Hawaii Professional Athletes

Hawaii's Man in the Middle

When the Cleveland Guardians' season is on the line, Cade Smith is on the mound. The University of Hawaii product has been Cleveland's closer of record throughout the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays — but the past week hasn't been kind to the right-hander, and the series may have slipped away because of it.

Smith entered Game 5 on Sunday, October 18 in an eyebrow-raising situation: the Guardians were already trailing 3-1 when manager Stephen Vogt handed him the ball with four outs to get. It's the kind of deployment that had analysts second-guessing Cleveland's bullpen management in real time. Smith navigated the moment with relative efficiency — 1.1 innings, one strikeout, no runs allowed — and his ERA sat at a sharp 0.87 after the outing. But Cleveland still lost, 3-1, putting the Guardians in a deep hole.

Then came Monday.

A Moment That May Define the Series

Game 6, October 20, and Cade Smith walked into the most brutal kind of spotlight a closer can face. With the Guardians again trailing and their season teetering, Smith surrendered a monster seventh-inning home run to Rays superstar Junior Caminero — a towering blast that gave Tampa Bay a 5-1 lead and, by most accounts, punched their ticket to the World Series.

Smith's line on the night: 1.0 inning, 2 earned runs. His ERA ballooned from 0.87 to 2.38, a figure that still looks respectable on paper but obscures the weight of the moment. A two-run homer in a four-run game, in the seventh inning of a potential series-clincher, is the kind of damage that doesn't wash off with ERA context.

The Caminero blast became its own media event — the Rays slugger's home run trot drew criticism from Fox Sports' Colin Cowherd, who called it "obnoxious" on air. Whatever one thinks of the theatrics, the damage to Smith and the Guardians was real.

The Bigger Question

The controversy surrounding Smith isn't really about his arm — it's about how Cleveland has used him. Deploying a closer in a multi-run deficit in a must-win game is a gamble that requires everything to go right. In Game 5, it was defensible. In Game 6, it backfired with the series consequences to match.

Smith came to Cleveland after his time with the Rainbow Warriors, and his regular-season and early postseason work had earned the trust Vogt placed in him. Whether that trust was well-placed in these final, desperate moments is the question Guardians fans will be turning over all winter — assuming Cleveland's season is indeed finished.

No other Hawaii alumni made significant news across the league this week. Smith's ALCS run has been the Rainbow Warrior story of October, for better and for worse.

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.