The Cleveland Guardians have been alternating wins and losses over the past week and are struggling to separate themselves from the pack in their quest to lock down the third Wild Card spot in the American League. They are also just 1.5 games back of the struggling Chicago White Sox in the AL Central, so every game is a must-win at this point in the year.
A big reason for the recent up-and-down record has been the inconsistency of the starting rotation. Among that group, Tanner Bibee has arguably been the weakest link as he has a 5.63 ERA since July and has given up five runs in each of his past two outings, which has concerned Joe Noga of Cleveland.com.
In a recent article, Noga wrote about Bibee’s recent struggles and questioned how the team is going to be able to rely on him as it continues to chase down a spot in the playoffs.
“10 earned runs in eight and a third innings in two September starts for Bibee,” Noga noted. “His last time out against Toronto, four innings, five earned runs, five walks, and then Tuesday, four and a third, five earned runs. Those are scary numbers if you’re relying on Bibee every fifth day to go out there and try to pitch you into the postseason.”
Pitching records don’t mean a whole lot these days, but it’s still concerning to see Bibee sitting at 5-15. It’s not indicative of the year he has had since he has 17 quality starts out of his 30 starts, but the Guardians are somehow just 7-10 in those 17 games.
Bibee likely won’t make the playoff rotation if the Guardians get there, but the team still needs him in order to get to that point. The rotation has done a great job staying healthy all year, but Bibee is showing glimpses of wearing down a bit and needs to get in the lab to figure it out.
Bibee’s next start is a huge one, too. He is slated to take the ball against the Chicago White Sox in the series opener on Monday. That three-game set could decide the division, so hopefully he got all the earned runs out of his system already.
NEXT: Guardians Insider Suggests Jose Ramirez Came Back Too Soon From Injury
