The Cleveland Guardians’ 7-3 comeback win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series did more than give them a 1-0 lead. It showed exactly how a front office can reshape a season at the trade deadline.
For the Pittsburgh Pirates, it was the kind of October performance that has to sting. Cleveland leaned on four players it had picked up in trades during the season, and three of them came in at the August deadline. That group helped turn the game, and it made the contrast with Pittsburgh hard to ignore.
Foster Griffin, the All-Star left-hander acquired from the Washington Nationals, started and held Tampa Bay to two runs across four innings. Patrick Bailey, brought over from the San Francisco Giants in May, tied things up with a solo homer in the seventh.
Then Nathaniel Lowe, acquired from the Cincinnati Reds, drove in the go-ahead runs with a two-run single in the eighth. Jo Adell, the deadline pickup from the Los Angeles Angels, finished the job with a two-run double in the ninth.
By the end of the night, four trade additions had played a direct role in a win that moved Cleveland three victories from the World Series. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, was home after finishing 82-80.
The comparison gets sharper when you look at what Pittsburgh actually did at the deadline. General manager Ben Cherington did attack a bullpen that had cost the Pirates plenty of games, bringing in Luke Weaver, Camilo Doval, Kirby Yates and Lake Bachar. Those moves fit a clear need, and Weaver gave the club an established late-inning arm alongside the emerging Mason Montgomery.
But the Pirates’ deadline plan was built almost entirely around pitching. Cleveland took a broader view.
The Guardians knew they needed offense, so they added Lowe and Adell. They also wanted another reliable starter, so they landed Griffin. That kind of balance paid off Monday night, with each piece filling a different role in the same comeback.
The Griffin angle makes the missed opportunity feel even bigger. ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel had identified Pittsburgh as a possible landing spot for the left-hander in July. Instead, Griffin was on the mound in the ALCS while the Pirates headed into another offseason with more questions about their rotation depth.
Pittsburgh’s second-half slide only sharpens the point. Before the All-Star break, the Pirates averaged 5.32 runs per game.
Afterward, that number dropped to 3.71. Injuries were part of the problem, but banking on injured players to return is not the same thing as adding dependable offense.
Cherington said Pittsburgh explored position-player upgrades, but the club couldn’t line up a deal that made sense. Cleveland, on the other hand, somehow managed to do exactly that.
The Guardians and Pirates weren’t dealing from identical situations, and not every possible move would have worked for Pittsburgh. Still, Cleveland showed what it looks like when a team spots a real opening and pushes on more than one front before the window closes.
Pittsburgh was in the National League Wild Card picture when the deadline passed. It had a young pitching core, an intriguing group of position players and a chance to turn a rebuilding project into October baseball that mattered. Instead, it strengthened one area and left itself exposed in others.
Monday night wasn’t about every Cleveland pickup turning into a star. It was about the Guardians giving themselves multiple paths to win. That’s the lesson Pittsburgh missed.
The Pirates needed more than bullpen help. Cleveland understood that. Pittsburgh didn’t do enough about it.
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