Much Like The Entire Month, The Post-Season Clincher Was Unreal.

Somehow, it was fitting that the Cleveland Guardians clinched a playoff spot last night on a hit batsman with the bases loaded.

When C.J. Kayfus got hit with a Robert Garcia pitch, the party was on, but probably somewhat muted because a win tomorrow means Steven Vogt’s crew will open the Wild Card Series at home on Tuesday.

The post-season clinching game was kind of a microcosm of the entire year. Vogt put Johnathan Rodriguez in the cleanup spot in the lineup, replacing David Fry. We said on social media that it was an odd choice, seeing the Rodriguez was only called up because of the Fry injury, and he had only amassed 70 plate appearances with the big club all year.

But there he was in the bottom of the first, hitting a two-run homer to give Cleveland the lead. And then, Rodriguez started the winning rally, drawing a two out walk.

Kyle Manzardo, who didn’t play against left-handed pitching most of the year, then blooped one into left field against the southpaw Garcia, sending pinch-runner Petey Halpin to third.

Texas intentionally walked Gabriel Arias, kind of an odd move with Arias’ swing and miss tendencies, to load the bases.

By the way, it was also the first time Garcia hit a batter the entire season.

Joey Cantillo, who started the season in the bullpen, and had two stints in the minor leagues during the season, was the starting pitcher in the game. He also was the starter on September 3rd, an 8-1 win over the Red Sox that started this stretch.

And of course, the bullpen played a big role with Hunter Gaddis getting four outs and Cade Smith getting five. They were the anchors of the relief corps most of the season, and the skipper leaned on them heavily.

Of course. There was something unexpected about the entire run the Guardians went on after losing their first two games in September. Winning 19 of 24 games is incredible in itself, especially when the Guards were pretty much a .500 team heading into that stretch.

Make no mistake, the run was accomplished with incredible pitching. Cleveland has allowed just 67 runs in the month, their previous low in a month in 2025 was the 101 allowed in June. That’s an unbelievable turnaround.

They won seven games where they scored three runs of less during the streak. That’s insane.

They got huge hits during the run from Kayfus, whose 2-run homer turned a 2-1 Kansas City lead into a 3-2 Cleveland win on September 11th.

Another rookie, George Valera, belted a big homer last Wednesday to get the Guards going in a 5-1 win. And Jhonkensy Noel, hitting .152 on the season, homered off Tarik Skubal, on September 18th.

And of course, Rodriguez last night.

They can finish the job today with a win that would give the team their second consecutive division title and their 14th since the three division set up which started in 1994, and their 15th post-season spot in the same time frame.

To be honest, we have no idea how this happened considering the offense is still among the worst in the majors, but who cares. It’s fun just enjoying the winning.

The off-season seems to go quicker when the Guardians are in the playoffs.

An Incredible Stretch That Needs To Last One More Week

It wasn’t even a month ago. It was August 25th, and the Cleveland Guardians were shutout by Tampa Bay, 9-0, their ninth defeat in their last 10 games.

They were a below .500 team at 64-66 and they were six games behind Seattle for the last wild card spot in the American League, and more to the point, they would have to climb over Kansas City and Texas to challenge the Mariners.

Oh, and by the way, they were 12.5 behind Detroit in the Central Division.

Just three days later, the defeated those Mariners in one of those games they had no business winning, falling behind 4-0 in the first inning and being no-hit by George Kirby through five.

Kyle Manzardo broke up the no-no with a homer, and Nolan Jones, of all people, hit another. A seeing eye base hit by Angel Martinez drew the Guardians within one, and the won it in the ninth thanks to another big hit from Jones to start the rally.

They were back above .500 and within four of Seattle.

A three-game losing streak followed capped by a night in Boston where Cleveland hit three homers in a six run sixth off Red Sox’ ace Garrett Crochet, and skipper Steven Vogt took Hunter Gaddis out of the game in the bottom of the 8th with a man on first and two out. Cade Smith gave up four straight hits and the Guardians were back under .500 on September 2nd.

