Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Gavin Williams has performed well during the MLB playoffs. Parker Messick was Cleveland's most consistent pitcher during the regular season, but Williams has stepped up as an ace in the postseason. Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez recently shared his thoughts on Williams in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“Gavin Williams is so deceiving,” Martinez wrote. “Power breaking ball, slider, cutter. He’s locating is really good!”

However, Martinez believes the Rays could make things tough on him.

“But I think this Tampa Bay team is going to put the ball in play and will force him to place the ball lower.”

Williams has found success against the Rays in the past. The Cleveland right-handed hurler holds a 1.80 ERA across five appearances against Tampa Bay in his big league career. He's struck out 29 hitters in 30 innings as well.

The Rays do not strikeout much overall, though. In fact, they struck out less than any other ball club in the league. It is worth noting that the Guardians were fifth.

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From a pitching standpoint, Cleveland leads all teams this postseason in strikeouts. The Guards were third during the regular season. Williams has played a significant role to say the least, as he is first in playoff strikeouts this year and was second in all of MLB in strikeouts during the regular season.

In other words, Gavin Williams vs. the Rays projects to be a thrilling battle. In an American League Championship Series that is currently even 1-1, both teams know how important Game 3 will be.