Jose Ramirez pops back at Joey Bats following ALCS win

Cleveland Indians sparkplug Jose Ramirez wasted little time firing back at Jose Bautista after the Tribe wrapped up the ALCS.

As the Cleveland Indians poured back into the visiting clubhouse of the Rogers Centre, there could only have been one thing on the mind of Jose Ramirez, the sparkplug third baseman for the Tribe — extracting a bit of pleasure at the demise of Jose Bautista.

In case you missed it, the always brash and cocky Joey Bats had some rather dismissive words toward Indians rookie starting pitcher Ryan Merritt before Game 5.

Probably not the best idea by Bautista to give a team that was up 3-1 in a best-of-seven series extra motivation to close out the series in front his own fans. Some things are best left unsaid, and even though the Blue Jays should have felt confident about their chances of handling a soft-tosser like Merritt, this sound byte has already come back to bite Bautista in the rear.

Merritt limited the Blue Jays to only two hits in 4.1 innings of work, and the rookie was never threatened as he moved the ball around the strike zone and kept the aggressive Toronto bats off balance. Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen came on in relief to complete a 3-0 shutout and put the Indians in the World Series.

Bautista goes quietly from the 2016 postseason, batting below .200 in his team’s nine games and failing to come through repeatedly with runners in scoring position. Earlier in the ALCS, he complained about “circumstances,” implying that MLB had rigged the series against the Blue Jays. If these were the final games of Bautista’s career in Toronto, the final moments of his legacy will leave much to be desired.

Circumstances or not, the Indians are playing in the World Series, and Jose Bautista is going home to contemplate the next move in his career.