José Ramírez’s wild swing in Guardians’ ALDS victory lauded as one of the best moments of 2026 postseason

This year’s MLB postseason featured plenty of wild moments. Austin Riley’s late-game homer Junior Caminero’s ALCS home run against the Guardians. Ben Williamson’s walk-off single in Game 4 of the World Series. 

But one of the premier moments of the fall came off José Ramírez’s bat in a must-win game against the White Sox in the American League Division Series when the Guardians’ backs were against the wall. 

After laying an egg in the final two games of the ALDS the Guardians took the two games that were at Rate Field to take the series back to Progressive Field. While the Guardians fight was exciting, it seemed like everyone in Cleveland was watching the series through their hands waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

Then Ramírez picked that shoe (or baseball) up off the ground with a home run on a pitch from Sean Burke that was 0.89 feet above the ground, marking the lowest pitch to be hit for a homer since the pitch tracking era began in 2008.

José Ramírez’s homer against the White Sox was one of the top moments of the postseason

That homer sent Ramírez hopping down the first base line in celebration while a sold-out Progressive Field roared behind him. It’s the kind of postseason moment that lives forever. But it also got some love in the present moment yesterday when MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince included it in his list of the top moments from the 2026 postseason. 

As Castrovince pointed out in his article, the Guardians entered that game with a 2-5 record in winner-take-all games at Jacobs/Progressive Field. The Guardians may have had a lot of success over the past couple decades, but winner-take-all games at home have been the one bugaboo. 

But Ramírez swung that history away with his one-of-a-kind hack that left Burke (understandably) flabbergasted on the mound. That homer ended up being the difference in Cleveland’s 2-0 win thanks to Gavin Williams’ electric start and Cade Smith’s 1 2/3 innings of dominance. 

It also helped kick off a strong postseason from Ramírez, who started the postseason 0-for-6 but finished October with a .908 OPS thanks to a wild streak that included his knee-buckling homer against the White Sox. 

Although the Guardians season ended with a disappointing loss to the White Sox, Ramírez homer helped salvage the postseason and give the Guardians another leg up over Chicago after beating them out for the American League Central title. 

Ramírez’s regular season was highlighted by some second half struggles due to a hamate injury, but he put that in the past with his homer against the White Sox that’s going to be the lasting image of his season. 

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