The Cleveland Guardians were the hottest team in baseball to close out the regular season.
They dominated their opposition, including the Detroit Tigers, to win the AL Central in an unprecedented fashion.
That’s why it was heartbreaking to watch the Guardians get eliminated in the AL Wild Card round by those Tigers.
Looking back, analyst Jensen Lewis believes Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt may have made a crucial mistake in Game 2.
Instead of keeping Cade Smith fresh for Game 3, Vogt used the closer with a big lead in Game 2.
“I think Game 2 is probably where I would go. I was still perplexed as to why Cade Smith came out for basically the four-out save, if you will, when they were up by five runs. I would’ve much rather had Cade Smith available for multiple innings going into Game 3. [In hindsight], it really didn’t look like it mattered. However, I would’ve wanted Detroit to have to game plan and say, ‘Cade Smith’s going to be available for multiple times out,'” Lewis said.
Should Cade Smith have pitched up five runs in Game 2? #GuardsBall@JLEWFifty explains why Stephen Vogt could have made the Tigers game plan for multiple innings of Cade in Game 3.
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— BIGPLAY Cleveland Show (@BIGPLAYCLEshow) October 7, 2025
Of course, it’s easy to figure out what went wrong after things go south, but even at the time, that decision didn’t look like it made a lot of sense.
As much as the Guardians wanted to have their most reliable reliever out there to make sure they would get to Game 3, they were in control of the situation, and using Smith arguably wasn’t necessary.
Vogt has proven to be a very good manager in his first two years, so he should get the benefit of the doubt.
The way he was able to keep his team grounded and motivated to even make the playoffs was quite an accomplishment.
Hopefully, he will learn from this experience, and the Guardians will come back stronger and with a chip on their shoulders after the way things ended.
NEXT: Guardians Executive Outlines Path To World Series
