A 0-2 series deficit. A 27-year-old reliever in his first postseason save. A mother watching from home. Sometimes, the biggest moments in baseball are best captured not by the players on the field, but by the loved ones watching nervously from the stands. And when Cade Smith sealed the Cleveland Guardians’ dramatic ALDS Game 5 victory, his mother’s viral reaction said everything words couldn’t. Thrust into a bigger role as Emmanuel Clase’s replacement, Smith had the weight of Cleveland’s postseason hopes on his shoulders.
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With Jose Ramirez providing the only runs and Gavin Williams delivering 5.2 scoreless innings, the Guardians needed one final push to punch their ticket to the ALCS. Smith answered with 1.2 hitless innings to close out the two-run game, triggering an eruption of joy from his mother that perfectly mirrored the emotions of an entire city.
“Cade Smith’s mom had the BEST reaction to her son getting the five-out save in Game 5,” Foul Territory shared via X.
Smith’s mom was not at Progressive Field, but was watching his son on television. As Smith locked down the multi-inning save to complete Cleveland’s historic 0-2 series comeback and secure a trip to the ALCS, the viral clip captured his mother jumping up and down, screaming with joy, and hugging family members in the stands.
The heartfelt celebration quickly caught attention as a perfect testament to a mother watching her son deliver on one of the biggest stages in sports. And the Guardians’ 27-year-old’s performance on Saturday was no less than heroic.
With the Guardians clinging to a 2-0 lead, manager Stephen Vogt summoned Smith with one out in the top of the 8th inning. With Miguel Vargas on the plate, Smith immediately attacked the zone. After pushing the count to 1-2, he induced a high, drifting pop-up back behind home plate. Catcher Patrick Bailey tracked it perfectly into foul territory to log the second out.
Munetaka Murakami entered the plate but, standing in as the tying run, Murakami was quickly overwhelmed by Smith’s velocity and movement. Smith targeted the corners and executed a sharp strikeout to strand the runner and retire the side, ending the White Sox’s eighth inning.
In the ninth, Smith’s blistering four-seam fastball struck out Andrew Benintendi and Kyle Teel. With Progressive Field already roaring and the ALCS berth just one strike away, Smith dialed up a ferocious 99.2 mph fastball. Chicago’s last batter, Tristan Peters, chased the high heat, swinging through empty air for the final strikeout to lock down the series win.
Smith’s dominant performance capped off an MLB postseason record-setting night for the Guardians, as the pitching staff combined for an unprecedented 21 strikeouts in a 9-inning game.
“This is the postseason. This is do-or-die; every game matters,” Smith said. “All hands on deck. There’s been conversations with the coaching staff and with (Vogt) about what to expect, so I’m on the same page as them. But what I told them is I want to help the team win in any capacity I can to the best of my ability. It’s all hands on deck.”
The Guardians are making the most out of Smith, but it’s also the dominance of Gavin Williams that spearheaded Cleveland’s show against the White Sox.
Williams led the charge for the Guardians
“That was big boy stuff,” manager Steven Vogt said about Williams, and he is not wrong. Despite pitching the ninth inning in relief just two days before closing out Game 4, Williams took the mound on Saturday and threw 5.2 scoreless innings, striking out 12 batters and allowing only one hit to lead the Guardians to a 2-0 victory.
His 12 strikeouts tied Charles Nagy (1996 ALDS Game 4) for the most strikeouts by a Cleveland pitcher in a single postseason game. Gavin Williams also became the first pitcher in MLB history to rack up 24 strikeouts and record a finish as a reliever in the exact same postseason series. His 24 total strikeouts finished just one shy of Gerrit Cole’s all-time ALDS record (25 in 2019).
What started with Williams as the starter, Smith closed out. Just before their ALCS face-off against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Guardians’ pitching will keep their rivals busy.