The Cleveland Guardians’ nightmare season had a dream ending.
They trailed the Detroit Tigers by as many as 11 games in September.
That’s why it was so difficult to believe they could’ve won the AL Central.
With that in mind, Guardians catcher Bo Naylor wanted to send a strong message about his team’s determination.
“It’s one thing to say you’ll never quit, it’s another to put action to those words. I think that we did a great job of that from start to finish. Today was a perfect example of that. It’s so awesome. As you can tell, I’m at a loss for words right now, but I’m super happy,” Naylor said.
"It's one thing to say you'll never quit… it's another to put action to those words."#Guardians Bo Naylor on clinching the AL Central: pic.twitter.com/y0Rexzzijm
— Leah Doherty (@LeahDohertyTV) September 29, 2025
The Guardians never stopped believing and never stopped fighting.
Manager Stephen Vogt deserves all the credit in the world, not only for his job running the team but for the way he kept his players focused and motivated through the tough times.
It’s not easy to make everybody push toward the same goal when it continues to look further and further away.
It was very difficult to believe any team would be able to close such a big gap in a limited time, as they wouldn’t be in control of all the variables.
Of course, the Guardians had two series remaining against the Detroit Tigers, but even then, they would still need other teams to also defeat the Tigers to pull it off.
The Guardians focused on holding up their end of the bargain, peaking at the right time and rallying behind one another to put themselves in position to make history.
They approached every day like Game 7, and it worked.
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