Thomas hits grand slam off Skubal, Guardians down Tigers to reach AL Championship Series
CBC
For the third time in less than a month, the Cleveland Guardians made a semicircle in the middle of their clubhouse and emptied champagne and beer bottles on each other as "Rocky Top" blasted through the speakers.
The choice of music is unique. So is this team.
The Guardians are an October surprise.
Lane Thomas hit a grand slam off Detroit ace Tarik Skubal and the Guardians, who have won with timely hitting and a shutdown bullpen all season, followed that script for a 7-3 victory over the Tigers in Game 5 of their AL Division Series on Saturday.
Next up for Cleveland is the New York Yankees in an AL Championship Series between two teams that have crossed paths six previous times in the playoffs. They last met in 2022, with the Yankees taking their ALDS in five games.
Game 1 is Monday in the Bronx.
With their $109 million payroll, the Guardians are an oddity among baseball's final four — the little guys taking on the big-spending Yankees, Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers.
It's Cleveland against the world.
"We're playing a very, very good Yankees team," said Guardians first-year manager Stephen Vogt. "We've seen them in the regular season. This is one of the most talented teams in the league. So we know we have our work cut out for us."
Thomas had five RBIs for the Guardians, who weren't expected to contend this season. But they won the tough AL Central under Vogt, giving the franchise a chance to stop a World Series title drought stretching to 1948.
The Guardians had to take down Skubal, the front-runner for the AL Cy Young Award, to keep it going. The left-hander had not given up a run in 28 consecutive innings — 17 in this postseason — before the Guardians tagged him in the fifth for five runs, tying the most he allowed in 2024.
"They wanted to face him today," Vogt said. "And if you don't show up fully confident that you're going to win, you don't show up to the field. That's been our approach all year, and we're not going to stop now."
Cleveland pieced together its big inning off Skubal with the team's familiar, scrappy style dubbed "Guards Ball," getting three singles — one an infield roller — to load the bases before Skubal hit Ramirez on the left hand to force in a run.
"That's who we are," Vogt said. "That's who that group has been in that room all year. As soon as we get punched, we answer. That's been our M.O. all year long — as soon as we give up a run, our guys come right back."
Canada's skeleton team have been cleared of wrongdoing after an investigation into the withdrawal of four athletes from last week's North American Cup in Lake Placid, the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) said on Thursday.
Jesse Marsch, the head coach of Canada’s men’s soccer team, wants to extend his contract before the start of the World Cup in June.
The Winter Olympics and Paralympics have, for decades, been a celebration of snow, cold and mountains — a global showcase for sports built on reliable winter conditions.
Mikaela Shiffrin is dominating in slalom. Lindsey Vonn is doing the same in downhill at age 41.
Canada's skeleton team denied accusations by American Katie Uhlaender that Canada's coach sabotaged her chances of sliding in the Olympic Games, while the world governing body of the sport has ordered an investigation.
No ice is colder and harder than speed skating ice. The precision it takes has meant Olympic speed skaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink, until the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
The experienced ice dance pair of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will headline a contingent of 12 athletes named to Canada's figure skating team for Milano Cortina 2026.
Chris Jones reports from Italy ahead of the Milano Cortina Olympics.
Eight straight losses to the Americans.
Canadian freestyle skier Mikaël Kingsbury earned the 100th World Cup victory of his career on Friday night.
Hockey Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee will name the Olympic women’s hockey team on Friday afternoon, less than a month before the Canadians open the tournament against Finland on Feb. 5.
In 2018, at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Pyeongchang, legendary ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir strapped on their skates for the final time at the Olympics.
Shekai Mills-Knight, a freshman running back for Ole Miss, will earn some attention Thursday night when his Rebels take on the Miami Hurricanes in an NCAA semifinal football game in Glendale, Ariz., but he first made news a decade ago as a grade-schooler deemed too big for the local little league.