The Cleveland Guardians pulled off something that looked impossible just a couple of weeks ago.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean much now.
In the playoffs, the field is leveled, and whatever a team did in the regular season will be nothing but stats and historical records.
That’s why analyst Anthony Castrovince is a little worried about the Guardians entering Game 1 of their AL Wild Card series against the Detroit Tigers.
“Game 1 is everything. To have Tarik Skubal for the Tigers is a huge advantage for them. What happened in the last couple of weeks, the Guardians beat them twice by scoring two earned runs against him total. To count on that happening again, it’s difficult. You can’t overstate the difficulty. He’s a premier pitcher at his absolute peak. Tigers have the upper hand just because of that factor. Looking at this rationally and objectively you’d have to say the Tigers have the huge edge just because they have Skubal on the mound in Game 1,” Castrovince said.
The Tigers collapsed down the stretch this season, making dubious history in the process.
They might be extremely motivated to get back at the team that passed them to win the AL Central, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be able to pull it off.
The Tigers aren’t the strongest team right now, mentally speaking, and they will go against a squad that got the best of them when they squared off this season.
Some of the best pitchers of their generation crumble under the spotlight of the playoffs.
That’s not necessarily going to be the case with Skubal, but that’s not the only thing the Guardians can rely on.
After overcoming every adversity they’ve faced so far, there are more than enough reasons to feel encouraged about their chances.
They still have to take care of business, but all of the pressure is on the Tigers.
NEXT: Jhonkensy Noel Reveals Guardians' Key To Historic Comeback
