The Guardians are headed back to the playoffs for the third straight season, and the road they take into October is still up in the air. Cleveland can still finish as the AL Central champion, but it could also land as the third wild card.
That distinction matters. If the Guardians win the division, they’d be the No. 2 seed and would avoid the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox - the three AL clubs with the best records - until the ALCS. If they slip into the wild-card spot, they’d have to survive a best-of-3 opening round against the Chicago White Sox, who would have taken the Central.
Either way, two players loom especially large for Cleveland: Foster Griffin and David Fry.
Griffin is positioned as the likely No. 3 starter behind Gavin Williams and Parker Messick, and that role could end up shaping the Guardians’ October. If Messick gets the nod Sunday in a push for the division and Cleveland winds up in the wild card, Griffin - the left-hander acquired from the Washington Nationals at the trade deadline - could be the Game 2 starter in Chicago, with the season hanging in the balance.
If the Guardians get the bye into the second round, Griffin’s path changes but the pressure doesn’t. He’d be lined up to start Game 3 of the ALDS, a spot that often carries enormous weight. And depending on how Williams and Messick handle the first two games, Griffin could be the one handed an even bigger assignment in Game 6 or 7, if it gets that far.
Fry brings a different kind of value. He gives manager Stephen Vogt a right-handed bat that could matter a lot in October, especially after his mid-August return from the minors and the gradual rise in his playing time in a platoon with lefty Nathaniel Lowe.
That could become a real edge if the White Sox use at least two left-handed starters, Anthony Kay and Davis Martin, in either the wild-card series or the ALDS. In that kind of setup, Fry’s at-bats could swing a game.
Postseason history is full of players who don’t always get the spotlight but end up tilting the bracket anyway. Griffin and Fry have a chance to join that group if they help push the Guardians all the way to the World Series.
In Other News...
Guardians Final Roster Move Just Clarified A Key Postseason Battle
The Guardians have started to sort out their postseason pitching picture, and the latest move points to how they want to cover the middle innings if games get hectic. Austin Peterson was added to the pitching staff for the playoffs, giving Cleveland another bulk relief option after he handled that role behind starter Parker Messick in the season finale.
The corresponding roster change came with Craig Yoho coming off the postseason roster, a shift that underscores how fluid the back end of October pitching plans can be. Clevelands current setup appears to center on Parker Messick and Gavin Williams in the rotation, with Daniel Espino and Joey Cantillo lined up to bridge the game behind them, while Tanner Bibee and Foster Griffin remain possibilities to work out of the bullpen. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Playoff Path Is Set And One ALDS Question Looms
The postseason picture is now clear, and Cleveland has landed in a favorable spot as the No. 2 seed in the American League with a first-round bye. Instead of jumping straight into the Wild Card round, the Guardians can wait and see which club emerges from the Houston Astros-Chicago White Sox series before opening their AL Division Series on Oct. 3.
For Cleveland, the setup offers both rest and a little uncertainty, since the next opponent will be determined by a series that could play out a few different ways. The broader October schedule is already in place from the Wild Card Series through the World Series, but the immediate focus for the Guardians is on preparing for either Houstons experience or Chicagos path as they get ready for the first real test of their playoff run. [Read more 🡒]
A Tragic Indians Game Still Carries One Haunting Irony
Griffith Stadium was the setting for a grim moment on Sept. 29, 1943, when a game between the Cleveland Indians and Washington Senators was interrupted by tragedy in the stands. A wild throw sent a ball sailing into the crowd and struck fan Clarence Stagemyer in the head, leaving him with a concussion and a fractured skull.
Stagemyer died the following day, and the incident is believed to be the first case of a fan dying as a direct result of a ball-related injury at a Major League Baseball game. For a game that would otherwise have faded into the long blur of wartime baseball, the memory lingers because of the terrible irony at its center. [Read more 🡒]