One year after their historic comeback to win the AL Central, the Guardians know better than anyone that the baseball season is a marathon full of twists and turns.
Maybe this one didn’t require a late-summer surge for the record books, but another memorable finish has sent the Guardians back to the postseason.
On Thursday, the Guardians clinched their third consecutive postseason berth and the 19th in franchise history, with an 1-0 win over the Red Sox to set off a celebration at Fenway Park.
This may only be the first celebration, too. The Guardians (83-76) have a one-game lead over the White Sox (82-77) in the AL Central. Cleveland is closing in on a third consecutive division title, which would come with a first-round bye and a matchup against the White Sox, Astros or Rangers in the AL Division Series.
The Guardians must finish with a better record than the White Sox to win the Central, because Chicago holds the tiebreaker after winning the head-to-head season series. Cleveland’s final three games are on the road against Kansas City, while the South Siders will host Colorado.
There’s a lot left to play for this weekend. For now, this is a moment worth celebrating.
So much of this season has been a roller-coaster ride. The Guardians paced the AL Central into early June, when key hitters José Ramírez, Chase DeLauter and Angel Martínez each suffered injuries on June 6 that required multi-week absences, and left manager Stephen Vogt’s bunch to tread water in their absence.
The Guardians entered the All-Star break five games over .500 (51-46) and tied with the White Sox for first place in the Central, but a 10-20 stretch dropped them to 61-66 and 5 1/2 games back. Since then? Cleveland entered Thursday tied with Milwaukee for the best record in MLB since Aug. 20 at 21-10.
The Guardians’ starting rotation has been their backbone all season; Cleveland is the only team with four pitchers who have made at least 30 starts. That group consistently has been a guiding force, certainly during prolonged low points for the offense. But it’s been a much more balanced effort since the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline, when the Guardians acquired Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe to lengthen their lineup.
Cleveland entered Thursday third in the AL in runs per game since Aug. 4 (4.58) after it ranked 14th beforehand (3.95).
Just as important to the offensive production and this entire season has been the Guardians’ young talent.
Prognosticators were skeptical about the Guardians entering 2026, following a quiet offseason in which team brass entrusted the organization’s young players to help lead the way this season. Their contributions have been one of the prevailing storylines of the summer.
Lefty Parker Messick is an AL Cy Young Award and AL Rookie of the Year Award contender, and an anchor atop the rotation alongside Gavin Williams. Fellow rookies DeLauter and Travis Bazzana have been lineup fixtures, and Martínez (team-leading 18 home runs) and Brayan Rocchio (team-leading 70 RBIs) have each taken a step forward at the plate.
All of those contributions have been vital, certainly on the offensive side amid an uncharacteristic season from Ramírez, the heart and soul of this team, and as All-Star leadoff man Steven Kwan was careening toward a career-worst season through June.
Kwan came out on the other side with a resurgent second-half. Ramírez has been heating up this month, even as he continues to manage the after-effects of his surgery.
Piece it all together, and you can envision this team making some noise in October. Step 1 is complete.