Guardians win AL Central: Cleveland clinches Saturday with Kansas City loss

For the second time in three years, the Cleveland Guardians are American League Central champions. The Guardians clinched the division title Saturday by virtue of the Royals’ 9-0 loss to the Giants. It was the Royals’ sixth straight loss. Cleveland locked up a postseason berth on Thursday. Now the Guardians have clinched the AL Central.

“Right on that first road trip, we saw something special, and that this team might be able to get it done,” rookie manager Stephen Vogt said after the Guardians clinched a postseason berth (via MLB.com). “And now we’re in, and we have an opportunity.”

Things did get a bit dicey for the Guardians last month. Cleveland lost 16 times in a 24-game span from Aug. 3 to Aug. 27 and fell into a first-place tie with the Kansas City Royals after having a nine-game lead on June 25. Since then though, the Guardians went 15-7, heading into Saturday, the best record in the American League. Their lead swelled back up to 7 1/2 games before clinching.

Even with the AL Central secured, the Guardians still have work to do. They want to finish with one of the American League’s two best records and lock up a Wild Card Series bye. Cleveland entered Saturday 5.5 games up on the AL West-leading Houston Astros, the current No. 3 seed. They could clinch one of the two best records and, thus, a bye as soon as Sunday.

The best record in baseball and home field advantage throughout the postseason are also within reach. The Guardians entered Saturday 2 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record, though Cleveland won the season series and has the tiebreaker, so it was really more like a 1 1/2-game deficit. The race for baseball’s best record could go down to Game 162.

The Guardians won the AL Central with elite run prevention — they’ve allowed the third fewest runs per game in baseball this season — and an average-ish offense. The bullpen in particular has been incredible. Historically great, really. Look at these numbers:

The NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers are a distant second in bullpen ERA (3.21) and the Atlanta Braves are a distant second in bullpen WAR (9.2). In fact, Cleveland’s bullpen is the best on record in terms of WAR, beating out the 2021 New York Yankees. New York’s bullpen finished with 11.2 WAR that year. The Guardians have one of the greatest relief units ever.

Closer Emmanuel Clase is having the kind of season that will earn him Cy Young and MVP votes, a rarity for a reliever, and set up men Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith have combined for a 1.75 ERA and 5.32 K/BB in 144 innings. If there is a concern, it’s the workload. Four Guardians relievers (Clase, Gaddis, Smith, Tim Herrin) are top 10 in baseball in appearances this year.

Staff ace Shane Bieber blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery two starts into the season. Since then, the Guardians have cobbled together a rotation around 2023 Rookie of the Year runner-up Tanner Bibee. Some combination of Matthew Boyd, Alex Cobb, Joey Cantillo and Gavin Williams figures to slot in behind Bibee in the postseason rotation. 

It has been a tale of two seasons for the offense, which might be Cleveland’s greatest weakness. In the first half, the Guardians averaged 4.78 runs per game and hit .243/.316/.405 as a team. In the second half, they’ve slipped to a .231/.297/.380 line and 3.87 runs per game. José Ramírez has a chance to go 40-40 this year. The lineup around him hasn’t been great lately though.

The Guardians went 76-86 last season and missed the postseason. They bounced back in a big way this year, and now they’ll look to win the franchise’s first World Series title since 1948. That is the longest championship drought in baseball. With no superteam this season, this could be Cleveland’s best chance to bring home a championship in the Ramírez era.