A couple of weeks ago, the Cleveland Guardians were in fourth place in the AL Central and saw their season headed in the wrong direction despite a crafty trade deadline from the front office. The offense was sputtering, the rotation looked worn out, and the team limped out of the All-Star break by going 8-18 to drop to five games under .500.
Luckily, a soft spot in the schedule has helped the Guardians turn things around as they have now won six in a row to get back above water and vault themselves back to second place in the division. All of a sudden, a Wild Card berth in the AL isn’t a big enough goal for this team as one insider believes they are once again in a position to aim higher than that.
Joe Noga of Cleveland.com recently wrote about the Guardians’ hot streak and wondered if winning the AL Central is now back on the table. Just a few weeks ago, even a Wild Card spot seemed to be slipping out of reach, but with how subpar the AL is this year, this streak has been more than enough to get back into the hunt with the Chicago White Sox now just 2.5 games up.
“Does the hot streak that the Guardians are on right now sort of shift the narrative or the focus away from the wild card and back to trying to run down the White Sox at the top of the division?” Noga asked. “Right now, it just feels like a week ago the question was can this team hang around long enough to weasel their way into the wild card race? And now it feels like the division is there for the taking.”
The Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers have cooled off while the White Sox have been treading water over the past few weeks. All three have left the door wide open for the Guardians to seize this opportunity, which is exactly what they have done as they head into the finale with the Los Angeles Angels in pursuit of a sweep and a seven-game winning streak, which would equal a season high.
Noga isn’t alone in believing that the Guardians may have officially flipped the script. We’re going to need to see them beat some good teams before officially buying in, but this stretch is encouraging. It’s going to be intriguing to see how they handle the red-hot Kansas City Royals in a few days, who have now somehow put together a nine-game winning streak.
It’s still August, but it’s easy to already start thinking about last season when the Guardians went on a blistering run down the stretch to swipe the division away from the Tigers on the last weekend of the year. They won’t have to make up nearly as much ground this time around in their pursuit of a third consecutive AL Central crown. Let’s see if the White Sox are up for the challenge and can hold off the Guardians.
NEXT: Analyst Says Guardians Have Flipped The Script After Bleak Stretch
