The conversation around the Guardians after the ALCS loss has centered on what slipped away: a cold offense, a bullpen that emptied out, and a Tampa Bay Rays team that won the last three games to close Cleveland’s season two wins shy of the World Series. That frustration is real. But Terry Pluto’s end-of-season column for Cleveland.com pushed the lens back a little and argued that this club deserved more credit than it was getting.
“The Guardians overachieved this season. The other teams in the final four were Milwaukee (103 wins), the Dodgers (100 wins) and Tampa Bay (98).
Cleveland consistently puts a winning/playoff-caliber product on the field. Overall, I really appreciate how they give us something worth watching nearly every season,” Pluto wrote.
The gap between Cleveland and the rest of that final four is hard to miss. Milwaukee finished with 103 wins, Los Angeles with 100, and Tampa Bay with 98.
The Guardians were 85-77, sitting at least 13 wins behind each of the other teams still alive. Pluto’s larger point was just as direct: Cleveland keeps fielding a team that can win and get to October, and that matters.
The payroll only sharpens the argument. The Guardians got all the way to the ALCS with a payroll of roughly $75 million, one of the smallest in baseball.
And the route they took made the whole thing even more unlikely. Their playoff odds were only 24.4 percent in the middle of August.
Then came Sept. 3, when they lost and fell to 70-70, three games back of the White Sox. From there, they ripped off 15 wins in their next 21 games to claim a third straight AL Central title.
Once the postseason started, Cleveland kept pushing through tight spots. It dropped the first two games at home in the division series, then became the first team in franchise history to erase a 2-0 deficit in a postseason series. After that, the Guardians built a two-games-to-one lead over a Rays club that had just swept the Yankees.
That kind of steady success has become part of the franchise’s identity. Cleveland has made the playoffs in eight of the last twelve seasons, and Stephen Vogt has won the division in each of his three years as manager. In a sport where spending usually dominates the discussion, that kind of consistency stands out.
Of course, none of it softens the blow of another October that ended without a championship. The Guardians have now gone seventeen straight postseason trips without winning a World Series, the longest streak in major league history. Their title drought is at 78 years, and national analysts have said the team needs to spend more and add power if it wants to finally break through.
Even so, Pluto’s perspective lands for a reason. Cleveland delivered a season packed with memorable moments, from the September charge to the historic comeback against Chicago. For a roster and payroll like this, getting that close deserves recognition, even if the work to finish the job starts now.
In Other News...
Astros Just Poached A Guardians Hitting Mind Fans Should Notice
The Astros have added another familiar name from Clevelands player-development pipeline, hiring Conner Watson as their new director of hitting. Watson spent the past two seasons as the Guardians assistant director of hitting development, a role that put him in the middle of one of baseballs more closely watched organizational systems for turning raw tools into big league production.
For Cleveland, it is another reminder that its development staff remains a target for clubs looking to sharpen their own infrastructure. Houstons front office has been active on that front, bringing in Watson after recently naming Spencer Medick as director of pitching, and it is doing so while the Astros are still trying to fill both their general manager and manager openings. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Just Made Their First Base Direction Pretty Clear
Rhys Hoskins gave the Guardians a useful veteran bat after arriving on a minor league deal and earning a spot on the roster, but his stint in Cleveland never really changed the long-term picture at first base. He appeared in 95 games and supplied 13 home runs, yet the overall offensive return fell short of expectations, leaving the club where it has been leaning for a while now: toward the younger core.
With Hoskins now a free agent, the path forward at first base looks even clearer for Cleveland. The organization is expected to keep prioritizing left-handed, developing hitters such as Ralphy Velazquez and Kyle Manzardo, a sign that the Guardians are more interested in building around their next wave than revisiting a short-term fix. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Keep Stockpiling Pitching With Another Intriguing Young Arm
The Guardians have added another arm to their growing international pipeline, officially signing 17-year-old left-hander Nerio Reyes out of Venezuela. Reyes trained at CJB Academy in Maracaibo, and his arrival fits neatly with Clevelands long-running habit of betting on young pitchers with upside and room to develop.
Reyes is expected to make his professional debut in the 2027 season in the Dominican Summer League, giving the organization time to let him grow into his body and his craft. For a club that has steadily leaned into finding and shaping pitching talent from Venezuela, this is another reminder that the Guardians are still building the same way, one young arm at a time. [Read more 🡒]