The Guardians are back at Progressive Field coming off an undefeated road trip, and the timing feels right to sort through a few big-picture truths with one month left before the postseason.
Start with the guys who are getting on base and making the whole thing move. Cleveland entered Thursday ranked third in the majors in on-base percentage in August, and Steven Kwan has been doing exactly what Steven Kwan does: since July 1, he led MLB with a .472 on-base percentage.
Chase DeLauter wasn’t far behind at .400, which is a huge reason José Ramírez, Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe have had so much traffic to work with. That’s been a different look from the stretch when Kyle Manzardo, Rhys Hoskins and David Fry weren’t carrying the load and the lineup dragged through much of the summer.
DeLauter, though, comes with the obvious caveat: the Guardians need him healthy. He has been out with lingering hamstring soreness, but his ability to return from these interruptions and hit like nothing happened is hard to miss.
He dealt with a similar issue early in spring training, missed nearly a week, then came back and went 2-for-2 with a home run and a double. On Wednesday night, he stepped out of the dugout in the ninth inning, singled as a pinch-hitter and then headed back to the bench while Petey Halpin pinch-ran.
DeLauter has a way of looking untouched by the layoff, like the kind of hitter who could disappear for years and still show up ready to rake in a pickup game.
Parker Messick has become the other major reason this team feels different. Since making his big-league debut on Aug. 20, 2025, he has turned into Cleveland’s most reliable starter.
In 33 career starts, he owns a 2.54 ERA, a mark topped in that span only by Cam Schlittler, Jacob Misiorowski, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Chris Sale. Or, as Austin Hedges put it, maybe that means five aces.
The numbers back up the idea that Messick just doesn’t beat himself. He has 194 strikeouts in 194 2/3 innings, along with strong home run and walk rates.
He hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of his last nine starts, and his fastball velocity has ticked up, which matters when a pitcher is pushing into a career-high workload. The most striking thing about him is less flashy than that, though: he never really gets blown up.
That separates him from Gavin Williams, who has had ace-level stretches but also some rough landings when his stuff isn’t there. When Williams is off, it shows.
When Messick is off, he still tends to grind out five or six innings and keep the damage under control. Williams has given up at least five earned runs in seven of his 27 starts this season.
Messick has not had a start like that.
Joey Cantillo’s outing Wednesday fit the same broad theme of survival. He walked seven, struck out one and still lasted six innings while allowing three runs, two earned. It wasn’t the cleanest version of a quality start, but it checked the box and gave the bullpen a break while the offense had time to claw back.
There’s also something else at stake if Messick keeps this up. If he finishes in the top three in Cy Young voting or wins Rookie of the Year, Cleveland gets an extra draft pick after the first round through MLB’s prospect promotion incentive.
The bullpen has been just as important lately. Since Aug. 10, the Guardians have had the best bullpen in the majors, posting a 1.52 ERA over 53 1/3 innings. The group has paired the sport’s second-best walk rate with the top strikeout rate and the best strand rate, with 93.1 percent of runners left on base.
That run has come from a lot of places. Erik Sabrowski has turned in 10 scoreless appearances in August and walked only once in that span.
Hunter Gaddis has trimmed his ERA to 3.18, Tim Herrin to 3.28. Colin Holderman has been the year’s best pickup for Cleveland with a 2.25 ERA.
Matt Festa has been rolling, allowing one earned run in his last 13 innings. Craig Yoho, after a shaky start, has strung together six straight scoreless innings.
And then there’s the bracket. The American League is crowded with contenders and a lot of uninspiring records, but the top of the league is set up in a way that could help Cleveland.
The Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have separated themselves in the AL East, and they’re positioned to meet each other in October. On the other side, the teams that win the AL Central and AL West and the final wild-card spot will likely face each other first.
As things stand, the No. 4 Yankees would play the No.
5 Red Sox, with the winner moving on to face the No. 1 Rays.
The No. 6 Guardians would meet the No.
3 AL West winner, and the winner there would draw the No. 2 Chicago White Sox.
For Cleveland, that means no AL East opponent until the ALCS. That’s a useful quirk, even if the real goal is still to win the division and earn the first-round bye.
To do that, the Guardians will have to keep playing at this level for another month. This may not be the most talented Cleveland club in recent memory, but right now it looks like a team with a pretty inviting road through October.
In Other News...
Guardians No Longer Need The Kind Of Waiver Gamble Fans Remember
Late-summer waiver drama has become one of those old baseball customs that still grabs attention, even if it no longer carries the same edge it once did. The Reds putting Eugenio Surez and TJ Friedl on waivers is a reminder of how clubs still use every roster mechanism available in August, whether the goal is to open a path for another team to claim a player or simply to create flexibility without making a louder move.
For Cleveland fans, there is at least a little distance from the kind of waiver gamble that used to feel much more urgent. Reports suggest both Reds players are likely to clear and stay put, but the larger point is the same: this is a cost-cutting move first and foremost, not necessarily the start of a major reshuffle. If either player ends up designated for assignment, the next step would only deepen the attention on a transaction that is more about savings than a fresh baseball fit. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Face A Tough Choice With Their Hottest Power Prospect
Ralphy Velazquez has done everything a power prospect can do to force the issue at Triple-A Columbus, where the Guardians No. 2 prospect has spent August launching home runs and putting himself squarely into the conversation for a September call-up. For a Cleveland club that always has to balance present needs with future value, his surge has only sharpened the question of whether the organization should give him a taste of the majors before seasons end.
The hold-up is the familiar one for a young hitter with upside: age, roster math and where he fits defensively all make the decision more complicated than a hot month would suggest. Cleveland is weighing whether a promotion now is worth the potential impact on his long-term development, and for all the noise Velazquez has made with the bat, the Guardians still have to decide if this is the right moment to open that door. [Read more 🡒]
Travis Bazzana Is Giving Guardians Fans A New Reason To Believe
Travis Bazzanas first months in the majors gave Guardians fans exactly the kind of jolt a debuting rookie can provide. After reaching Cleveland in late April and opening with a strong start that even earned him an All-Star nod, he looked like a player who could help steady a lineup looking for a spark, and his recent stretch has come at the same time the club has started to string together wins.
His bat had drifted back toward league average for a while, but Bazzana has picked it up again during Clevelands seven-game winning streak, a run built on resilience and late-game answers. He has been part of several key plays in that surge, and in a season that has already demanded patience, the rookie is beginning to look like more than a bright spot. [Read more 🡒]