Silver Slugger race is Guardians fans' final reminder of José Ramírez’s disastrous 2026 campaign

This year’s postseason was a masterclass from José Ramírez. While it didn’t end with the Guardians hosting the Commissioner's Trophy, it was arguably Ramírez’s best postseason performance in four years. 

But that performance came on the back of a disastrous regular season where he recorded an OPS+ under 100 for the first time in more than a decade. It didn’t keep the Guardians out of the regular season, but it didn’t make their quest to get to the postseason any easier. 

Normally, that kind of season would be easy to flush thanks to those postseason heroics and the impending lockout. But that’s not the case this year thanks to the American League Silver Slugger finalists. 

Earlier today Louisville Slugger announced the finalists for this year’s Silver Slugger awards, with Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero and the White Sox’s Miguel Vargas being the finalists at third base in the American League. None of them have the Silver Slugger résumé of Ramírez (a six-time winner who won the award in 2024 and ‘25), this year’s results are going to sting no matter who wins. 

José Ramírez won't threepeat as an American League Silver Slugger

Camerino arguably has the best case of the two since he just finished up a season where he had an .885 OPS with 42 homers and 101 RBI. He’s going to finish no worse than third in this year’s MVP voting. Meanwhile, Vargas had an OPS of .834 with 33 homers, 93 RBI, 31 doubles and 22 steals. 

They were clearly the top two candidates at the position, which is the most open race at third in years thanks to Ramírez’s struggles. 

But so much of Ramírez’s problems stem from the hamate injury he suffered in the middle of June. Although he returned from his injury after just a month on the injured list, he hit just .229 the rest of the way with two home runs. 

It looked like those struggles were going to carry over to the postseason when he went 0-for-6 through the first two games of the American League Division Series, but he went nuclear the rest of the way and ended up being one of October’s top performers. 

Caminero’s win would hurt the most given he was a former Guardians prospect who was traded away and just recorded a signature moment with a go-ahead home run against the Guardians in the ALCS. 

And while it may be tough to not have that homer and the Silver Slugger race rattle around in your mind when thinking about the six remaining seasons on Ramírez’s contract, remember that this year is a blip in his recent results. Yes, he’s not getting any younger, but he looked pretty good when the lights were brightest; that’s what matters most. 

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