Chandler Simpson, the 25-year-old Tampa Bay Rays outfielder, swiped an AL-best 46 bags and hit .306 without a single homer in 2026. One running grab in the American League Championship Series showed how badly Cleveland wants him gone.
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He proved it in Game 5 at Progressive Field, when Simpson pursued a slicing foul pop-up near the seats. There is video evidence of Simpson being yelled at by a Guardians fan in a Jomboy Media clip on X.
“You Fu*** S**,” Guardians fans can be heard saying to Simpson, who was chasing a foul pop-up near the seats, in a video posted by Jomboy Media on X on October 18, 2026.
The tension in a 2-2 series was palpable as Simpson went 2-for-3 with a double, a run, and a stolen base. The Rays were winning 3-1 in the top of the ninth inning. Broadcast commentary tied the rowdiness to fans from a Cleveland Browns game.
“His bat-to-ball skills are elite,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said in comments reported during the ALCS against Cleveland. “The speed puts pressure on every defender on the field. He’s an outlier.”
During the fourth inning of Game 3 of the 2026 American League Championship Series (ALCS), Simpson crushed a two-run triple off a breaking ball from Williams. The hit erased Cleveland’s 1-0 advantage and briefly put the Rays ahead 2-1.
However, the Guardians fought back, fueled by a go-ahead, two-run home run from Petey Halpin in the fifth inning, to ultimately win the game 3-2
In the American League, Simpson was second in batting average at .306 with 0 home runs, struck out only 8-9% of the time, and ranked in the 95th percentile for sprint speed at 29.5 feet per second.
Cleveland aimed at the speed, yet the path behind that speed explains why the Rays trust him so much.
Chandler Simpson Built a Rays Career on Speed Over Power
The heckling is missing the point, as Simpson developed his style of play way back in October. The Rays drafted Simpson in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft from Georgia Tech, where he was a standout after transferring from UAB, and his MLB debut was on April 19, 2025.
“It was always preached to me that power wasn’t going to be my game,” Simpson explained while discussing his hitting approach during the ALCS. “So from an early age, coaches, my younger coaches, were just like, ‘You’re going to have to play the speed game.’”
“I’m just leaning into my strengths, because if I’m 100 percent focused on that, then it gives me the best chance to be successful for the team,” Simpson said in those same ALCS remarks.
This is what made him a Gold Glove finalist, even though he is a 5’11”, 170-pound outfielder. Cash benched him in the Game 1 matchup against left-handed pitcher Foster Griffin, but he showed the Omega Psi Phi hooks after his Game 3 triple, scoring an RBI and drawing an important walk in Game 4.
The victor will play the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series. The last game of the series is also played in Cleveland before the series moves on to the ALCS at Tropicana Field, thus increasing the significance of every at-bat, pitching decision, and ninth-inning decision.