CHICAGO -- Stephen Vogt strolled around the Rate Field playing surface Sunday afternoon to survey the conditions near the end of a two-hour, 23-minute rain delay. At one point, the Guardians’ manager stopped in shallow right field, which, moments prior, was the focus of a White Sox grounds crew's squeegeeing effort.
Like that soggy subsection of outfield grass, the Guardians have taken on water. The pressing question now is whether they can stop it from sinking their season.
The Guardians lost, 5-3, to the White Sox on Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game series that will go down, at best, as a missed opportunity for Cleveland and a continuation of its second-half slide. At worst, the long-term ramifications could loom larger.
“We're not thrilled,” Vogt said. “It's been around a couple weeks for us, and it's time to turn it around on Tuesday.”
The Guardians are a season-high three games under .500 (58-61). They’re 2-6 in August and 7-15 since the All-Star break. Chicago (61-56) holds a four-game lead in the American League Central, while Cleveland is in a race for second with Detroit (58-60) and Minnesota (58-61).
Team meetings are not Vogt’s M.O. But the Guardians could drop to fourth place in the Central before Tuesday’s series opener against the Tigers at Comerica Park. This stretch prompted a meeting Sunday.
“As a team, we're trying to do too much,” Vogt said. “Everyone's trying to do just a little too much, be a little too perfect. We just had a conversation about that in the clubhouse. We just have to relax. We have to be ourselves. Who we are is good enough, and I think we've lost sight of that.”
It feels like the Guardians haven’t played many complete games lately. When they hit well, they don’t pitch well enough. When they pitch well, they struggle to score. They’ve made mistakes on the field and on the bases.
“Some little things here and there that I think we can all individually be doing better on our sides of things as a whole,” starter Joey Cantillo said. “Just little momentum shifts here and there that haven't necessarily gone our way.”
The weather didn’t go Cantillo’s way Sunday. He allowed one run on three hits in the first inning, but worked around a second-and-third, one-out jam. The ensuing rain delay ended his day, prompting an unplanned bullpen day.
Vogt noted before the game started, that weather decisions are in the league’s hands.
“We were told that we were good to go,” he said. “There was a threat of maybe some pop-up [showers], but we didn't anticipate being that heavy.”
Six Guardians relievers followed Cantillo. They combined to walk a season-high-tying nine batters (also June 18 vs. the Brewers). Recent trade acquisition Craig Yoho recorded one out and was charged with four runs on two hits and four walks. He surrendered a three-run homer to Colson Montgomery.
The Guardians entered Sunday tied with the fifth-highest bullpen ERA (5.13) since the break. In 73 2/3 innings, it surrendered the ninth-most walks (36 walks). That group also doesn’t always have much margin for error. Some of those momentum moments Cantillo alluded to could include situations with runners in scoring position. The Guardians have struggled in those spots for extended stretches this season and went 1-for-8 in them Sunday.
The Guardians were in a precarious position last year, when they ended August 10 1/2 games behind the division-leading Tigers. That gave way to a historic comeback to win the Central. As bad as things are now, the core of this team has been in choppier waters.
“The beauty of going through last year, we know that anything is possible,” Cantillo said. “And at the same time, every day is an important day.”
But this is a new season and a new team. Last year guarantees nothing. What’s more, the 2025 Guardians had a better record through 119 games (62-57) than ‘26. They were closer to a postseason spot, sitting one game behind the third AL Wild Card position.
These Guardians are 1 1/2 games back of the third Wild Card spot. Their four-game divisional deficit is really five games because the White Sox hold a 6-4 advantage in the season series, which serves as the first tiebreaker.
The Guardians will have to sweep the White Sox in their final head-to-head matchup, from Sept. 14-16 at Progressive Field. If urgency isn’t already at an all-time high, it’s boiling over. Now may have been as good a time as any for Vogt to speak.
“Anytime he speaks, the boys hear him,” catcher Austin Hedges said. “It definitely gives us some positivity in knowing what we need to do moving forward.”