Hawaii Professional Athletes

When the Cleveland Guardians need the game locked down, they turn to a kid from Hawaii. And right now, Cade Smith is making every team in the American League feel that decision.

The University of Hawaii alum has been the defining arm of Cleveland's postseason run, carrying a 1.35 ERA into the ALCS after closing out the Guardians' ALDS victory over the Chicago White Sox — then immediately tightening the screws on the Tampa Bay Rays. Through back-to-back playoff series, Smith hasn't just held leads; he's extinguished rallies before they start.

Finishing What the ALDS Started

Smith closed out Game 5 of the ALDS against Chicago on October 11, tossing 1.2 innings and striking out four batters — the kind of performance that turns a potential threat into a footnote. After the game, Smith was measured in his reflection. "I've learned a lot this year," he told Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling. His ERA sat at 1.35 when he walked off the mound that night. It has only gotten better since.

Shutting Down the Rays

Cleveland opened the ALCS against Tampa Bay, and Smith picked up right where he left off. In Game 1 on October 13, he worked a clean inning as the Guardians rolled, 7-3, dropping his ERA to 1.17. Two days later, in a far tighter Game 3 — a 3-2 Cleveland win — Smith was handed a one-run lead and protected it, retiring the top of the Rays' lineup across 1.1 innings with two more strikeouts. ERA: 1.00.

That's not just good. That's postseason elite.

From Undrafted to Indispensable

Smith's path to this moment is part of what makes it resonate. Originally drafted by the Minnesota Twins, he went unsigned and eventually signed with Cleveland as an undrafted free agent. The Guardians saw something others passed on. Now, with the ALCS stage beneath his feet, that bet looks like one of the shrewdest in recent organizational history.

He's also forged an unlikely bond along the way. Fellow Canadian reliever Erik Sabrowski has become a close ally in Cleveland's bullpen — and Sabrowski hasn't been shy about his assessment. "Best reliever in the world," Sabrowski told Sportsnet after the ALDS clincher. That's bulletin-board talk dressed up as a compliment, and right now, nobody's arguing.

The Bigger Picture

Smith is the only Hawaii alum posting numbers on this particular stage, but he's carrying the Rainbow Warrior flag with force. For a program not typically associated with MLB postseason stars, watching one of its own slam the door on playoff opponents — night after night, series after series — is the kind of story that recruiting brochures are made of.

The ALCS continues. The Guardians have a closer. And Cade Smith, the kid Cleveland bet on when nobody else would, keeps making Tampa Bay hitters walk back to the dugout wondering what just happened.

The Rainbow Warrior Carrying Cleveland's Bullpen

When the Cleveland Guardians needed someone to hold the line in a grueling ALDS against the Chicago White Sox, they kept turning to the same arm: Cade Smith, Hawaii product, and arguably the most important reliever in their postseason rotation.

Smith has appeared in all three of Cleveland's wins in the series, logging 4.0 innings across Games 1, 3, and 4 — a workload that tells you everything about how much the Guardians trust him and how thin the margin for error has been.

Game 4 was the defining moment — and the breaking point.

With Cleveland leading by five runs and needing just three outs to punch their ticket to a decisive Game 5, manager Stephen Vogt went back to Smith. He'd already been in the game, pitch count climbing, and the bullpen arm was running on fumes. Smith ran out of gas in the ninth, forcing the Guardians to go to Gavin Williams — a starter — out of the bullpen to close things out. It worked, but the decision sparked real questions about Cleveland's reliever management heading into Saturday night's winner-take-all.

In Game 3 on Wednesday, Smith was at his electric best: 2.0 innings, five strikeouts, zero runs allowed. That kind of performance is why Vogt has leaned on him so heavily. In Game 1 on Monday, Smith tossed a clean inning in a game Cleveland ultimately lost 3-4 — one of the few times this series the bullpen couldn't manufacture enough rope.

The availability question looms large.

With a mandatory off-day on Friday, Cleveland is hoping Smith gets enough rest to be a factor in Game 5 on Saturday night at home. His ERA for the series sits at 1.80 — impressive given the volume — but the Game 4 workload is a legitimate concern. The Guardians have also been monitoring Foster Griffin's availability, and the Williams decision out of the bullpen in Game 4 complicates the starting pitching picture for the finale.

Smith's story is a good one beyond the numbers: a Hawaii Rainbow Warriors product now serving as a shutdown weapon in an MLB postseason, trusted by his manager in the sport's highest-pressure moments. For 'Āina fans watching from Honolulu, it doesn't get much better than this.

The rest of Hawaii's active MLB alumni had quieter weeks. Josh Rojas (Royals), Kolten Wong (Orioles), Carter Loewen (Padres), and Jeremy Wu-Yelland (Red Sox) are all on the outside looking in as the postseason field narrows — but Smith is representing the program on the biggest stage available.

Saturday night in Cleveland. Win or go home. And if the Guardians advance, expect Smith to have his fingerprints all over it.

Hawaii's Closer Is Locking Down Wins for Cleveland

Cade Smith is making a case for the most dominant stretch of any Hawaii alum in recent MLB memory. The Guardians closer posted a 1.95 ERA heading into the final week of the regular season, and his work over the Sept. 20–26 stretch was a microcosm of everything Cleveland is counting on for October.

Smith opened the week on Sunday, Sept. 20, with 1.1 innings and three strikeouts in a 1-0 win over the Athletics — a game in which he and starter Gavin Williams combined to shut out Oakland on the strength of a single run. From there, Smith kept piling up the zeros. He struck out one across a clean inning in a 3-2 victory over Boston on Sept. 22, then came back Thursday, Sept. 24, to punch out three more in a full inning of work against the Red Sox — where he also hit a personal milestone, per Heavy Sports. By Saturday, Sept. 26, his ERA had ticked down to 1.95 after another appearance against Kansas City in an 11-5 Guardians rout.

That ERA didn't start the week at 1.95 — it got there. Smith's Sept. 20 appearance had him sitting at 2.02 before successive outings chipped it lower, a trajectory that tells the real story: he's not just sustaining dominance, he's improving down the stretch when playoff positioning matters most. According to Sports Illustrated, the Guardians view Smith as "another reliable weapon" for the postseason, and the numbers back that framing without needing to dress it up.

For Rainbow Warriors fans, the narrative here is straightforward and worth savoring. Smith is a late-round product of a program that doesn't churn out MLB closers on the regular, and he's performing at a level that would make him one of the better high-leverage arms in any bullpen in baseball right now.

Rojas Hangs In for Kansas City

Josh Rojas had a quieter week for a Royals team that ran into Cleveland's buzz-saw on Saturday, losing 11-5. The Hawaii product went into that game hitting .229 on the season — down from .238 after a Sept. 22 RBI appearance against the White Sox, a 14-11 Kansas City loss in a game that showcased neither team's best defense. Rojas hasn't been a headline-maker this September, but he's remained a utility presence in a Royals lineup still fighting to define its roster identity heading into the offseason.