On Sunday Night Baseball, the Cleveland Guardians will be in Atlanta to take on the Braves at Truist Park at 7:20 pm ET in a game that can be seen on NBC and Peacock.
That means we’ll be treated to a game featuring two of MLB’s top stars in the Braves’ Ronald Acuña, Jr. and the Guardians’ José Ramírez. Let’s talk about what makes them so great.
Among all players to debut in the Divisional Era (since 1969), Acuña is the only one (minimum 3,000 at-bats) to average at least 30 home runs and at least 30 stolen bases, per 162 games played.
Ramírez — in double the number of at-bats — has averaged 29 home runs and 29 stolen bases, per 162 games played.
In case you were wondering, only two active players with fewer than 3,000 career at-bats are averaging 30-plus homers and 30-plus steals per 162 games: Fernando Tatis, Jr. and Julio Rodriguez.
Acuña was the National League MVP in 2023, when he had a spectacular season. He was not only the MVP, but he was also unanimous, receiving all 30 first-place votes.
Because Acuña missed 1 ½ years with injuries, the 28-year-old has just over 3,700 career at-bats. He’s still on course to become one of the greatest players in franchise history.
Braves OPS leaders since 1900 (min. 3000 AB)
1. .944 Hank Aaron
2. .930 Chipper Jones
3. .903 Ronald Acuña Jr.
Of course, Acuña is off to a slow start. And when I say “slow start,” the player that scored 149 runs in 2023 scored just one run through his first 11 games this season. How does a player with speed at the top of the order get seven hits and walk seven times and score just once? It makes no sense.
Now let me tell you about José Ramírez, the best third baseman in the game. As of Monday, no Cleveland player has played more games. No player in franchise history has more at-bats. He’s second to Jim Thome in home runs. He’s second to Kenny Lofton in stolen bases.
Was there another great Cleveland player from ’16-’26? Sure was. Tris Speaker was his name. Speaker played for Cleveland from 1916-1926, and here’s Ramírez one century later.
Here’s the thing about Ramírez: He’s the best mortal player in his generation. Don’t criticize him and tell me he hasn’t won an MVP. Look who has won the American League MVP the last few seasons:
Last five American League MVP winners
2025: Aaron Judge
2024: Aaron Judge
2023: Shohei Ohtani
2022: Aaron Judge
2021: Shohei Ohtani
It’s hard to win an MVP when these two mega-stars are competing in their prime! Judge may be the greatest right-handed hitter of all time. Ohtani may be the best player of all time. The fact that those two have hogged the MVP award the last half-decade doesn’t take away from anyone else. In fact, one can hit 60 homers as a catcher and still not win an A.L. MVP in this era.
Jose Ramírez is consistently one of the best players in the American League, and his MVP finishes by year prove it.
Jose Ramírez MVP finishes
2025: 3rd
2024: 5th
2023: 10th
2022: 4th
2021: 6th
2020: 2nd
2018: 3rd
2017: 3rd
That’s finishing in the top three of voting four times! The six finishes in the top five are tied (with Hall of Famer Eddie Murray) for the most top five finishes without winning.
Look at the last two players elected to the Hall of Fame. Carlos Beltran played 20 seasons and never finished in the top three in MVP voting (he was fourth in 2006). Andruw Jones played 17 seasons and had just one top three MVP season (he finished second in 2005).
The last two third basemen entered the Hall of Fame without winning an MVP. Class of 2024 Adrian Beltre (second in 2004, third in 2012) came close. Scott Rolen (Class of 2023) never had a season in which he finished as high as third in MVP. The closest he got was fourth in 2004.
José Ramírez is one of the 10 best third basemen of all-time. Or he’s certainly on the track to be.
Corey Kluber will join the NBC broadcast booth on Sunday night. Kluber started Game 7 of the 2016 World Series for Cleveland, a game where Ramírez batted fifth and had two hits.
It’s amazing to me how many of the Game 7 starting position players of that 2016 World Series are still active and contributing in 2026.
Kyle Schwarber
Willson Contreras
Javier Baez
Carlos Santana
Francisco Lindor
Jose Ramirez
And the pitcher that blew the save (but was credited with the victory) in Game 7, Aroldis Chapman, played a huge role in that game and that series for the Cubs. He’s still active, of course.
After Chapman gave up the game-tying home run to Rajai Davis in the eighth inning, he returned to pitch the bottom of the ninth. Cleveland needed only one swing to win its first World Series since 1948. Chapman retired Santana, Jason Kipnis, and Lindor.