They were four behind for the last wild card spot and now, Tampa Bay was ahead of them as well.

Since then, the Guards’ pitching staff has allowed more than three runs just three times. They’ve won 16 of 18, playing their best baseball of the season and as of today, they are tied with Houston, passed in the standings by Seattle, for that last playoff spot, and they own the tie-breaker with the Astros.

And incredibly, they are just a game behind Detroit for the AL Central lead.

It just doesn’t make a lot of sense, but who cares. We have all heard about what the Guardians record would be based on runs scored and runs against, but the only thing that matters is the win loss record.

In 1995, the Cleveland Indians were the best team in baseball. We think even the world champion Braves would admit that. In 2005, the Indians were 55-51 at the end of July, and then went on a roll, winning 37 of their next 49 and were sitting with the second-best record in the AL heading into the last week of the season.

They lost six of the last seven and missed the playoffs. They won the “team no one wanted to face” award, but no one had to play them.

Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense.

In the last week, Steven Vogt has gotten big hits from Jhonkensy Noel and George Valera and had key pitching performances from Kolby Allard and Jakob Junis. Just like everyone expected.

Every good winning streak is based on getting good pitching and this is no different. In those 17 contests, Guardians’ pitchers have allowed two runs or less in 14 of them. The offense doesn’t have to be good when the other team doesn’t score.

The good play has to last another week for the Guardians to pull this off. Keep winning and the odds are pretty good this team will be in the post-season once again.

Less than a month ago, that would have seemed crazy.

Bad Luck With Prospects Another Obstacle For Guardians

When evaluating the plan, the front office of the Cleveland Guardians come up with going into a season where they had coming off a season where they went to the AL Championship Series a year ago, it is easy to see some of the flaws of what they hoped would happen.

However, there are other things that are simply bad luck.

As we have said before, we understood the trade of Andres Gimenez, who will start making $23 million per season in 2027, and offensively, he simply doesn’t merit that kind of salary. So, the Guards’ front office took the opportunity to deal the Gold Glove winner, ultimately getting pitcher Luis Ortiz and some prospects.

Gimenez hasn’t improved with a bat in his hand, in fact, he’s gotten worse, going from a below average 638 OPS last season to an even worse 599 mark in 2025.

We knew the Guardians knew they would not be able to reach a long-term deal with Josh Naylor, so they moved him as well, getting starter Slade Cecconi in return. He is actually having a better offensive season than a year ago, and no doubt could’ve helped the team’s struggling attack

The problem was who they decided on to replace Naylor. Thinking a 39-year-old Carlos Santana could provide an impact bat was an overreach from the brass.

Part of the problem is bad luck too. Certainly, no one could have foreseen the suspensions of Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase. That wasn’t bad luck for the two players, but it was for the organization.

We are talking about the injuries to players the front office probably anticipated helping the big-league club in 2025. We are talking about Juan Brito, Chase DeLauter, and to a lesser extent, Travis Bazzana.

Brito looks like the kind of hitter the Guardians need desperately in that he gets on base. Last year in AAA, he drew 88 walks and had a .365 on base percentage in addition to hitting 21 homers and knocking in 84 runs.

He’s primarily a second baseman, but has played first, third, and the corner outfield spots. But he’s battling injuries all year and had surgery on his hamstring this past week. He played in just 24 games with Columbus, hitting .256, but with a .357 OBP.

And we have written ad nauseum about the Guards needing guys who can get on base.

DeLauter has dealt with foot injuries since being drafted in the first round in 2022, but this year, had surgery right after spring training to repair a core muscle and then broke his hamate bone in July. He played in just 34 games in AAA.

He looked poised to be promoted when the bone broke after the big-league all-star break, hitting .278 with an 859 OPS, including an .383 OBP.

He is being sent to the Arizona Fall League again, having already played there for 35 games and compiling a 939 OPS in that league.

