The Cleveland Indians were eliminated from postseason contention on Monday after dropping Game 3 of the American League Divisional Series to the Houston Astros. Cleveland was blown out, resulting in a disappointing sweep at the hands of the defending world champions.
The series was particularly brutal on Cleveland’s part because of what it received from two of its stars — a lot of outs.
Jose Ramirez was one of the game’s top players during the regular season. He finished the year hitting .270/.387/.552 with 39 home runs. Those marks combined with his defense led to an eight-win season, per Baseball Reference, and should result in a high finish in MVP voting. Josh Donaldson knows a thing or two about that, given he won the 2015 award while with the Toronto Blue Jays. Donaldson hadn’t played a ton this season, but had looked more like his old self in 16 games with Cleveland, batting .280/.400/.520 with three home runs.
Yet Ramirez and Donaldson were helpless in the ALDS.
Combined Ramirez and Donaldson went 1 for 22 in the series with two walks. That’s not a typo — they were hitless against the Astros prior to Donaldson’s single in the ninth inning of Game 3.
For some added context, consider an advanced measure called Win Probability Added. It tracks how much each individual play adds or subtracts from a team’s chances of winning using historical data. Ramirez and Donaldson combined for -0.39 WPA during the ALDS. That’s bad. How bad? Trevor Bauer’s Game 3 meltdown netted him -0.47 WPA, or nearly half a loss.
When Cleveland acquired Donaldson to pair him with Ramirez and Francisco Lindor, among others, it seemed like a smart gamble. There was no way for Cleveland to know that two-thirds of that trio would slump to this extent when the games matter. That they did helps to explain why Cleveland is headed home for the winter after just three postseason games.
Be the first to comment