseason, he has still found a way on base twice through walks and scored a run, a small reminder that his impact can show up in different ways.
Still, the Guardians are weighing whether a lineup adjustment might help ease some of the burden and get Ramirez back to his usual rhythm. Moving him down would be a notable call for a player who has long sat at the center of Clevelands attack, but the pressure around him has only grown as the series has unfolded. No decision has been made, and for a team trying to stay alive in the ALDS, how they handle Ramirez may say as much about their confidence as it does about his current form. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Naylors Rough 2026 Season Finally Has A Clearer Explanation
Josh Naylors difficult 2026 season now has a more concrete backdrop after the Seattle Mariners said he underwent TFCC repair surgery on his right wrist. For Cleveland fans still tracking the former Indian, the update helps put his downturn in context after a year in which his offensive production never matched the level he had established before. The wrist issue, in particular, gives a clearer sense of why things may have felt off for so long.
Seattle also revealed catcher Cal Raleigh had a left shoulder acromioclavicular debridement procedure, another reminder of how much hidden wear can shape a players year before the full picture comes out. In Naylors case, the surgery does not change what happened on the field, but it does add important context to a season that puzzled observers and now looks a little easier to explain. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Season May Hinge On Vogts Toughest Pitching Call Yet
With the Guardians on the brink after dropping the first two games of the ALDS, the attention has quickly shifted to the one decision that could shape the rest of the series: who gets the ball in Game 3. Tanner Bibee, Daniel Espino and Joey Cantillo all sit in the mix, and each choice comes with a different kind of risk for a team that no longer has much margin for error.
The discussion around the pitching staff has been about more than just one start, because this is the kind of spot where every move can ripple through the rest of the postseason plan. Cleveland has been forced to weigh upside against reliability in a must-win setting, and with the odds of a comeback already looking slim, the answer to that pitching question may say as much about the Guardians October outlook as the series itself. [Read more 🡒]