Bazzana, the first overall pick in last year’s draft has had problems with his oblique, and thus has played in 77 games between Akron and Columbus, hitting .245 but with a .389 OBP and an 813 OPS.

He would have been an option for a September call up had he been healthy all year.

If all three are healthy next year, they should all get chances in Cleveland, and in the case of Brito and DeLauter, a solid chance to break camp with the big league club.

That said, that should NOT be the front office’s plan heading into 2026. You can’t pin your hopes on rookies if you consider yourself a playoff team.

But it was bad luck for the players and the organization.

Three Weeks Left, Guards Are Still Hanging In

Recently, we have taken to calling the Cleveland Guardians zombies because seemingly they will not die. This is a team that suffered through a 9-16 month of June, and a 10 game losing streak that spanned from June 26th through July 6th.

From August 15th to August 23rd, they lost nine out of ten games and fell six game behind Seattle for the last wild card spot in the American League.

They have the second worst offense in the AL, ahead of only Kansas City and while the pitching staff currently ranks 6th in the league in ERA, that is largely due to a current seven game stretch where they’ve allowed just 11 runs.

According to WAR (at least the BaseballReference.com version), they are the worst team in the league, and have the worst non-pitchers, including ranking 15th at centerfield, rightfield, and pinch-hitters, and second from the bottom for the entire outfield.

We have noted in the past that their projected win-loss record based on runs scored and runs allowed is 68-76, so they have outperformed that by six games. The standard deviation is four games, so yes, luck has been a big part of this.

Yet, here they are, just 3.5 games away from the last playoff spot in the Junior Circuit, with 17 games to play. You can pooh-pooh the team’s record all you want, but if you don’t get into the tournament, you don’t have a chance, and Steven Vogt has his team playing for a shot to get in it.

For all of the complaining we fans do about the lineup, platooning, and relief pitcher usage, yes, we are talking about Matt Festa, you have to tip your cap to the skipper for having this group playing meaningful baseball in September.

Maybe it comes from the success in 2022 and 2024, maybe it comes from Jose Ramirez, but this group believes it can overcome things. They are resilient if nothing else.

They’ve overcome the loss of two pitchers, one of them Emmanuel Clase, perhaps the best closer in the game to a paid leave of absence as Major League Baseball investigates a gambling issue involving him and a starting pitcher in Luis Ortiz.

Yet, here they are, right in the thick of it.

All of that said, the Guardians can’t have anymore lulls now. They need to continue to win, pretty much on a nightly basis. They have 17 games remaining and even though they’ve won their last five contests, they are going to have to continue that hot streak and finish something like 14-3.

They do not have the tiebreaker against Seattle, losing four of six, and would have to sweep the Rangers in the season ending series to even things up with Texas, so they would benefit from both teams passing Houston, who the Guards took four of six from this year.

We understand for younger fans, who grew up in the Jacobs/Progressive Field era, being in contention at this time of the year is old hat, but it shouldn’t be taken for granted. Older fans, who experienced the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s know it wasn’t always this way.

Hopefully, the front office won’t look at what has happened this year and think it will always be like this. We will get to this after the season, but this team needs help going forward and they can’t just depend on the farm system.

Although Highly Unlikely, Guards Still In It

We repeat this all the time because people think we are overly critical of the Cleveland Guardians, but we want them to be good. Nothing from a sports standpoint would give us more pleasure than to see a Cleveland player catch the last out of the World Series and trigger a celebration that is now 77 years in the making.

It still even brightens our day just a bit knowing the Guardians won last night. We have followed this franchise from the time we were six years old, and believe me, that’s a long time ago.

It seems we have written them off several times this season, but after their come from behind win against Tampa Bay last Wednesday, which brought them back to .500 at 66-66, we could still see a path to the playoffs.

On social media, we said the Guards had 30 games remaining and likely needed to go 20-10 in those contests to have a legitimate shot at the post-season. We did have one caveat, we felt with this offense, it would be very difficult to achieve.

