Cleveland’s path in the AL Central race runs straight through its bullpen.
When the rotation has raised questions, the relievers have been the ones providing the answers, and that has put the Guardians’ relief corps in the spotlight heading into a crucial series against the White Sox. The formula starts with Cade Smith at the back end, where handing him the ball in the ninth has become as close to automatic as baseball gets.
“The challenge - and the creative opportunity - is building the right path to get there.”
That route has been getting easier because the bullpen has been rolling beyond just the headliners. Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis have settled in, and once Smith is waiting at the end of the line, the rest of the inning plan starts to look a lot simpler.
“This bullpen has been hot lately. We’ve seen Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis come on. They get the ball to Cade Smith, and that’s pretty much a foregone conclusion,” said Joe Noga on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast.
Craig Yoho has added another layer since arriving at the trade deadline. He’s become a real piece for Stephen Vogt, giving the manager another arm he can trust to bridge the middle innings and keep games on the bullpen’s terms.
“Yoho has really stepped in and really kind of just gotten into the flow of the pen, just really dynamic,” said Paul Hoynes.
Even with that depth, Cleveland has had to adapt. Colin Holderman, one of Vogt’s most trusted setup men and often the first reliever up each night, has been on the injured list. That’s taken away an important weapon, but the Guardians have still managed to patch together long stretches where relievers have worked multiple innings and kept traffic off the bases.
Vogt has also shown he’s willing to mix and match creatively. In the Minnesota game, he opened with Daniel Espino and then turned to Joey Cantillo for the bulk work.
Espino gave Cleveland two scoreless innings, and Cantillo followed with four scoreless frames and eight strikeouts. The only thing that spoiled the plan was Franco Aleman’s meltdown, but the setup showed Vogt is comfortable using Espino and Cantillo in flexible roles as the season enters its most important stretch.
That kind of maneuvering makes sense because the workload is already piling up on the rotation. Gavin Williams, Foster Griffin and Parker Messick are all deep into career-high innings, so the Guardians have every reason to be careful with how they deploy their starters down the stretch. If they can turn games into six-inning outings for the rotation, the bullpen’s edge only gets sharper.
That matters against a Chicago lineup built around power. The White Sox have three hitters with 30 or more home runs, and Cleveland does not want to spend late innings trying to survive a barrage.
Deep counts and long at-bats are exactly the kind of thing the Guardians would prefer to avoid. If they can carry a lead into the seventh, the back end of this bullpen turns into a nasty closing argument.
“Can the bullpen make these games six inning games as opposed to trying to fend these guys off late?”
That’s the question, and right now Cleveland has every reason to believe the answer can be yes.
In Other News...
Guardians Rookie Just Delivered The Response Cleveland Needed Most
Petey Halpin gave Cleveland exactly the kind of night a young player can use to change the conversation. After an early defensive misplay, the rookie answered with the biggest swing of the game, a go-ahead three-run homer against the White Sox that helped the Guardians beat Chicago 6-3 and move into first place in the AL Central. It was the sort of response teams remember, especially from a player still trying to carve out his place on a club with real division ambitions.
Halpins night carried a little extra weight because of the matchup, too. He had not done much against left-handed pitching before, but he came through with his first home run off a lefty and added key hits along the way, drawing praise from teammates and coaches for the way he handled the moment. For Cleveland, it was more than a promising rookie performance. It was the kind of contribution that can steady a dugout and hint at what the Guardians might have in him going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Just Grabbed Back First Place At The Perfect Time
Parker Messick and Anthony Kay gave the night an immediate feel of a game that would be shaped on the margins, and for a while that is exactly how it played. Cleveland and Chicago matched up with both starters leaning on the same trends they had shown against this opponent all season, before the Guardians found a third-inning breakthrough and started stacking enough contact and pressure to turn it their way.
Jo Adell, Tommy Pham, Petey Halpin and Jose all helped push the inning-to-inning advantage along, while the bullpen piece mattered just as much once the lead was in hand. Hagen Smith, Sean Newcomb and Hunter Gaddis each had a hand in the late work, and for Cleveland the bigger picture was as important as the box score: a win like this came at exactly the right moment in a tight race, with first place back within reach again. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Face A Steven Kwan Decision Fans May Hate
Steven Kwans name has become one of the more interesting long-term conversations around Cleveland as the season moves along, because the Guardians are staring at a familiar kind of front-office crossroads. He is entering the final year of his contract, and after 2027 he could be on track for free agency, which makes his future a real issue for a club that has to balance present value with the realities of its roster cycle.
Kwans season has still carried plenty of value, with his overall impact showing up strongly in bWAR even as his offense has been a little below his usual standard. That tension is what makes the coming offseason so delicate for Cleveland: whether to explore a trade while his market is still strong or push for a long-term extension and keep one of its most recognizable everyday players in place. [Read more 🡒]