Jose Ramirez finishes one homer shy of 40-40 as regular season finale is canceled

Entering the final game of the season on Sunday with 39 home runs and 41 stolen bases on the year, Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez was within striking distance of becoming the newest member of the 40-40 club. Unfortunately, Ramirez would not get that chance. Sunday's regular season finale with the Houston Astros was canceled due to inclement weather, ending Cleveland's season with 161 games played.

While it would have been nice to see Ramirez get the chance if and when the weather had cooperated on Sunday, canceling the game was the right decision to be made. For a game featuring two playoff teams that will have zero impact on playoff seeding, the risk of potentially seeing someone go down in a literally meaningless game (aside from personal accolades) is not worth the risk, even if it does rob Ramirez of the chance to hit his 40th long ball of the season.

Ramirez finishes 2024 with a .279/.335/.537 slash line, 39 home runs, 39 doubles, and two triples while driving in 118 runs, scoring 114 times, and stealing 41 bases in a career-high 158 games played. Even though some will bemoan the fact Ramirez did not get his final few plate appearances to reach 40-40, the reality is that it was a fantastic season for Ramirez. Very few players are capable of accomplishing what Ramirez did this season, and even fewer are in the club that he narrowly missed.

Interestingly enough, this is not the first time Ramirez has flirted with 40-40. Back in 2018, Ramirez finished with 39 home runs and 38 doubles in 157 games en route to a third place finish in American League MVP voting. It is very easy to see how a similar result could play out this time around for Ramirez, as the top MVP vote-getters will be New York Yankees star Aaron Judge and Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr.

The most important thing now for Ramirez, and the rest of the Guardians for that matter, is to rest up and make sure they are ready to go when it is their turn to take the field this upcoming weekend in their first playoff series of 2024. This Guardians team has fought all season long to get into this position, and you better believe they are not going to squander the opportunity that is in front of them.