The Cleveland Guardians are about to make history.
No team had ever come from being 15.5 games behind in the divisional race and then gone on to win the divisional pennant.
They’ve ridden their red-hot pitching to the top, and it was a major factor again in Wednesday’s triumph over the Detroit Tigers.
Guardians starter Tanner Bibee gave up just one run on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in six innings of work.
As pointed out by Tim Stebbins of MLB.com, this was the 19th consecutive time in which a Guardians’ starting hurler has allowed two runs or fewer, and that’s the longest such streak by any team since the 2019 Tampa Bay Rays.
When asked about that, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt tipped his hat to his pitching staff:
“We’re out here to win games, each and every day,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of the rotation dominance. “Those guys compete with each other, and that’s the truth. When they take the mound, they want to give us a chance to win. And, man, have they stepped up the last few weeks.”
The Guardians are now just one game from tying the legendary 1917 Chicago White Sox, which did that almost 100 years ago.
This team has defied all odds from start to finish this season, and they’re playing with the confidence of a team that had nothing to lose and is now looking to prove all the doubters wrong.
It’s crazy to think that this is the same team that won just nine games in June and that lost its superstar closer due to a sports gambling investigation.
And after all they’ve been through this season to get to this point, they have to feel invincible.
The job’s not finished, but barring a disaster, this team will win the AL Central division.
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