And Cleveland may never have a better opportunity.
Cleveland, Atlanta, and October Memories
These two franchises met 31 years ago in the 1995 World Series.
That 1995 Cleveland team should have won the Fall Classic, which would have been the franchise’s first since 1948 (when they defeated the Braves, then based in Boston). It was Cleveland’s best team since the 1954 squad which won 111 games. I know the 1997 team was good; they lost a World Series Game 7 in extra innings. The 2016 team also lost a World Series Game 7 in extra innings. But few Cleveland teams before or since can equal that 1995 squad that went 100-44 in a truncated season.
It was one of the best teams of all time. The .694 winning percentage means the team would have won 112 or 113 games in a 162-game season.
Cleveland had an outstanding young outfield that year consisting of Albert Belle in left field, Kenny Lofton in center, and Manny Ramirez in right. If you had told me that none of them would be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame all these years later, you would have stunned me.
But it was Atlanta that won the World Series, as Tom Glavine won a pair of games, including a 1-0 deciding sixth game.
Both franchises had future first-ballot Hall of Famers playing third base that season. Cleveland had 24-year-old Jim Thome (134 of the team’s 144 games at 3B). Atlanta had 23-year-old Chipper Jones.
Now all these years later, Cleveland comes back to Atlanta with another third baseman that will one day be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
“Back to Georgia”
The Braves won the World Series in 1995, but they were a better team in the late 90s. Every time I return to Atlanta, I’m reminded of the wildest playoff series I’ve ever covered — the 1999 NLCS.
Game 5 was a classic that lasted nearly six hours. Game 6 was a wild rollercoaster ride that took nearly 4 ½ hours to finish.
I was in the broadcast booth for NBC Sports, doing research. And every time analyst Joe Morgan said “Bobby,” I didn’t know if he was referring to his partner Costas, Mets manager Bobby Valentine, or Braves manager Bobby Cox.
In 1999, Atlanta won 103 games and were favored to defeat the New York Mets (97-66) in the NLCS. Atlanta took the first three games by scores of 4-2, 4-3, and 1-0.
The Mets stayed alive in Game 4 by a 3-2 score thanks to John Olerud, who homered in the sixth, and drove in the go-ahead runs in the eighth.
And Game 5 was one of the greatest games I’ve ever worked. The game ended with Robin Ventura’s infamous “grand-slam single” that sent the series back to Atlanta after a game that went 5:46 (at the time, the longest post-season game in history). As Ventura was racing around the bases, Bob Costas’ call was “A drive to right…back to Georgia.”
Game 6 was a doozy. The Braves started Kevin Millwood, Atlanta’s ace that season. He had a 2.13 ERA in the second half of the season, including a 1.43 ERA in six September starts.
When the Braves knocked Al Leiter around in the first inning and scored five times, the game, series, and season looked over for the Mets. But New York stubbornly stayed within five runs because of a sparkling long relief appearance by Pat Mahomes. Mahomes pitched four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit.
The Mets scored three runs in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to 5-3. The Braves got those two runs back in the bottom of the sixth to up the lead to 7-3. Cox inserted Smoltz in relief, only the second time in his career he had ever come out of the pen.
Future Hall of Famer Smoltz would give up an RBI double to future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson and then two batters later give up a game-tying, three-run homer to future Hall of Famer Mike Piazza.
“Tied at 7, Piazza and the Mets hoping for Game 7,” Costas would say as Piazza rounded the bases.
The Mets took the lead in the top of the eighth, their first lead of the night. The Braves countered with a game-tying run of their own in the bottom of the eighth.
The Mets took the lead in the top of the 10th inning. The Braves held serve in the bottom of the 10th and tied the game once again.
Finally, in the bottom of the 11th inning, future Hall of Famer Andruw Jones drew a bases-loaded walk against Kenny Rogers, and Costas was able to proclaim, “Bring on the Yankees!”
I slipped Costas a note that said, “I don’t see how the Mazeroski game (Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, with a similar 10-9 final score) could have been any more dramatic.”
Atlanta was on its way to its fourth World Series in the 1990s, but that 1999 pennant was the last one the Braves would win until 2021.
The Mets would win the National League pennant the following year in 2000 but suffer a loss in the World Series to the Yankees, the same fate the Braves had the year prior.
Editors’ Note: Elliott Kalb – dubbed “Mr. Stats” decades ago by Marv Albert and Bob Costas – is the former Senior Editorial Director at MLB Network and a longtime contributor of research and information to NBC Sports’ telecasts.
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