And then, on Friday night, perhaps the most improbably win of the season. Against Seattle, a team vying for a playoff spot, just like Cleveland, the Guardians fell behind 4-0 in the first inning. They followed that by pretty much doing nothing for five innings on offense.

Then, Kyle Manzardo homered in the 6th. Nolan Jones, who was stuck on three homers before tying Wednesday’s game with one, hit another to make it 4-2. They scored again on a ground ball by Angel Martinez that sawed him off badly to make it 4-3.

And then Jones started a ninth inning winning rally with a double, some weird baserunning, and eventually Steven Kwan hit a sacrifice fly to win the game. We imagine a Mariners’ fan watching this and thinking “what the heck?”

The Guardians are still hovering around .500 even though their record, based on their runs scored and runs allowed says they should be at 61-74, which would put them well out of the race.

The league average OPS in 2025 is 721, Cleveland has two hitters, Jose Ramirez and Manzardo, over that mark. That’s it.

Ben Lively, a man who hasn’t pitched since the middle of May due to elbow surgery, still ranks 12th on the team in WAR. And Parker Messick, who has made just two starts on the season as he was just called up, is 11th.

Steven Vogt’s squad is doing it with smoke and mirrors. The team is determining the #2 and #5 spots in the batting order based on production in the past week. Jones, because he had five hits in three games last week, batted after Manzardo, a player in his first full season in the big leagues, on Sunday.

By the way, those five hits are the only hits by Jones since August 19th.

Rookie C.J. Kayfus is 0 for his last 15 and 4 for his last 31, and the organization released Carlos Santana (a move we agreed with) to get him more at bats.

Will Wilson, who was hitting under .200 since being sent down to AAA last month, was recalled when Daniel Schneemann went on paternity leave. He’s hitting .192 with a 511 OPS at the big league level.

And it’s not as though the pitching has been overwhelming either. The Guards are 8th in the AL in team ERA at 3.92 and the bullpen is nowhere near the dominant group they were in 2024.

Yet here they are. And although our brain says this team doesn’t have the horses, our heart tells us there is still a chance.

And if you grew up in the 60’s, 70’s, or 80’s, that’s progress.

The Times Should Be A-Changing For The Guardians

We talked about the Cleveland Guardians needing to do well heading into the stretch in the schedule that started this past weekend against the Texas Rangers. They had nine games against the Marlins, Braves, and Diamondbacks.

At the time, they were 61-56 and just six games behind the Tigers in the AL Central, and more importantly were just a half game behind New York for the last playoff spot in the American League.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain, going 3-6 in those series and then following that up by getting swept in a three-game set at Texas. Losing nine of twelve isn’t conducive to staying in a playoff chase.

So now, Steven Vogt’s crew is 12.5 behind Detroit and has fallen into third place in the Central behind the Royals, and they are now six games out in the wild card chase and behind Kansas City and the Rangers in the standings.

In a week, we will be in September and to us, they can’t be more than five games out at that point to be considered on the edge of the playoff hunt, so they are going to need to have an excellent homestand against the Rays and Mariners.

The offense had been feasting on some of the less accomplished pitching staffs in baseball, but that production ran out in the series against Atlanta and Arizona. All three National League teams on the schedule ranked near the bottom of the ERA standings, and the Guardians did put up 17 runs vs. Miami.

But the Braves held Cleveland bats to five runs in the trio of contests, and the Guardians only scored 10 runs vs. the D-Backs. Texas has the best ERA in the AL, so it shouldn’t be a surprise Steven Vogt’s crew tallied just three runs in Arlington.

We have been saying for some time now that this team only has three legitimate bats, and one of them, Steven Kwan, hasn’t been very good since the All-Star break, hitting just .231 with a .285 on base percentage.

It doesn’t take calculus to tell you if you only have three decent hitters out of nine and one of those guys isn’t hitting, a team is going to have trouble scoring runs.

If this team has any chance to pull off a winning streak, the organization shouldn’t be clinging to any hope the group currently on the roster is going to be able to put something together.

