CLEVELAND -- For a chunk of 2026, the Guardians were the only team to use just five starting pitchers. Cleveland did not need a sixth starter until a July 18 doubleheader against Pittsburgh, in a remarkable streak of health and durability.
Now? The Guardians are staring down the end of their season, and their rotation is a cloud hanging over everything entering a win-or-go-home Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.
The Guardians lost, 3-1, to the Rays in Game 5 of the ALCS on Sunday at Progressive Field to fall into a 3-2 hole in the best-of-seven series. In any best-of-7 series tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner goes on to take the series 46 of 69 times (67%). In series with the current 2-3-2 format that have been tied 2-2, teams winning Game 5 on the road (before going home for Games 6-7) have gone on to take the series 21 of 28 times (75%).
“Our backs were against the wall,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “This is when this team thrives. We know we've got our work cut out for us.”
In part because their pitching plan for Game 6 at Tropicana Field on Monday is a question mark.
Tanner Bibee? Slade Cecconi? Joey Cantillo? The Guardians may need each to force Game 7 on Tuesday, after their bullpen carried a heavy burden the past two days. The only thing that’s certain is Gavin Williams will not be available on short rest Monday.
“No, that's not an option,” Vogt said.
The Guardians liked their chances handing the ball to co-ace Parker Messick on Sunday, but he delivered the shortest start of his career, including both the regular season and playoffs. It turned the evening into a bullpen game.
Messick lasted just two innings and was charged with two runs on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts. He threw 57 pitches (34 strikes), which marked the second most he’s thrown through two innings in a start in his career, behind Sept. 1, 2025, against the Red Sox (60).
Messick is a major reason the Guardians have gotten this far this season. He emerged as an anchor in the Cleveland rotation as a rookie. But you’ve got to wonder whether his workload is catching up to him, if it hasn't already.
Between the regular season and playoffs, Messick has thrown exactly 200 innings. His previous career high was 138 1/3, between the Majors and Minors in 2025. He has made four postseason starts, including Game 2 of this series -- when he was charged with three unearned runs on six hits and two walks.
“I feel great right now,” Messick said. “It’s simply just me executing. My body feels good. My arm feels good. I'm still throwing hard. I don't really have any body fatigues.”
The Guards used Tim Herrin, Shawn Armstrong, Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith across seven innings on Sunday. That followed Saturday’s 7-3 loss in Game 4 in which six pitchers followed Armstrong (an opener) in relief.
The Guardians pinpointed Saturday as a bullpen day. They didn’t intend Sunday to be one, when Monday was also set to be a pitching puzzle.
“Obviously we're probably going to have to get creative tomorrow and see what happens for Game 7,” Vogt said pregame Sunday.
The Guardians have had three traditional starters make a start this postseason: Messick, Williams and Foster Griffin, who threw 3 2/3 innings in relief of Armstrong on Saturday. Griffin and Messick are not available to start Game 6.
Nor is Williams, who threw just 70 pitches over five innings in Game 3 on Thursday. His max four-seam fastball velocity dropped from the first inning (99.2 mph) to the fifth (95.4 mph).
Given the bullpen’s recent workload, the Guardians will have to lean on Bibee, Cantillo and Cecconi -- each of whom were rotation fixtures in the regular season -- on Monday.
“I'm going to take the ball whenever I'm asked to take it and throw it for as long as they want me to throw it,” Cecconi said. “It’s crunch time. Whatever they need, I'm ready for.”
If that trio could provide a pair of innings each, it could help the Guards get the ball to their high-leverage arms to lock things down.
Cecconi threw one inning in both Games 2 and 4. Cantillo threw 1 2/3 innings across Games 1 and 4. Bibee has been available as a length reliever, but part of his role has been acting as a security blanket to protect against a potential extra-innings game.
So, Cleveland’s Opening Day starter has thrown just one-third of an inning this postseason, in Game 4 of the ALDS on Oct. 8.
“I have a feeling Tanner's going to factor into this series one way or another,” Vogt said pregame Sunday.
He could have a major say in whether the Guardians pass the baton to Williams for Game 7, with the AL pennant on the line, or go home for the winter.
“You don't count out the Guards. I think we showed that in the DS,” Messick said of the Guardians’ comeback to eliminate the White Sox. “I think we're all confident going in. We're going to have a good flight here and go to try to win two games in a row.”