On an October evening in Cleveland, the Guardians (and baseball gods) deliver an instant classic

CLEVELAND — The baseball gods work in the shadows, scripting moments, matchups and sequences we couldn't even begin to fathom.

Take, for example, the night of June 26, when Matthew Boyd happened to tune in to a Cleveland Guardians game to take the pulse of the team desperate for his services.

That night, a rookie who was shaped like he was supposed to fight his way past offensive tackles hit a home run to center field at Camden Yards in his first career hitter.

Fast forward four months. Boyd has become Cleveland's most consistent postseason starter with his rejuvenated left elbow and delivered another outstanding performance in Game 3 of the ALCS. And that towering freshman Boyd has followed from the start, Jhonkensy Noel, saved their season with a seismic blast halfway up the left bleachers.

For example, take the perspective of Noel's father, Rafael. He only visited the USA in October, but will be with the Guardians until October.

Noel and his father enjoy talking about hitting, but the conversation often stalls when Rafael asks why he offered or didn't offer a particular shot. Noel counters by suggesting that his father step in and try to hit a 90 mile per hour slider heading toward his cleats.

Rafael will have no constructive criticism of Noel's moonshot, which saved Cleveland from an insurmountable series deficit with two outs in the ninth. Noel said he was looking for a pitch in the inner part of the record; A speed limit of 88 miles per hour over the average speed was sufficient.

Rafael had a moment that Clevelanders won't forget as fans chanted the nickname “Big Christmas,” given to his son by manager Stephen Vogt. (Noel said he loves the nickname.) This is, after all, a city that will host Ryan Merritt for a ceremonial first pitch Saturday night before Game 5. Merritt pitched a total of 31 2/3 innings as a major leaguer, but beat the Blue Jays for four frames in this round in 2016, giving Cleveland an American League pennant. Sometimes there's no better place to vacation in October than Cleveland.

Take, for example, the showdown of a soon-to-be two-time MVP winner against the closer who posted one of the best relief seasons in the history of the sport. Emmanuel Clase has been craving this matchup since he was forced to give Aaron Judge an intentional walk at Yankee Stadium in late August. Judge sent a 99 mph cutter to right field for a thrilling home run that silenced the crowd. The Guardians' plan – Boyd for five innings, an early lead, Cade Smith, Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis leading the way for a rested Clase – went up in flames.

“As a baseball fan, it was really cool,” Vogt said. “As an opposing manager, that wasn’t the case.”

Three minutes later, Giancarlo Stanton hurled a slider over the centerfield fence … and this show of power from the Yankees became a footnote in a New York minute.

David Fry, who was acquired as a player two and a half years ago and will be named later, has blossomed into a professional on the field in the postseason. He's been an All-Star this season thanks to a torrid first two months in which he competed with Judge and Shohei Ohtani at the top of the OPS leaderboard. But in late June, shortly before Noel arrived, he suffered an elbow injury that the Guardians kept secret. Fry stopped playing the field, which affected the club's flexibility (although Fry, who occasionally worked a bullpen session to stay fit, said). The athlete he could intervene in the defense if necessary).

He didn't hit a home run in June or July, prompting his father to text him regularly to tell him how much his elbow was bothering him.

“I'm like, 'No, I'm just not hitting well, Dad,'” Fry said.

No one in Cleveland will remember his second-half collapse. They'll toast his game-winning home run in Detroit, which avoided an early exit in the ALDS, and his walk-off shot on Thursday night.

“I lost consciousness,” Fry said. “I remember halfway down the first base line looking back at the dugout and saying, 'Okay, I just need to make sure I touch all four bases.'”

Every now and then the baseball gods treat us to a whole lot of craziness on a night, when the change of emotions makes your Apple Watch ask if you're okay, when fans say “It's over” for a second and ” We're muttering “so back” the next moment as people on their living room sofas reach for the remote to stick their thumb into the on/off switch as the 27th edition is recorded and then turn the device to the couch as Noel throws his black and white Louisville Slugger into the grass.

These were the baseball gods working overtime to bring us October goodness, a beautiful mix of convoluted storylines and breathtaking dynamic shifts.

“If there is an emotion,” Vogt said, “we all feel it on both sides.”

(Top photo of David Fry and the Guardians celebrating his walk-off home run in Game 3: Lauren Leigh Bacho / MLB Photos via Getty Images)