Jose Ramirez's postseason struggles are killing the Guardians again

The Cleveland Guardians excelled in Stephen Vogt's first year as manager. The team won the AL Central division and boasted one of the best bullpens in all of baseball. It doesn't hurt that they have one of the top hitters in baseball in third baseman Jose Ramirez, who put up good numbers at the plate once again. He did, after all, record a .279 batting average, a .872 OPS, 39 home runs, 114 runs, 118 RBI, and 173 hits in 620 at-bats (158 games).

Unfortunately for Cleveland, Ramirez's bat had gone cold once again in meaningful games in the postseason.

On Wednesday, the Guardians were shut out 3-0 by the rival Detroit Tigers in Game 3 of the ALDS. With that, the Guardians are currently on the brink of another early exit in the postseason. It certainly didn't help that Ramirez was hitless once again, going 0-for-3 with one walk.

Underperformance is once again becoming a theme for Ramirez in the postseason.

Jose Ramirez once again facing situation where he contributes to Guardians' postseason exit

About 48 hours prior, Ramirez went hitless in Game 2 in Cleveland, where the Tigers won 3-0 on a homer from Kerry Carpenter off star closer Emmanuel Clase.

In three postseason games, Ramirez has an unsightly .111 batting average, a .273 on-base percentage, a .222 slugging percentage, one RBI, one run, one hit, and two strikeouts in nine at-bats.

Ramirez has had some strong postseason performances, such as in 2016 during Cleveland's run to the World Series (.268/.305/.357, six runs, 15 hits) and in 2022 during their run through the Wild Card Round up until the Division Series (.333/.344/.500, four RBI, 10 hits). But there were some notably poor showings in other years.

In 2017, where Cleveland was reverse-swept by the New York Yankees in the ALDS, Ramirez recorded a .100 batting average, a .282 OPS, two hits, two runs, and seven strikeouts in 20 at-bats (five games).

The following year, the Guardians made it back to the ALDS, but were swept by the Houston Astros. Ramirez didn't recorded a single hit in the three-game series.

Overall, Ramirez has a postseason slash line of .233/.290/.338 while posting two home runs, 12 runs, 13 RBI, 31 hits, 28 strikeouts, and 11 walks in 133 at-bats (35 games).

Let's just say that social media users are very aware of Ramirez's statistics in the postseason.

The Guardians are looking to avoid becoming yet another top-two seed that received a first-year bye to get eliminated in the Division Series. To do so, they will need their bats, especially Ramirez's, to hit like they did in Game 1 of the series.

Game 4 of the ALDS will take place on Thursday, Oct. 10, at 6:08 p.m. ET.