Cleveland’s midseason makeover came together in the brightest possible spot.
None of Patrick Bailey, Nathaniel Lowe, Foster Griffin or Jo Adell were on the roster when the season began, but all four left their fingerprints on Game 1 of the ALCS Monday night in St. Petersburg, a win that showed exactly why the Guardians went shopping during the year.
Joe Noga of cleveland.com summed up the value of those moves on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast: “They didn’t need to be superstars in that game. They didn’t need to be blockbuster trades. The Guardians just needed players who could make their lineup complete.”
That was the point for president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff, and Game 1 served as a clean example of the plan working.
Bailey was the biggest surprise of the group. Cleveland landed him from San Francisco in early May with the conversation centered on his glove, not his bat.
The two-time Gold Glove catcher was supposed to help steady the pitching staff, and anything he did offensively would be a bonus. At the time of the trade, he was hitting .164 with the Giants.
Now the story looks very different. Paul Hoynes described Bailey this way: “This guy in six postseason games is hitting .368 with two home runs and three RBIs. He’s become a two way player.”
Bailey’s seventh-inning homer was the swing that changed the night. The 436-foot shot, the longest of his career, tied the game at 2-2 and opened the door for Cleveland’s late push. His explanation for the power burst was simple, as relayed by Hoynes: “I’m fortunate that I’m hitting the ball in the air and it’s going out.”
Even the nickname has caught on. Cleveland sports radio has been calling him “Patty Barrels,” and Bailey’s reaction, according to the podcast, was basically that he’s been hearing that since college.
The catching picture now has some real depth to it. Austin Hedges was in the middle of a career year at the plate before Bailey arrived, giving Cleveland a rare luxury behind the plate. Noga’s sense is that Hedges will work with Parker Messick, while Bailey will get most of the starts and remain the option when the hot hand calls for a change.
Lowe’s impact showed up in a more traditional way, but it mattered just as much. In the eighth, with the game tied 2-2, he lined a two-run single off left-hander Ian Seymour to put Cleveland ahead for good. It came after he had hit .111 against lefties during the regular season, a number Hoynes read back to him in the postgame press conference, with predictable awkwardness.
Hoynes also pointed to why the Guardians wanted Lowe in the first place: “You know, veteran guy, he’s been to the playoffs, he’s been to the World Series. He’s been in this situation before.
He didn’t panic. He didn’t try to hit the ball 10 miles.
He just was looking for a pitch up and it was able to line it into center field for a single and scores two runs and puts him up, 4-2.”
Asked which of the additions has mattered most overall, Hoynes singled out Adell: “He’s given them a legitimate right handed hitter that they can put in the middle of the lineup every day.”
Adell led Cleveland in RBIs from the time he joined in August through the end of the regular season, and he added an insurance double in the ninth Monday night.
Four arrivals. Four different roles. One Game 1 win that made the Guardians’ deadline and midseason decisions look awfully sharp.
In Other News...
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At the center of the allegations is a betting scheme in which gamblers placed large wagers on pitches thrown by the two pitchers, then reportedly cashed in on the results before money was allegedly funneled back to the players as bribes. For a franchise that spent years leaning on Clase in high-leverage spots, the latest filings only deepen the intrigue and the unease around a case that now has a clear legal timetable and plenty of unanswered questions. [Read more 🡒]
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The Guardians have reasons to feel good about where they stand, but the key question is whether their lineup can create enough pressure against a Rays team that already proved it can control a playoff series start to finish. Some of the clearest indicators point toward Cleveland needing certain bats to carry more weight than they did in the first round, while the pitching plan will matter just as much as the offense once the series gets back to Cleveland. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Made One ALCS Roster Choice Fans Will Be Watching
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Daniel Schneeman, meanwhile, was left off the ALCS roster after not appearing in the previous ALDS games. The move underscores how tightly Cleveland is managing its postseason bench and pitching mix, with every spot carrying extra weight now that the margin for error has shrunk and the roster decisions are becoming harder to read as the matchup with Tampa Bay unfolds. [Read more 🡒]