The Cleveland Guardians had a full day to think about their Game 1 loss to the White Sox, and Steven Kwan made it clear the clubhouse has no interest in dwelling on it. Cleveland dropped the opener of the American League Division Series 3-0 on Saturday, managing just three hits and stranding seven runners in a frustrating afternoon at Progressive Field. With the series resuming Monday, there has been no shortage of outside theories about what went wrong, from rust after the bye week to the way Chicago attacked the lineup with a steady stream of left handers. Kwan, who has been one of the steadiest players on the roster all season, offered a much simpler view of how the team is handling it. Speaking with reporters, the veteran outfielder explained the mindset the Guardians are bringing into Game 2.
“You flush whatever happens the day before, and you pour all your focus to the next game,” Kwan wrote.
"You flush whatever happens the day before, and you pour all your focus to the next game"
Inside the #Guardians Clubhouse with Steven Kwan#GuardsBall @WEWS pic.twitter.com/sCazyE0N2D
— Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) October 4, 2026
Kwan said the team is approaching the postseason the same way it approached the regular season. He admitted nobody is happy with how the Guardians performed on Saturday, but he believes the worst thing a team can do in that situation is try to overhaul everything or pick apart every detail of a loss. He gave credit to Chicago’s pitching staff for throwing the ball well, and said the focus now is on preparing for the next pitcher and continuing to push forward. Kwan added that the players buy in completely to the game plan in front of them, never look ahead, and pour every bit of their energy into the next game on the schedule.
That approach is not just a cliché for this group. It is exactly how the Guardians saved their season in September. Cleveland sat at 70-70 and three games behind the White Sox after a loss to Toronto on Sept. 3, and plenty of people had written them off. The Guardians responded by taking things one game at a time and went 15-6 over their next 21 games to win the division.
Kwan has lived that mentality on a personal level, too. He hit roughly .210 through his first 77 games of the season before turning things around in a big way, hitting .353 with a .443 on base percentage over his final 74 games. Few players on the roster understand better than Kwan how important it is to leave a bad day behind.
Saturday certainly gave the Guardians plenty to forget. Kwan drew one of three straight walks with two outs in the third inning to load the bases, but Chase DeLauter lined out to end the threat. Cleveland loaded the bases again in the fourth and came away empty, finishing the day 0-3 with runners in scoring position. Chicago closer Grant Taylor then shut the door with four innings of relief.
The stakes could not be much higher. Teams that win the first game of a best of five series go on to take the series roughly three out of every four times, and a loss on Monday would send Cleveland to Chicago needing three straight wins to survive.
Kwan has been a reliable postseason performer, hitting .321 across twenty career playoff games, including a .381 mark during the 2024 run. If he and the rest of the lineup truly have flushed Saturday, the Guardians have a real chance to head to Chicago with the series all square.
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