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Lane Thomas's Grand Slam Off Tigers’ Skubal Sends Guardians to ALCS
The randomness of the MLB playoffs has a way of making heroes out of the most ordinary players.
Take, for instance, center fielder Lane Thomas. For 130 games between the Washington Nationals and Cleveland Guardians this season, he was ordinary, putting together a .237/.309/.400 slash line with 15 home runs and 63 RBIs. His OPS+ was 101, meaning he was 1% better than the average MLB hitter.
On Saturday, however, he became transcendent. His grand slam with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning gave the Guardians to a 5–1 lead in Game 5 of the American League division series against the Detroit Tigers, which they’d go on to win, 7–3.
The home run shocked a Cleveland crowd beleaguered from a low-offense series, and floored a baseball world who had reasonably come to believe Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, who’s expected to win the AL Cy Young award, was invincible.
LANE THOMAS. GRAND SLAM. @CLEGUARDIANS ON TOP.#ALDS pic.twitter.com/9bxvHY59T9
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
The clutch hit—the first grand slam Skubal had ever allowed—brought Progressive Field to a roar.
Lane Thomas. pic.twitter.com/SiVCbYnDzE
— Michael Collier (@MikeACollier) October 12, 2024
MLB provided a wide shot of Cleveland fans in absolute jubilation.
The crowd reaction to Lane Thomas' home run is everything 🤩 pic.twitter.com/j1jBzMRtu2
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
Ever prone to waxing poetic, Guardians fans—scarred by 76 years of experience—expressed shock that something like this could happen to them.
sports are mostly pain and then something like Lane Thomas hitting a grand slam off of Tarik Skubal happens and you feel a rush like nothing else in life can give you
— Jordan Zirm (@JordanZirm) October 12, 2024
Cleveland's trade deadline approach was vindicated.
Can we all agree no matter what happens that Cleveland won the Lane Thomas trade from their end, and that they certainly did not do nothing at the deadline
— Jeffmlbdraft (@jeffMLBdraft) October 12, 2024
Nationals writers provided insight into a suddenly beloved player.
Back in June, as Jesse Winker explained that he enjoyed the whole spectrum of celebrations, he said that Lane Thomas was on the “hits the home run and puts his head down” end of it.
— Spencer Nusbaum (@spencernusbaum_) October 12, 2024
Really, I think Lane was just waiting for a moment like this:pic.twitter.com/EKfPKFB07k
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Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .