J-Ram on cusp of joining rare 40-40-40 club

CLEVELAND -- It all comes down to Game 162.

No, the Guardians don¡¯t have a playoff berth on the line. They don¡¯t even have the division title or the first-round bye on the line. Heck, their 4-3 loss to the Astros on Saturday at Progressive Field eliminated any chance of securing the No. 1 seed, so it would seem as though nothing is on the line for Sunday¡¯s final game.

And yet, there¡¯s so much on the line for Jos¨¦ Ram¨ªrez.

With everything else clinched, most star players would take a day to get some rest, but Ram¨ªrez has been adamant that he remains in the lineup as he chases the coveted 40-40 season. He entered Saturday already having eclipsed 40 steals and just two homers away from achieving the feat. But in the first inning, he launched a ball a Statcast-projected 390 feet off of Astros starter Justin Verlander as his 39th homer of the year. Now, he has one game left to get No. 40.

¡°He¡¯s just such an incredible hitter,¡± Verlander said of Ram¨ªrez. ¡°You¡¯ve just got to tip your cap on that one.¡±

Only six players have enjoyed a 40-40 season in MLB history: Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acu?a Jr., Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds and Jose Canseco. Maybe on Sunday, this club will become a party of seven.

¡°It¡¯s just been an unbelievable year to watch,¡± Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. ¡°I think what Josey¡¯s done, it¡¯s so much fun.¡±

When a player is clear that he¡¯s chasing something, there can be concern that he could develop bad habits. If he¡¯s swinging for the fences, maybe he¡¯ll get away from the mechanics that have gotten him to this point. It¡¯s happened to players before and it surely will happen again. But the Guardians have been confident that it wouldn¡¯t happen to Ram¨ªrez. They¡¯ve seen this determination in the past. When he sets his mind to something, he finds ways to do it without sacrificing anything that¡¯s made him such an elite player.

¡°When guys chase numbers, they struggle,¡± Vogt said. ¡°When you are yourself and you go out and play every night to be you, your numbers will come. This whole season for Josey has been an example of that.¡±

As if that wasn¡¯t enough to monitor in Sunday¡¯s season finale, Ram¨ªrez decided to make it even more interesting by smacking a double in the right-center-field gap to bring his double total to 39 on the season. A 40-40-40 season is almost unheard of, considering Soriano (2006) is the only player in MLB history to boast this on his r¨¦sum¨¦.

There are so many eyes on the statistics, but if we zoom out for a second, the bigger picture tells an even better story. Like we¡¯ve already said, this is a man on a mission to achieve a special feat. And yet, he¡¯s still the best hitter in this lineup.

Ram¨ªrez picked up two hits on Saturday to reach 1,500 for his career. He launched the go-ahead, first-inning homer to respond to the Astros¡¯ early lead and pick up a struggling Ben Lively. He added a sacrifice fly in the third inning to cut the Guardians¡¯ deficit to one. Then, in the eighth, Ram¨ªrez had a brief scare when he fouled a ball off his shin that prompted him to step away from the plate, bending over in pain.

After a few minutes with the Cleveland training staff, he stepped back into the box and won an 11-pitch at-bat against Astros reliever Ryan Pressly with the double in the gap. The Guardians know that their superstar can come alive at any moment. There¡¯s no one they¡¯d rather want at the plate in a high-leverage situation. But when Ram¨ªrez is starting to lock in like this just before October baseball gets underway, that can only be a positive sign.

¡°You watch his at-bats tonight, he¡¯s on every pitch,¡± Vogt said. ¡°There¡¯s no fooling him right now.¡±

Maybe the Guardians won¡¯t gain much from Game 162, collectively, but there¡¯s still a chance for a show before the regular season comes to a close. There¡¯s no doubt that Ram¨ªrez will be back in the lineup to chase the 40-40 (or even the 40-40-40) season. It all comes down to Sunday to see if his dream can become reality.

¡°It¡¯s just so enjoyable to see him doing it,¡± Vogt said. ¡°It¡¯ll be fun to see what happens tomorrow.¡±