The Cleveland Guardians’ season ended Monday night with a 7-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, and the first wave of criticism has already turned toward a pitching choice that never quite made sense to outsiders.
While the offense will take plenty of heat for going quiet late in the series, Tanner Bibee’s near-disappearance from the postseason is the move that has people talking. Cleveland used eight pitchers in the elimination game, and none of them was its Opening Day starter.
MLB Network’s Chris Rose put the issue front and center during the game, praising Tampa Bay for shutting down the Guardians but also saying that “one of the great mysteries is what happened to Tanner Bibee.”
“While a lack of hitting might eventually do in the Guardians (credit to the Rays), one of the great mysteries is what happened to Tanner Bibee. I know, Bibee wasn’t great, but he led CLE in starts/innings. How Matt Festa is more trustworthy than your opening-day starter needs an explanation,” Rose wrote.
Rose’s point was simple: Bibee wasn’t at his sharpest this season, but he still led Cleveland in starts and innings. From that angle, the decision to lean elsewhere - and to trust Matt Festa over the club’s top workload arm - is the part that demands an explanation.
The numbers make the question even louder. Bibee made all 33 of his scheduled regular-season starts and logged 188 innings, both team highs. He also piled up nineteen quality starts, the most by a Cleveland pitcher since Shane Bieber in 2022, and this month he was named a Gold Glove finalist.
And yet, in October, Bibee barely got on the mound. His only postseason appearance came in Game 4 of the division series against the White Sox, when he entered in the fifth inning, walked two of the three batters he faced, and was pulled before the inning could settle down. Both runners later scored, and Bibee never appeared again.
Festa’s path was much more active late in the run. He made his first postseason appearance in Game 4 of the ALCS, gave up a two run homer to Yandy Díaz in the ninth inning, and then walked a batter in Game 6.
There were reasons Cleveland could have justified going a different direction. Bibee was hit hard in September, posting a 7.36 ERA across five starts, and his lone October outing didn’t help his case.
Stephen Vogt also got strong results from some unconventional usage, including Daniel Espino opening for Joey Cantillo and Shawn Armstrong delivering several scoreless outings early in the postseason. Foster Griffin also gave the Guardians a useful multi inning presence, striking out fifteen batters in 10 1/3 innings.
But by the time the series ended, the strain had started to show. Armstrong was forced to start Game 6 after pitching on each of the previous two days, making him the first pitcher in postseason history to do so.
Tampa Bay jumped on the opportunity early. Later, Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis, both of whom had been close to untouchable, each surrendered two run homers in the final innings.
A healthy Bibee might have been able to take some of those innings off the board, and that is exactly why his absence lingered over the finish. The Guardians still put together a memorable season, rallying from a 70-70 record in September to win the division and then coming back from an 0-2 deficit to beat the White Sox. But as the offseason begins, the question hanging over Cleveland is the same one Rose raised in real time: what happened to Tanner Bibee?
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First base is one of the more interesting calls on the board. Cleveland has to decide whether to keep Lowe in the mix or let him walk, and the answer could shape how quickly a younger option gets a real look. Ralphy Velazquez is among the prospects the organization is weighing for future contributions, which makes this a position to watch as the Guardians try to turn an encouraging playoff finish into a more settled roster plan. [Read more 🡒]