By the time Sandy Alomar established a new Indians postseason record with his 10 RBI in the 1997 World Series, the 31-year-old catcher was a long established member of the team. He had pre-dated Manny and Lofton and Vizquel and Thome and had represented Cleveland in five All-Star Games; he was, to some effect, a face of the franchise. Two years later, Jim Thome – when he tied Alomar’s mark with 10 RBI in the 1999 ALDS – could have said the same about his place in franchise lore. With 53 games played for the Guardians before the 2024 postseason began, Lane Thomas had no such tie. But after a couple of thunderous swings and a total of nine RBI in the five-game ALDS victory over Detroit, the center fielder can, at the very least, stand equal to the franchise giants when it comes to having made a significant imprint on a postseason series.
Lane Thomas drove in five runs to propel the Guardians to a 7-3 win over the Tigers in the deciding game of their ALDS.
~Thomas’ big splash came in the fifth when hit a grand slam to break a 1-1 tie. The slam is the sixth in Guardians’ postseason history.
1920 World Series Game 5: Elmer Smith (this is the 1st GS in postseason history)
1996 ALDS Game 3: Albert Belle
1998 ALCS Game 6: Jim Thome
1999 ALDS Game 2: Jim Thome
2017 ALDS Game 2: Francisco Lindor
2024 ALDS Game 5: Lane Thomas
~Thomas is the seventh player to connect on a grand slam in a winner-take-all contest.
1956 WS G7: Bill Skowron with his Yankees up 5-0 in the 7th
1999 ALDS G5: Troy O’Leary with his Red Sox down 5-3 in the 3rd
2004 ALCS G7: Johnny Damon with his Red Sox up 2-0 in the 2nd
2012 NLDS G5: Buster Posey with his Giants up 2-0 in the 5th
2014 NLWC: Brandon Crawford (Giants) with the score 0-0 in the 4th
2019 NLDS G5: Howie Kendrick (Nationals) with the score 3-3 in the 10th
2024 ALDS G5: Lane Thomas (Guardians) with the score 1-1 in the 5th
~Thomas is one of seven players to have at least five RBI in a do-or-die game.
7 RBI Troy O’Leary 1999 ALDS G5
6 RBI Johnny Damon 2004 ALCS G7
5 RBI Carlos Beltran 2004 NLDS G5
5 RBI Dustin Pedroia 2007 ALCS G7
5 RBI Brandon Moss 2014 ALWC
5 RBI Adolis García 2023 ALCS G7
5 RBI Lane Thomas 2024 ALDS G5
Steven Kwan went 3-for-5 with two runs scored in the victory. The Guardians leadoff hitter finished this ALDS with a .524/.565/.571 line, scored six runs and reached base safely 13 times.
~The .524 batting average is the highest ever (min. 12 PA) for a Guardians player in any postseason series. The previous high of .500 was first established by Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series and then matched by Omar Vizquel (1997 ALDS) and José Ramírez (2016 ALDS).
~Kwan’s .524 average is tied for the fifth highest for any leadoff hitter (min. 12 PA) in an LDS.
.615 Carlos González 2009 NLDS
.600 Ichiro Suzuki 2001 ALDS
.600 Fernando Viña 2002 NLDS
.545 Marcus Semien 2020 ALDS
.524 Marquis Grissom 1995 NLDS
.524 Steven Kwan 2024 ALDS
~Kwan’s tally of 11 hits ties for the third most for any player in any LDS. Mariners Edgar Martinez (1995) and Ichiro Suzuki (2001) share the top spot, with 12. Another Mariner, Jay Buhner, had 11 in 1995, as did Marquis Grissom for the Braves that same year.
~Kwan’s tally of 11 hits ties him with Sandy Alomar (1997 World Series) Kenny Lofton (1995 ALCS) and Omar Vizquel (1998 ALCS) for the most in any series in Cleveland’s postseason history.
~Kwan’s total of 13 times on base represents the second highest in any Division Series for a leadoff hitter. In the 1999 ALDS, José Offerman reached safely 14 times. Ronald Acuña, Jr. (2019 NLDS), Ichiro Suzuki (2001 ALDS) and Kwan are next, with the 13.
Emmanuel Clase allowed no baserunners for a save in the contest. Clase notched saves in Games 4 and 5, recording five outs and six outs, respectively, in the two efforts. In the regular season from 2022 through 2024 – when he led the AL in saves in each of those years – Clase recorded 133 saves with one of them extending beyond one inning.
The Guardians will face the Yankees in the ALCS – it will be the seventh time in the Divisional Era the two clubs will face off in the postseason.
~Cleveland wins: 1997 ALDS, 2007 ALDS
~New York wins: 1998 ALCS, 2017 ALDS, 2020 ALWC, 2022 ALDS
~This seventh tussle makes this matchup the most frequent in the AL since 1995 (Division Era). With the six – before the upcoming one – Cleveland versus New York had been tied with the Twins against the Yankees.
With this Game 5 win, Cleveland improved to 2-8 all-time in winner-take-all contests. The Guardians are one of 11 franchises with at least 10 appearances in win-or-go-home affairs. Among this collection, Cleveland’s .200 winning percentage is the worst. The Athletics and Braves have the second worst, at .333.
With this Game 5 loss, Detroit fell to 5-5 all-time in winner-take-all games.
Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.
Roger Schlueter
As Sr. Editorial Director for Major League Baseball Productions from 2004-2015, Roger served as a hub for hundreds of hours of films, series, documentaries and features: as researcher, fact-checker, script doctor, and developer of ideas. The years at MLB Production gave him the ideal platform to pursue what galvanized him the most – the idea that so much of what takes place on the field during the MLB regular and postseason (and is forever beautifully condensed into a box score) has connections to what has come before. Unearthing and celebrating these webs allows baseball to thrive, for the present can come alive and also reignite the past.