KANSAS CITY -- There was a point this summer when it felt like the walls were starting to close in on the Guardians. Cleveland entered a midseason swoon before the All-Star break, when it was trying to tread water without José Ramírez after he underwent left hamate surgery.
After the Guardians fell to one game over .500 with a fourth straight loss on July 8, catcher and team leader Austin Hedges offered some hopeful context and confidence the tide would turn.
“There is no glory without sucking and suffering and overcoming things,” Hedges said that night. “We're being tested right now while maintaining being right where we want to be, which is near the top of the division with a chance to make the playoffs, trying to win a World Series.”
They made it all the way to the top of the division. The Guardians clinched the AL Central for the third straight season on Saturday, when they beat the Royals, 11-5, at Kauffman Stadium and the White Sox followed by losing to the Rockies, 9-6, officially giving Cleveland the division title.
The Guardians secured a first-round bye and the No. 2 seed in the AL postseason field by winning the Central. They will begin playoff action next Saturday at Progressive Field, in Game 1 of the AL Division Series, against the White Sox or the winner of the AL West – either the Astros or Rangers.
While the Guardians were thrilled to punch their playoff ticket on Thursday, they entered this weekend’s series knowing they had a lot of work to do to clinch the division.
The Guardians fell into an early hole on Saturday after the Royals tagged starter Tanner Bibee for three runs in the first inning. It was a short-lived deficit; Cleveland took a 4-3 lead in the second, which featured a game-tying two-run homer by Patrick Bailey off the right-field foul pole and a go-ahead triple by Steven Kwan. Bailey would add an insurance homer in the ninth inning, putting the finishing touches on his first career multihomer game.
Chase DeLauter hit a third-inning solo homer, and Brayan Rocchio went deep in both the seventh and ninth innings for some added support, while Travis Bazzana finished a homer shy of the cycle.
Bibee settled in to throw a quality start. He allowed three runs on seven hits and one walk over six innings.
The Guardians have now won the Central in four of the past five seasons and seven of the past 11. This also marks the 14th time in 32 possible seasons that Cleveland has won the Central.