Corey Kluber giving up the game-winning home run broke the hearts of Cleveland Guardians fans

The Cleveland Guardians defeated the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, advancing in the playoffs, but did so by defeating Corey Kluber.

To say Corey Kluber means a lot to the city of Cleveland and the Cleveland Guardians fanbase would be a huge understatement. Before getting traded away in 2020 for Emmanuel Clase, a Cy Young candidate in 2022, Kluber was the face of the franchise and was the ace pitcher.

He won two Cy Young awards with the club and probably should have won another two additional ones, went to the All-Star Game three times (should’ve been four), and was the backbone of the pitching staff in the 2016 run to the World Series.

To say he holds a spot in our hearts even though he was traded would be an understatement. If we’re being fair, the Guardians trading him was the right call. Clase has been lights out for the Guardians, while Kluber has been an average player for the Yankees and Rays. He did have a season with the Rangers, but he got hurt just one inning into his run there and didn’t return.

Corey Kluber was and will always be loved by the Cleveland Guardians fanbase

The fanbase loves Kluber, the man Nick Goody once called the King of the North and it was a fitting nickname for the most dominant pitcher in the American League. His stoic demeanor and near-robotic tendencies made him a memeable icon and cemented his place among the fanbase as one of the most popular players the franchise ever had.

So it made it all the much harder for the Guardians to move on to New York after such a battle with Kluber and his club The Rays. One Guardians fan on Twitter used an iconic moment from a WrestleMania 24 match between Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels to perfectly sum up how the city felt about having to beat Kluber to advance to the playoffs.

While it had to be done, no one should feel good about doing it to Kluber.