It’s still premature to assume that the Cleveland Guardians will win the AL Central just because they gained possession of the top spot on Wednesday. However, we are close enough to the playoffs that we can actually start mapping out potential paths and foes should the team hold off the Chicago White Sox and earn its third straight AL Central crown.
Wednesday’s 6-3 win over the Sox gave Guardians fans license to dream, to finally picture themselves as a potential postseason squad. Again, there is still work to be done, but the team showed the heart and the talent of a playoff-caliber organization.
Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes went through the Guardians’ potential path should they win the Central. It can be significantly easier, on paper at least, if they manage to get in as the second-best division winner.
“Should the Guardians win the Central and finish with the second-best record among AL division champions, they would go straight to the best-of-five ALDS with the homefield advantage. If they should win the Central with the fewest wins among the three division winners, they’d play the wild card team with the worst record in a three-game series at home,” Hoynes wrote.
Right now, the 78-75 Guardians’ main focus is to win their division. If they can do it with the second-best record among leaders, they’ll go straight to the Division Series and enjoy home-field advantage there. If, on the other hand, they finish as the worst division winner, they would play the Wild Card series. It’s a big difference in outcomes.
At the moment, the Houston Astros, at 76-76, have the worst record among division leaders in the junior circuit and would play in the Wild Card round, while the Guardians would go straight to the Division Series. So, to sum up, Cleveland needs to focus on themselves first and foremost, and then on what the White Sox do in their last 10 games. Additionally, they need to monitor that AL West division, since they can’t catch the Tampa Bay Rays’ 92-59 record in the AL East anymore.
All these scenarios are, of course, hypothetical. For all we know, the Guardians might even lose their postseason spot near the finish line. However, some of this information is worth understanding and sharing as we get closer to October baseball.
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