Doing that is grasping at straws looking at the best outcomes for some of these guys instead of looking at five months of numbers.

C.J. Kayfus has been solid since coming up to the majors and his 705 OPS, while not great, is better than anyone on the team not named Jose Ramirez, Kwan, or Kyle Manzardo. It’s a low bar, granted, it’s also 100 points higher than Nolan Jones.

We have seemingly heard about George Valera for years as a prospect, and he had a delayed start to the season because of injuries, but he’s hitting .278 with a 893 OPS at Columbus in 24 games, why not see what he can do?

The same is true with the bullpen, do we really need to see more of Matt Festa and Kolby Allard? Why not take a look at some arms at Columbus?

Isn’t doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result one of the definitions of insanity? That’s what is feels like for a supporter of the 2025 Cleveland Guardians.

First Step For Guardians Offense? Get On Base!

Baseball is the one major sport that is not governed by time. There is no clock. Games can last for 1:55 or for 4:05. As the great Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver once said, in this sport, you can’t run out the clock.

What is the timing mechanism for baseball? Each team gets 27 outs. It’s not over until they use all of them. If someone ever asks what is better, a 1.000 slugging percentage or a 1.000 on base percentage, the correct answer is the latter.

Slugging 1.000 simply means goes 1 for 4 with a home run, while is a team gets on base 100% of the time, the game never ends.

We point this out because as of today, the Cleveland Guardians rank last in the American League in on base percentage at .297, and if you are not getting on base, guess what you are doing? Making outs.

It’s kind of a trend as well. Last season, the Guardians were 8th in the league in OBP. In 2023, they were 10th. The year prior, it was 6th place, but in ’21, they ranked 13th. In the shortened season, they were 9th.

The last time they ranked in the top five in the AL in this category? That would be 2018, when they had four players who got on base more than 35% of the time: Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, and Yandy Diaz.

Diaz was traded after that season, and the company line was he didn’t hit for enough power. That was the first time we felt the Cleveland organization did not value getting on base.

If you’ve seen Moneyball, the movie and of course before that the book chronicling the Oakland A’s success without a large payroll, you can certainly remember the scene where Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt, talks about players, and if backed up by Peter Brand (really Paul DePodesta) played by Jonah Hill, who keeps repeating “he gets on base”.

Right now, the Guardians have one player with an on base percentage over .350 and that’s Ramirez. Steven Kwan is next at .334, followed by Carlos Santana at .319, Kyle Manzardo at .317 and Daniel Schneemann at .308.

By the way, the league average is .314

In a sport governed by the counting of outs, the Guardians fill their lineup most nights with players who make a lot of them.

We have people who wonder about our obsession with walks, and really, it’s quite simple. If you are drawing a walk, guess what you aren’t doing? Making an out.

Ramirez is 16th in the AL and Santana is 17th in drawing walks, and frankly if Ramirez didn’t feel the responsibility to carry this lineup offensively, he would draw a lot more. He swings at pitches out of the zone because his job is to drive in runs.

Kwan is next and he’s 33rd, and with his knowledge of the strike zone and bat control, that’s too low. He should not have any problem having an OBP over .350.

The top five teams in runs scored in the AL are the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Tigers, and Mariners. Four of those teams are in the top five in getting on base, and the Mariners are currently sixth.

So when the Guardians’ front office discusses what they can do to help the offense in 2026, maybe they should call the Browns and get DePodesta on the phone so he can repeat “he gets on base”.

Series Sweep Points Out Guardians’ Warts

When you are in a race for a post-season spot, the prevailing wisdom is that if you just keep winning series, you will be just fine. And from the middle of July until last week, the Cleveland Guardians did just that, winning nine of the previous ten series they played.

It’s unlikely any team can continue to win each series, so occasionally losing two of three to an opponent isn’t a killer. However, getting swept by a team that is clearly out of the race, at home no less, is a blow to your playoff hopes.

