Jose Ramirez's suspension reduced, will begin serving Saturday

There is good news and bad news when it comes to Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez. First, the good.

Ramirez's suspension from the events of last weekend when the Chicago White Sox were in town has been reduced from three games down to two games. What began as a verbal altercation quickly turned into a scuffle, and that resulted in a full benches clearing brawl resulting in suspensions being handed out to three players, two managers, and a third base coach. An additional two players were also fined but not suspended for their actions.

Now it is time for the bad news. Ramirez will begin serving that suspension Saturday and miss the final two games of the Guardians' series with the Tampa Bay Rays. Cleveland narrowly lost Friday night as they were victims of a Wander Franco walk-off home run. Being without Ramirez will certainly make Cleveland's chances of winning or at least being competitive against Tampa much more difficult. There is no substitution for a player the caliber of Ramirez.

The Guardians are already down their second-best hitter in Josh Naylor, so this is just another less-than-ideal situation this Cleveland team will have to take on. This is nothing new for this team as they have faced adversity around just about every corner this season.

As far as team outlook is concerned, this comes at a time when the Guardians are just 3.5 games back of the American League Central division-leading Minnesota Twins. Luckily, the Twins were destroyed by the Philadelphia Phillies Friday night which kept the deficit intact. But with the likelihood of Cleveland being swept in Tampa on the table, they have to hope Minnesota loses their next two games in Philadelphia. The season is beginning to wind down and if they are going to be in the postseason, they will need everything they can to go their way.