They will wake up in Cleveland still loving José Ramírez. That will never change, nor, likely, will Ramírez’s regard for the city he’s insisted on making his baseball home.
Yet the love affair between future Hall of Famer and scrappy municipality hit a most unpredictable speed bump, right around the time a ground ball skidded off the very edge of the artificial turf on Tropicana Field’s infield.
Ramírez, the beloved third baseman whose playoff heroics drove the Cleveland Guardians into a commanding position in this American League Championship Series, failed to stay down on a ground ball off the bat of Tampa Bay’s Ben Williamson with two outs in the fourth inning of a scoreless game, runners at the corners, the Guardians still poised to take a commanding 2-0 series lead.
It was a ball he’d fielded thousands of times in his 14-year career. This time, though, he appeared to eyeball the grounder hitting the dirt. Instead, it clipped off the turf and skidded right between his legs.
Seconds later, after a Liam Hicks two-run single, a scoreless game turned into a 3-0 Rays lead and eventually, a series-tying 3-1 victory Tuesday, Oct. 13 at Tropicana Field.
A costly two-out error from Jose Ramirez gets the Rays on the board pic.twitter.com/1KLyjAQl50
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 14, 2026
To that point, it seemed the Guardians were still in control. Ramírez played hero in Game 1, his leadoff single sparking a go-ahead, eighth-inning rally, his RBI double and daring break for third base keying a put-away rally in the ninth.
Sure, Cleveland rookie starter Parker Messick and Rays right-hander Freddy Peralta were locked in a pitchers' duel. But Messick kept getting ground-ball double plays when he needed them. The Guardians had played flawless ball with their backs against the wall since falling down 2-0 in their AL Division Series against the Chicago White Sox.
Since then? Win-win-win-win, just like the song says. They were grooving.
Which is what made their franchise cornerstone giving it away so shocking.
All he could do was stare at his glove and furrow his brow, the telltale sign Ramírez is not right. Tropicana Field roared around him.
And after Peralta powered through six innings, and Tampa Bay’s good but not impenetrable bullpen held the line just enough, Ramírez’s gaffe was, to slightly overstate it, 100% the reason the ALCS is now 1-1.
And not 2-0, Guards up, going home to Cleveland.
Come Game 3 on Thursday, they will announce the starting lineups for both clubs, and the Progressive Field crowd will roar for Ramírez, sure, for his Game 5 ALDS game-winning homer and Game 1 ALCS heroics.
Yet it will also be an acknowledgment that Ramírez and The Land are still cool. They probably always will be.
For one moment, though, Ramírez blinked. And the love song hit a rare sour note.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rays even up ALCS as José Ramírez error proves costly for Guardians