CLEVELAND - The next three days at Progressive Field carry real weight for both sides, even if the standings already tell part of the story.
The Guardians are a half-game back of the White Sox, and this series gives them a direct shot to grab control of the AL Central and lock up a third straight division title. Chicago, meanwhile, can turn an improbable season into something even louder with one strong swing in Cleveland. The stakes branch out from there: the division winner could land a first-round bye, while the loser gets dragged into the wild-card mess.
Cleveland’s path is simple and unforgiving. The Guardians need a sweep to win the tiebreaker. The White Sox need just one win.
That urgency explains why the Guardians pushed Gavin Williams back two days rather than using him in Minnesota over the weekend. Williams will start the opener Monday, then take the ball again against the Athletics this weekend. After that, he’ll have room for one more regular-season outing, either the finale in Boston next week or a start in Kansas City next weekend.
Parker Messick can still give Cleveland three more turns if needed: Wednesday against the White Sox, the following Tuesday against the Red Sox with an extra day of rest, and, if it comes to that, the regular-season finale on normal rest against the Royals. With the club’s two remaining off days - Thursday and next Monday - the Guardians have a chance to lean hard on the top of the rotation for six starts over their final 12 games.
One possible route looks like this:
Monday: Williams
Tuesday: Foster Griffin
Wednesday: Messick
Thursday: Off
Friday: Tanner Bibee
Saturday: Williams
Sunday: Griffin
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Messick
Wednesday: Bibee
Thursday: Williams
Friday: Griffin
Saturday: Bullpen day / Joey Cantillo
Sunday: Messick
José Ramírez is also part of the late-season picture, though not in the way anyone would have expected. He needs a day off in mid-September, in the middle of a pennant race, and only a few days after a team off day. He’s not at full strength, and Stephen Vogt appears committed to keeping him near the top of the order.
Even with the power not fully there after a hamate bone excision, Ramírez can still help in other ways. When he returned from the injured list in late July, he wasn’t hitting much, but he drew 13 walks and stole five bases in 20 games. Over his last 22 games, though, he has just three walks and two stolen bases.
That's how you start a game! #GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/Km52QN8bpU
- Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) September 13, 2026
He’s also been batting with Steven Kwan and Chase DeLauter constantly in front of him, which makes it easy to see why he might be pressing. The chances to drive in runs are there, the team is in the middle of a division race, and his numbers have fallen off sharply.
What the Guardians need now is for Ramírez to hunt his pitch, stay away from the junk off the plate and avoid expanding the zone. In other words: all the familiar baseball advice.
Don’t do too much. Stay within yourself.
Just try to help the team win.
Cleveland’s lineup is deeper than it was earlier in the year, which gives the club a little more room to survive if Ramírez settles for walks, sacrifice flies and the occasional stolen base. Kwan’s midseason surge has already shown how much value can come from singles and patience.
The numbers around Ramírez have turned rough. His chase rate has climbed to 35.2 percent in September, up from 26.0 percent in August.
In his better seasons, he usually sits around 23 percent, and last year that mark rose to 29.1 percent. He still makes plenty of contact, but when that contact comes on pitches outside the zone, it tends to produce weak results.
That’s the same kind of profile that hurt Andrés Giménez after his breakout year in Cleveland.
Since returning, Ramírez has hit .214/.289/.270 in 180 plate appearances. In 11 games this month, he’s 5-for-45 with five singles and one walk, good for a .111/.149/.111 line.
Chase DeLauter has been one of the bright spots around him, and his rookie season has been strong enough that he’ll likely finish fourth or fifth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. For Cleveland, that says more about the depth of the class than any shortcoming in DeLauter’s year.
He has stayed mostly healthy, hit the ball with authority, and shown the kind of bat that suggests batting titles may be in his future. The home run totals are not eye-popping, but he can absolutely punish a mistake. He’s handled both lefties and righties, and even when injury has forced him out for a few games, he hasn’t looked rusty when he comes back.
After a power burst in the opening week on the West Coast, DeLauter hit a slump, but even then he kept drawing walks and putting the ball in play. That was really the only extended rough patch he has had all season, which is unusual for a rookie.
The split chart mostly backs up the eye test. If there’s one place pitchers can point to, it’s the third inning, where he owns a .207/.288/.276 line.
Otherwise, the damage has been spread around. He ranks in the 81st percentile in hard-hit rate, the 85th percentile in exit velocity, and the 93rd percentile in chase rate and whiff rate.
Travis Bazzana, who looked like he might be hitting the rookie wall in August, has found another gear at exactly the right time. He’s up to 136 games in his first big-league season, counting the minors, after playing 84 last year in the minors and 87 the year before between Oregon State and Class A Lake County.
We love ya, Trav. 🫶 #GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/MpCZzEaO8K
- Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) September 13, 2026
In his last eight games, Bazzana has gone 12-for-26 with three homers and five walks, a .462/.563/.885 stretch. It began with the doubleheader sweep of the Tigers earlier this month, when he hit a tying homer and then delivered a walk-off single in the nightcap.
Bazzana said he had been putting pressure on himself to clean up every flaw that surfaced in his game. That night, he came through with two huge hits, let go of a pile of frustration and finally exhaled. Since then, he’s kept rolling.
In Other News...
Guardians Face One Offseason Rotation Decision Fans Will Debate
Cleveland has spent this season leaning on a rotation that has stayed remarkably steady, with young arms like Parker Messick, Gavin Williams, Joey Cantillo and Tanner Bibee giving the club a clear base to work from. Even as the Guardians have built around that group, the offseason conversation is already starting to circle one familiar name: Shane Bieber, who is now a free agent after injury struggles and limited starts with the Toronto Blue Jays.
A return to Cleveland would carry obvious appeal on paper, especially for a pitcher who once helped define the staff, but the expectation around the league is that the Guardians will largely keep the current rotation intact going into next season. Foster Griffins status adds another layer to watch, though the bigger question for fans is whether the organization sees any reason to reopen a spot for Bieber or simply move ahead with the young core it has already put in place. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians May Have Unlocked More In Craig Yoho Than Milwaukee Did
Craig Yoho has looked like a different reliever since landing with Cleveland in the trade from Milwaukee, and the early returns suggest the Guardians may have found something the Brewers did not fully tap into. In his last 14 innings, he has worked to a 1.29 ERA with 20 strikeouts and just three walks, a run of effectiveness that has fit neatly into the middle-leverage spots Cleveland has been willing to give him.
A big part of the jump appears to be an adjusted pitching approach, especially a heavier dose of his changeup. For a bullpen that always values usable weapons it can trust in the middle innings, Yohos growth is the kind of quiet development that can matter over a long season, even if the full payoff of this version of him is still unfolding. [Read more 🡒]
Which Guardians Hitter Fans Trust Most In Walk Off Spots
Close games have become part of the Guardians daily routine, and the latest reminder came in a series that featured three walk-off victories. For a team that keeps finding itself in those tight, late-inning spots, the question naturally shifts from whether it will have another chance to who should be at the plate when it comes. The answer depends on more than just a big swing, because recent performance, past walk-off experience and each hitters role all matter when the game gets to that final at-bat.
The ranking of current Guardians hitters starts with the players fans have already seen handle pressure, then works through the bats most likely to be involved when the game is on the line. Some names bring a history of coming through in walk-off situations, while others earn trust because theyre the ones most likely to be in those moments regardless of matchup. In a season built around so many one-run decisions, the order of confidence in that spot says as much about the clubs identity as any single late hit. [Read more 🡒]