A week ago, Cleveland’s path to October looked like it might run through the wild card. Now the Guardians have dragged the AL Central race right back into the center of the conversation.
The six-game winning streak has pulled Cleveland within 2 1/2 games of the Chicago White Sox, and that alone has changed the mood. On the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast, host Joe Noga argued that the Guardians have something Chicago doesn’t: real experience in a September chase.
“A week ago it looked like the wild card was the more realistic path to the postseason. Now the division is absolutely back in play,” Noga said. “And if you look at the teams chasing the Guardians for playoff positioning, those are all the teams that are on the schedule from here to the end of September.”
That schedule matters. Cleveland still has Toronto, Detroit, Baltimore, Minnesota, and the White Sox ahead of it in September, which means the Guardians are not waiting around for help. They get their chances directly, against the teams they need to catch and pass.
The bigger edge, though, may be the one you can’t measure as easily. Chicago has spent most of the summer on top, but the White Sox are still a young team facing a kind of pressure they haven’t really lived through yet. Cleveland, by contrast, has been in this exact kind of fight before.
“The Guardians have done exactly this multiple times over the last couple of years,” Noga said. “The experience that the Guardians have in playoff hunts, in divisional chases and the sort of inexperience of the White Sox.
At some point we’re going to start talking about this and seeing what happens there. Does Chicago crack under the pressure?”
That question now hangs over the race. Protecting a lead in September is one thing.
Hunting it down is another. The Guardians know how to survive the grind, and they know what it feels like to keep winning when every game starts carrying extra weight.
Beat writer Paul Hoynes pointed back to last year’s push as part of why this group believes it can do it again.
“If last year showed anything or proved anything is that the Guardians know they can come back and the guys that are on that team, they still talk about that. I know a lot of faces have changed, rosters do, but the key guys from that run last year that are still on the 26 man roster that instilled some belief in them that anything is possible.”
That belief has shown up in the kind of games that can flip a season - late rallies, extra innings, wins on the road in Anaheim. Cleveland heads into Wednesday’s series finale there with postseason postseason aspirations and a division title suddenly back within reach. September is coming fast, and this time the Guardians look like the club that’s been through the fire before.
In Other News...
Guardians Face A Growing Chase DeLauter Concern In Playoff Push
Jo Adell got his first taste of the Guardians playoff push quickly after arriving from the Angels, speaking to reporters at Angel Stadium following his Aug. 3 trade and then helping his new club by driving in a run in Clevelands win over his former team. It was a tidy snapshot of what the Guardians are chasing right now, as they try to stay in the mix in the American League Central while also protecting a wild card position.
The bigger concern hanging over that race is Chase DeLauter, whose injury has become an increasingly important subplot for a team trying to survive the stretch run. Cleveland can lean on newcomers and lineup depth in the short term, but the margin for error gets thinner if one of its more intriguing pieces remains unavailable as the pressure builds. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Suddenly Have A Slade Cecconi Decision Coming
Slade Cecconi is beginning to edge back into the Guardians picture after landing on the 15-day injured list with right arm fatigue. The right-hander is set to start a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus, where he is expected to make several appearances as Cleveland gets a closer look at where he stands physically and how quickly he can build back up.
What makes the next stretch interesting for the Guardians is that Cecconi may not be returning to a single, fixed job. Depending on how the staff looks when he is ready, Cleveland could slot him back into the rotation or use him out of the bullpen, and the teams health and roster needs will help determine the path. [Read more 🡒]
Parker Messick Is Forcing A Debate Cleveland Fans Never Expected
Parker Messick has gone from intriguing rookie to one of the more important arms in the Cleveland rotation, and he has done it with the kind of consistency that tends to change the conversation around a young pitcher fast. The left-hander has paired a 2.50 ERA with 156 strikeouts over 155 innings, and the most notable part of his rise may be how often he has looked comfortable in the moments that matter most, using a varied pitch mix to navigate tough lineups and keep games under control.
His 10-8 record still leaves plenty of room for the usual short-hand evaluation, but the broader picture is harder to ignore. Around the club and among some analysts, Messick is starting to come up in the same breath as the American League's top pitchers, which is not where anyone expected the discussion to be when the season began. For Cleveland, the question is no longer whether he belongs in the rotation. It is how far his performance can push him in a Cy Young race that suddenly feels worth mentioning. [Read more 🡒]