ST. PETERSBURG -- Shortly before it began to rain champagne in the home clubhouse at Progressive Field on Saturday night, Guardians players and staff gathered around catcher and team leader Austin Hedges.
After he recounted the highlights of a 2-0 victory over the White Sox that sent the Guardians to the American League Championship Series, Hedges took a knee, raised a sword above his head and made the call that caused the room to erupt in excitement.
“The new Knight of the Day, Gavin Williams!”
Seven months ago, Hedges and his Guardians teammates took a trip to Medieval Times in Scottsdale, Ariz., where they dressed as knights and wizards and enjoyed the show. It was meant to serve as a team-bonding event during the heart of Spring Training, but has been much more for the AL Central champs.
You’ve seen the knight’s helmet, which has served as a celebratory prop after a Guardians player hit a home run this season. Tanner Bibee bought that. Kyle Manzardo bought the sword, which has been less public facing, but a core part of the clubhouse culture for a team on the precipice of a World Series berth.
“It’s great,” outfielder Chase DeLauter said. “[Hedges] kind of came out firing with it the first weekend of the year. Now at this point, it's just tradition. It just feels normal after a game.”
In recent seasons, former Cleveland reliever Tyler Beede and Hedges awarded a Guardians-themed WWE belt to honor the player of the game after wins. The sword replaced the belt this year, and Hedges awards it to a key player after each win.
The sword is a vehicle for the Guardians to come together after a win. Hedges will first acknowledge the game’s key contributions before anointing the Knight of the Day. Sometimes, he will choose the recipient. Other times, he’ll confer with a teammate, such as locker neighbors Patrick Bailey and David Fry.
The honor doesn’t have to be awarded to the best player of the game. It could be someone who made a difference in the win. Hedges noted how Sabrowski could have been the recipient on Saturday, after he relieved Williams and struck out Munetaka Murakami to end a bases-loaded jam.
Sometimes, it could be a guy who needs a pick-me-up.
“There's little things like that,” Hedges said. “It’s just a little time to come together and instead of just, ‘OK, we won, everybody go to your phone and move on.’ It's like, ‘Let's acknowledge what we did, which was really hard to do.’ It's hard to win one big league game, and so I think it just solidifies that.”
Solidifying it even further are rolls of parchment paper hung up in the middle of the clubhouse. The Knight of the Day from every victory is listed, alongside the game in which they earned the honor.
The Guardians’ clubhouse staff came up with that idea and is responsible for updating the parchment.
“I think it's one thing that kind of goes to show that throughout the course of a year, everybody's going to contribute at some point,” DeLauter said. “It's literally a different guy every night, and that's a way for us to come together to celebrate a win and feel like we keep momentum moving.”
DeLauter frequently appears on that page, as do Williams, José Ramírez and Steven Kwan. A guy such as CJ Kayfus (who played three big league games this season) is on there, and youngsters such as Travis Bazzana, Parker Messick, Angel Martínez, Brayan Rocchio and Petey Halpin. There are veterans like Fry, Hedges and Rhys Hoskins.
Scroll down the page, and each guy who has played for the 2026 Guardians is likely on there.
“You break Spring Training with 26 [players], and you know you're going to need 50 or 60,” Hedges said. “I don't know how many names are on that, but it's more than 26, and that's pretty cool.”
The sword is blunt, but Hedges and his mates decided it’s better to be safe than sorry and present it, rather than conduct a typical knighting ceremony.
The ceremony evolved from the start of the season, but has been a constant for the past six-plus months. With four more wins, it could find itself on a new stage at the World Series.
The Guardians will need everyone to get there.
“These are the hardest games in the world to win,” Hedges said. “When you do it, it means a lot of guys did really good things, and probably at least one guy did something really special. To acknowledge it and to do it all together [is key].
“In a very individual sport, the more you can do things together and create a team environment … it's easier to just believe and pull for your team when you're thinking about it that way. It takes the ego out of it and makes it more about the boys.”