Can it be overcome? Of course, there are still 39 games to play and frankly, if Steven Vogt’s squad rips off six or seven wins in a row, this past weekend’s performance against the Atlanta Braves will be forgotten.

But for right now, it felt like every weakness this ballclub has showed up over the weekend.

The offense didn’t show up with the Guardians scoring just five runs in the three games. On Friday, only two players, Steven Kwan who had two hits and Kyle Manzardo, who walked twice reached base.

Saturday, the Braves started lefty Joey Wentz, already on his third team this season, and allowed just three hits in six innings. The struggles vs. southpaws returned at an inopportune time. Brayan Rocchio homered to provide the only run, while the pure right-handed hitters went 0 for 11 in the contest.

And in Sunday’s finale, the defense played a part. Angel Martinez played second base for the first time since July 24th and made two errors and Manzardo lost a pop up in the sun.

The starting pitching was shaky. Joey Cantillo, who sent to AAA prior to Sunday’s game, went five innings Friday night and allowed just one run, but he walked it in. No Cleveland pitcher has completed six innings in a start since Gavin Williams’ almost no-hitter vs. the Mets.

That was on August 6th. That’s a week and a half ago.

As we said, Cantillo walked in a run and had four free passes in his five innings. Logan Allen walked three in his 4.2 innings on Sunday. Tanner Bibee has walked four hitters in each of his last two outings.

Besides putting men on base, the walks drive up pitch counts and increases the toll on a bullpen that is leaking oil.

Nic Enright, who has pitched well, gave up a game winning home run in the series finale. Kolby Allard has given up runs in his last two relief stints. Carlos Hernandez came into a 1-0 game on Friday in the ninth and allowed an insurance run.

He also got battered in the 13-4 loss to Miami last Wednesday.

And weirdly, despite the starters not going deep in games and some of the relievers not getting the job done, one pitcher, Jakob Junis has appeared in just one game over the last ten days.

It appears Vogt is going to have to pull another rabbit of his hat to put together another run.

It doesn’t help that the front office has dealt him a shorthand. Think about how many players currently on the 26-man roster, who probably aren’t major league caliber players.

We think about players like Santana, Nolan Jones, Hernandez, perhaps Matt Festa. Talk about replacement level.

But does the organization have anyone ready in AAA to replace these guys? That’s the sad commentary.

Guards Need To Continue Hot Streak For Another Six Weeks

The Cleveland Guardians are very much in a race for a post-season spot. However, it will not be easy to attain. It may be trite to say, but their chances really hinge on how they play over the next few weeks.

In that time, Steven Vogt’s squad will play several teams who are either in the playoffs as of the moment or have aspirations of getting there. That stretch starts next weekend with a series in Texas, who sit just three games behind Cleveland.

Then comes Tampa Bay, four games behind the Guards, followed by Boston, who is three games ahead of Cleveland and currently in possession of a playoff berth and Seattle, just ahead of the Red Sox.

We are lifelong fans of the Guardians and despite being critical of the team at times (usually directed at ownership), we would like nothing more to see Vogt and the players overcome the odds and play meaningful baseball in October.

Our heart says it’s possible, but our head says it’s not likely.

To us, it feels like this group has succeeded using smoke and mirrors all season long. The team’s won/lost record based on the number of runs they scored and allowed is 57-635, six games below the Guardians’ actual record of 63-59.

That six-game difference would indicate a lot of luck has worked in favor of the team.

We look at the offensive numbers. Despite scoring a lot of runs since their 10 game losing streak, Cleveland still ranks third from the bottom in the American League in runs scored. They are second worst in getting on base, third worst in slugging percentage, and tied for 12th in home runs.

Everyone wants to talk about the pitching factory in Cleveland, and over the years it has churned out a lot of good ones, but this year’s staff isn’t among the best in the league. They rank 8th in ERA, above the league average, but it’s still 3.89. Now, it is kind of jumbled and with a great six weeks to finish, they could rise to as high as 2nd or 3rd, but some of the ancillary numbers aren’t great either.

