The Cleveland Guardians did something no other team had been able to do.
They won the division after trailing by as many as 15.5 games at one point in the season, and they did so by being the best team in all of baseball down the stretch.
The Guardians were usually at their best in close games, constantly finding ways to get wins and stepping up in the clutch.
When asked about that, manager Stephen Vogt credited his team’s mindset and approach to those games, as they knew that, given their offensive limitations, they were going to have to star in those types of situations multiple times.
That’s not very usual for other teams, but the Guardians were pretty much used to it:
“I think when that’s your expectation and our guys play a certain way, you’re going to win those close games,” Vogt said. “We know we’re going to play them and a lot of other teams maybe aren’t as confident in those games. I think it’s given our players huge, huge amounts of experience. I mean we played a month of playoff games. We didn’t talk about it while we were going through it. You try to downplay it, but we played a month worth of playoff games and our guys stepped up and responded.”
Just like the manager said, the Guardians had their backs against the wall for most of the final month of the season.
The margin for error was pretty close to zero, and as such, they had to play that game like it was Game 7, and more often than not, they succeeded.
Of course, their offensive limitations were due to catch up with them at some point, and they did.
Now, this team should make the most of the offseason to build some momentum.
They’ve already shown that they can thrive in the clutch and on the mound, so it’s up to the front office to give them the type of high-end sluggers they need to bring some life at the plate as well.
NEXT: Guardians Called To Extend Veteran Pitcher
