"I hope they would be able to count on me in the future," the Indians' All-Star said after going 0-for-11 in a three-game sweep by the Houston Astros.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jose Ramirez is the worst hitter of the 2018 Major League Baseball playoffs, which wasn't a shock because he was the second-worst hitter of the 2017 Major League Baseball playoffs, and now, the Indians All-Star is the individual equivalent of the 0-16 Browns.
At least he can't get worse.
So prepare yourself for the triumphant return of Ramirez in the 2019 playoffs, when 3-for-22 with a bloop double or something would be seen as redemption.
His 2-for-20 effort a year ago gave way to an 0-for-11 postseason in 2018. It started with a walk in the first inning of Game 1 of the Division Series against the Houston Astros, but Ramirez got it back with a double-play grounder to end the bottom of the eighth in Monday's 11-3 season-ending Game 3 loss, so that's 12 plate appearances, 12 outs.
Imagine if he had done anything.
Anything.
"Maybe it could have been different, maybe it could have been different," Ramirez said through a translator at his locker after the Indians' season had ended. "Maybe the results would have been different. But we're a team and we lost as a team and it didn't go well for us as a team, and that's all I can say."
The Indians are a team, but what makes them work is a collection of stars.
There's Ramirez and Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley and Edwin Encarnacion swinging the bat, the four of them ranked fourth, eighth, 17th and 22nd in the American League in OPS, that measure of overall offensive production. There's Trevor Bauer, Corey Kluber, Mike Clevinger and Carlos Carrasco throwing the ball after ranking second, fifth, sixth and eighth in the American League in ERA.
That's four bats and four arms, and then you pray the bullpen holds it together, and that's how the Indians have to win.
Lindor went 4-for-11 with the Indians' only two home runs. The only other extra-base hit in the series was a Yandy Diaz double.
Clevinger gave up one earned run in five innings of Monday's start before everyone else imploded, and he was the best Cleveland pitcher in the series.
But Brantley, Encarnacion and Ramirez went a combined 3-for-31. Kluber, Bauer and Carrasco had a combined 5.79 ERA in 14 innings.
Stars failed. Ramirez failed most spectacularly.
Over the last two regular seasons, his Wins Above Replacement is 14.7, which is third-best in baseball, behind only Mookie Betts and Mike Trout. In the entire American League, Ramirez helps a team win more than all but two players.
In the postseason, his Wins Above Replacement is a tree stump. You could cut off an oak in the batter's box and have it be as effective.
"I'm going to keep working and I'm going to keep working hard in the offseason," Ramirez said. "That's the only thing I can control. I'm healthy, I feel good, so I'm going to keep working and that's the only thing I can do."
It was a clubhouse full of cap-tipping on Monday, the Indians giving credit to the mighty Astros while perhaps forgetting that more than a handful of them are supposed to be mighty themselves.
So Ramirez is on a team-friendly contract and he's a heart-warming underdog story and he has become a player no one ever expected. But if he keeps this up in the playoffs, now 2-for-31 over the last two years, the Indians are dead.
Houston shortstop Carlos Correa, a 23-year-old former All-Star who had a lousy year, can go 1-for-10 in the playoffs and the Astros can survive with a deeper bullpen and a payroll $35 million above the Indians'.
In Cleveland, the Indians can't rely on Ramirez for six months and then win when he disappears in the postseason.
"Jose's had a tough last month," manager Terry Francona said. "When you're not feeling great at the plate, this isn't exactly the recipe to get out of it."
By that, he meant the Astros' starting pitching. They made it tough for Ramirez. But he's the kind of hitter who's supposed to make it tough for them, too. Why aren't Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole and Dallas Keuchel shaking their heads over their inability to get Ramirez out?
Instead, it was five groundouts, two fly balls, a popup and three strikeouts -- no problem. He didn't live up to the responsibility of a star, to lead your team when it matters most.
In the clubhouse, after pulling on a Michael Jordan Jumpman white T-shirt and black Jordan pants, Ramirez didn't want to talk. He told the team translator there was nothing to say.
I said he was one of the leaders of the team and he should talk to the fans.
"Tell him yourself," said the Spanish-speaking assistant. "I'm just the translator."
"Jose, the fans want to hear from you," I told him.
And he talked. He understood.
What he needs to do in the clubhouse after playoff losses, he needs to do at the plate during playoff games to prevent losses. He needs to stand up. He needs to lead.
Right now, can the Indians rely on him in the 2019 playoffs?
"I always try to be positive," Ramirez said. "Everyone in here, we all try to be positive. We sometimes don't have control over what's going on with ourselves. So I hope they would be able to count on me in the future. But I think we just all try to stay positive and look forward to next year."
On Monday, positive was difficult.
The Indians' last three playoff series have ended with three straight losses. They blew a 3-1 lead to the Cubs in the 2016 World Series, a 2-0 lead to the New York Yankees in the 2017 Division Series and were swept 3-0 this time.
Somewhere in there, a star needed to stop that.
Ramirez was solid in the 2016 World Series, batting .310 with nine hits in 29 at-bats, though seven of them were singles. Since then, it's 1 for 31.
In his career, he gets an extra-base hit in the postseason in 3.4 percent of his at-bats.
In the regular season, he gets an extra-base hit 11.8 percent of the time.
Yes, the pitching improves in the playoffs. But the Indians need more.
Last year, Ramirez slumped in August, rebounded with a huge September, and then did nothing in the playoffs. This year, Ramirez fell off the map in both August and September and continued his slide into the postseason.
Maybe he's wearing down. Maybe pitchers are figuring him out and no longer throwing him fastballs. Maybe postseason scouting reports reveal the holes in his swing.
Whatever the reason, it can't happen. Because getting nothing from Ramirez leaves too big of a hole in the lineup, and the Indians can't fill it.
As he threw a black backpack over his shoulder, Ramirez headed out through the back entrance of the clubhouse with the same strut that takes him everywhere. That never changes.
But in the playoffs, he changes.
Out the front door of the clubhouse, there's a larger-than-life mural on the wall, in the line of vision of everyone who exited that door at the end of another season. It's Ramirez, bat in hand, snarling, looking like every pitcher's worst nightmare.
In the playoffs, that Ramirez doesn't exist.