The Guardians have walked the 4th most hitters in the AL. Control has been an issue for several pitchers, like Gavin Williams, who leads the league in bases on balls, and Joey Cantillo seems to have control issues regularly.

They are around league average in striking hitters out. The one area they have been good is they have kept the ball in the park, allowing the fourth fewest homers in the AL.

The Guardians have already been on a pretty good roll, winning 23 of their last 33 contests. They have 40 games remaining, so can they extend this streak to a point where they win 50 of their last 72?

Again, anything is possible, but they are really going to have to continue to play at the rate they’ve been at since the losing streak for the rest of the season.

We saw the Tigers go 47-28 last season after July 4th. Heck, last year the Guardians won 38 of their first 57 games.

So, it is possible. And we will continue to hope for it to happen. That’s why they play the games, and as Terry Francona (and others) always said, you can only win the game you are playing today.

Yes, the Guardians have played well over the last month or so. The reality is they are going to have to play even better down the stretch, meaning the offense needs more players swinging it, and the pitching staff needs to be dominant.

Let’s all collectively cross our fingers.

With A Tough Stretch Coming Up, Guardians Need These Players To Keep It Going.

There are just 45 games remaining in the Major League Baseball season for the Cleveland Guardians, and the schedule is going to ramp up one more time starting a week from Friday.

Starting with three on the road against Texas, Steven Vogt’s crew will have 20 games in a row against solid opponents. After coming home from the Lone Star state, the Guardians have a six game homestand against Tampa (57-62) and Seattle (66-53 and currently in a playoff spot).

That is followed by a trip to Boston (65-54 and a playoff team) and four in Tampa, before coming home for four more with the Royals (58-60).

Continued success against those teams will bode well for the Guardians heading into the homestretch.

But the team is going to need some contributions from players who either haven’t had an opportunity or haven’t performed up to standards to date. We would like to see these guys step up.

First and foremost, they need Tanner Bibee to start pitching like he did in his first two seasons with Cleveland. His ERA is those two seasons were 2.98 and 3.47. This year, he is a full run worse at 4.60. His strikeouts are down, and his walks are up. He’s already tied his career high of 22 home runs allowed.

Gavin Williams, Slade Cecconi, and even Logan Allen have been pretty consistent for Vogt, but right now, Bibee seems to have that one inning he can’t reel in. If he can give the Guardians four solid starters down the stretch, it would be huge for the rotation and for the bullpen, as he would provide someone else who can get deeper into games.

Erik Sabrowski and Nic Enright are two guys who must continue to pitch well out of the bullpen. Sabrowski got a late start to the season, but since being activated has a 1.15 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 15.2 innings, allowing just eight hits. With Tim Herrin struggling in 2025, Sabrowski has become the left-hander Vogt leans on late in games.

The only other lefty, Kolby Allard is more of a long man, an innings eater. He’s been very effective (2.63 ERA in 48 innings), but we would guess the skipper doesn’t want him in a high leverage situation against the opponents’ best left-handed hitter.

Enright, a righty, has a 1.96 ERA over 23 innings, and is gaining the manager’s trust in late innings.

With Hunter Gaddis not pitching at the level he did a year ago, and Emmanuel Clase under suspension, these two guys have to continue to do well out of the Cleveland bullpen.

We saved the most difficult thing for last, another bat to step up. C.J. Kayfus has made an impact in his brief time here but needs to keep it going. He already has five RBI, one less than Johnathan Rodriguez (in 42 less plate appearances) and the same number as Austin Hedges.

He also has four extra base hits, the same number as Will Wilson and Jhonkensy Noel had with the team.

But they could use someone else to contribute regularly. Vogt has been platooning Daniel Schneemann and Angel Martinez in CF and having success, and Brayan Rocchio is hitting .293 (737 OPS) over the last 28 days.

Having those trends continue could pay big dividends in this upcoming stretch.