Hanley Ramirez guarantees Red Sox will return to Cleveland for Game 5

Less than 24 hours after their postseason started, the Boston Red Sox were pushed to the brink of elimination on Friday by the short-handed Cleveland Indians. The Red Sox suffered back-to-back losses at Progressive Field — with aces Rick Porcello and David Price on the hill, no less — which means they’ll have to overcome a 2-0 deficit to win the best-of-five American League Division Series.

Despite the fact they’re headed home for two games, the odds are clearly not in the Red Sox favor. In MLB postseason history, only 12 percent of teams starting a best-of-five series down 0-2 have rallied to the win the series. Just don’t tell that to Hanley Ramirez, who despite going 0-for-4 in Game 2 remained supremely confident in himself and the Red Sox abilities to return to Cleveland for a Game 5 next Wednesday.

That’s a guarantee that will no doubt make its way on to the Indians’ whiteboard come Sunday.

To Red Sox fans though, it’s a promise that must be fulfilled, otherwise a 93-win season will have gone to waste and David Ortiz’s career will likely have ended in the most anti-climatic way imaginable. Not everyone expected Boston to win this series, but everyone did expect Ortiz to go out with a bang, one way or another. His opportunity to do so now will be limited, unless Boston does indeed turn this series completely around.

We do know this much. While Hanley was expressing confidence, Ortiz himself was expressing anger and frustration following Friday’s loss. That anger may turn out to be Cleveland’s biggest concern if it’s unleashed on its pitching staff.

As for David Price, whose postseason struggles continued in epic fashion in Game 2, he was closer to Ramirez in terms of his demeanor. Despite Friday’s setback marking the ninth straight loss by a team he’s started for in the postseason, and despite his 3 1/3 innings being his shortest postseason outing, he was already committed to pitching again this season.

“I know my number is going to get called again to pitch a game in 2016,” Price said after the game. “I’ll be ready. I want it, for sure, and I know these guys will give it to me.”

If there’s hope beyond confidence, it might be that Boston’s the only team to have overcome this scenario twice, including once against the Indians in 1999.

Different teams? Yes.

Different times? Absolutely. In fact, that was so long ago, David Ortiz was still an unknown with the Minnesota Twins.

If you ignore the facts, the odds and the landscape though, you’re still left with a talented team that appears ready for the challenge that awaits them.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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