Austin Hedges has seen the script before: people outside Cleveland line up to doubt the Guardians, and the team keeps finding a way to keep playing into October.
With the Guardians up 2-1 in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series and two wins from their first World Series berth since 2016, Hedges used an appearance on MLB Network’s Intentional Talk to deliver a blunt reminder about how this clubhouse operates.
“It’s just what we do here. Every year, I love hearing the predictions for where we’re going to finish.
Blah, blah, blah. Last four years I’ve been here, won the division, second time in the ALCS.
We got our eye on that World Series, and we know what our job is,” Hedges said.
He doubled down on that theme in the same conversation: "I love hearing the predictions for where we're going to finish… we got our eye on that World Series and we know what our job is."
Hedges has earned the right to speak with that kind of confidence. He has been part of four AL Central title teams in Cleveland, taking the division in 2022, 2024, 2025 and again this year.
He also knows what finishing the job looks like after winning a World Series ring with the Texas Rangers in 2023 and then coming back to Cleveland. That background has made him one of the more respected voices in the clubhouse, even while he has split catching duties with Patrick Bailey this postseason.
The Guardians have given doubters plenty of material to work with at different points this year, but they have also spent the season erasing those doubts. Their playoff odds dropped to 24.4 percent in the middle of August.
By early September, they were 70-70 and three games behind the White Sox. Then they ripped off a 15-6 finish to claim the division.
That surge was only the start. After dropping the first two games of the division series at home, Cleveland responded by winning three straight elimination games to stun Chicago.
Even with a 98-win Rays team waiting in the ALCS, Las Vegas oddsmakers still had the Guardians as underdogs. Cleveland has answered that too, taking two of the first three games.
That ability to block out the noise is exactly what Hedges was pointing to. The Guardians have kept their focus on the next game, and it has carried them this far.
Game 4, delayed by rain, is now set for Saturday at 8 p.m. at Progressive Field, with Shawn Armstrong opening for Cleveland. Game 5 follows on Sunday at 5 p.m. If the Guardians win both, they will move on to the World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.
In Other News...
Guardians Put Their Trust In A Risky ALCS Game 4 Plan
Rain has already pushed Game 4 of the American League Championship Series into a delay, but the Guardians are still set on taking a calculated approach once play resumes. Holding a 2-1 edge over the Rays, Cleveland plans to piece together the matchup with a bullpen game, with Shawn Armstrong lined up to get the start in a move that says plenty about how the club views this moment in the series.
Tanner Bibee voiced confidence in the pitching group before the weather intervened, a reassuring note for a team asking a lot of its arms at a high-stakes point in October. The plan leaves little margin for error, especially against a Tampa Bay lineup looking to even the series, but Cleveland has made clear it trusts its depth enough to lean into the gamble rather than back away from it. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Fans Just Got An ALCS Curveball They Didn't Need
Rain forced a familiar October inconvenience onto the schedule Friday, pushing Game 4 of the ALCS back to Saturday and reshuffling the rest of the series with it. The delay means Game 5 has been moved to Sunday, wiping out what had been an off-day and turning the weekend into a quick turnaround for fans who had already mapped out their plans around the original calendar.
For Cleveland, the timing adds another layer to a series that already feels tense and finely balanced. The Guardians carried momentum from their Game 3 win, sparked by Petey Halpins key home run, and they are planning to go with Shawn Armstrong as an opener in the next game. Now the challenge is not just about matchups on the field, but about handling a schedule that suddenly asks everyone involved to pivot on short notice. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians ALCS Momentum Is Suddenly In MLBs Hands
Rain hung over Progressive Field before first pitch of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, turning the evening into a waiting game for the Guardians and Rays. League and team officials met to review the weather and field conditions, and with no official start time announced, Clevelands chance to keep the series moving was suddenly in the hands of the forecast.
If the game does not go forward as planned, it would likely be pushed to Sunday, with Saturdays matchup still on the schedule. For the Guardians, who are trying to ride postseason momentum at home, the delay adds another layer of uncertainty to a series that has already become a test of patience as much as execution. [Read more 🡒]