The Cleveland Guardians had a perfect opportunity to get back on track with the terrible New York Mets coming to town for a three-game series at Progressive Field. Instead, the Guardians are leaving for a crucial seven-game road trip wondering what just happened.
Cleveland was swept by New York, which knocked the Guardians out of a playoff position in the tightly packed American League. They are now also much closer to fourth place in the AL Central than they are to the top spot.
The reeling Guardians next face a high-stakes matchup amid the divisional race, with a three-game series against the first-place Chicago White Sox starting Friday.
“At minimum, the Guardians will be three games behind the White Sox in the Central on Friday. Cleveland is 3-4 against Chicago with six matchups remaining. This weekend is crucial toward securing the head-to-head season series, which serves as the first tiebreaker in the divisional race,” Tim Stebbins wrote.
Coming out of the All-Star break, the Guardians and White Sox were tied for first in the division. Since then, Cleveland has gone 6-13 to fall three games behind and below .500, and its lead over the fourth-place Detroit Tigers is down to one-half game.
By losing three in a row, and five of their past six, the Guardians have also fallen out of the final AL wild-card spot. They are now behind the Texas Rangers and are among seven teams within 3.5 games competing for that final position, behind the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
It is a discouraging turn of events for the Guardians, who were in first or second place in the division for almost the entire season. Now, they will have to turn things around quickly, entering what is likely to be a make-or-break stretch.
After three games against the White Sox at Rate Field, the Guardians will play a four-game series against the Tigers at Comerica Park. Detroit notably parted with two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline, but it has won six of its past eight games.
Fortunately, the Guardians will open this road trip with their top two starting pitchers on the mound, as Parker Messick gets the nod on Friday in Chicago with Gavin Williams set to go on Saturday.
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