The Cleveland Guardians’ Big Christmas ALCS Home Run Bore An Uncanny Resemblance To The Movie ‘Major League’

The ALCS almost got away from the Guardians in Cleveland. Already trailing 2-0 in the series, back-to-back jacks by Yankees superstars Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton shot the visiting Pinstripes to an eighth-inning lead. That merely set the stage for some classic October MLB playoff magic. Down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth, towering Guardians outfielder Jhonkensy Noel — nicknamed "Big Christmas" — took a mighty lash at the ball and cranked a Game 3-tying two-run shot way over the left field wall. https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1847075651481645187 "Epic" doesn't even begin to describe it. Yanks reliever Luke Weaver had to have suffered a near-mortal psychological wound from Noel's bat toss alone. Cleveland was dead in the water, staring a 3-0 deficit in the face. One swing of the bat by Noel, followed by a walk-off two-run homer by David Fry in the bottom of the 10th, sent Progressive Field into a frenzy. But one highly observant individual on Elon Musk's X/Twitter noticed a striking resemblance to Big Christmas' heroics from the 1989 film Major League , which centers on the Guardians franchise back when they were known as the Indians. It's really wild how similar the scenes look, right down to the cinematography. https://twitter.com/luckismadeff/status/1847300043943883227 Dennis Haysbert plays the Major League slugger Pedro Cerrano who smacks that dinger against the Bronx Bombers. In the movie, they're having a one-game playoff to determine who wins the American League East division and advances to the ALCS. I recently wrote about Tim McGraw's father, Tug, coining the Mets' "Ya Gotta Believe" rallying cry and how MLB didn't always have Wild Card playoff spots or any Division Series. You used to have to win one of the two divisions in the regular season to get to the Championship Series. Hence the scenario in Major League , as the Division Series wasn't adopted on a full-time basis until 1993. The Yanks will probably still eliminate the Guardians and advance to the World Series. But hey, at least for one night, Cleveland was rocking out and had something to celebrate, as opposed to being sent home with a potential sweep on the horizon. Noel is only a rookie, and his future in Cleveland looks really bright given how big he came through in the clutch when his team needed him most.