Shane Bieber. Carlos Carrasco. Tanner Bibee. Gavin Williams.
Those kinds of starting pitchers, plus the help of a strong bullpen, have served as the strength of the Guardians' past few playoff teams.
This year's club has the same foundation, with star rookie Parker Messick and Williams -- the American League leader in strikeouts -- leading the way in front of a bullpen that ranked sixth in ERA (3.54) and first in K/9 rate (10.21).
The offense on those previous playoff teams? Well, it was a whole lot of José Ramírez. Sometimes, it has felt like it is only José Ramírez. That's admittedly unfair, but last season, Ramírez was one of only two Guardians who had even a league-average wRC+. (Kyle Manzardo was the other one with a 112.)
In the past four seasons in which they made the playoffs, the Guardians' offensive production has been, at best, middling:
2020: Tied for 23rd in wRC+ (90), T-24th in runs scored (248)
2022: T-15th in wRC+ (100), T-15th in runs scored (698)
2024: 17th in wRC+ (100), 14th in runs scored (708)
2025: 28th in wRC+ (86), 28th in runs scored (643)
This season wasn't much different on the whole:
2026: T-20th in wRC+ (97), 24th in runs (678)
But something is different as Cleveland prepares to host Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday versus the White Sox.
Guardians offense since Aug. 1: 4th in wRC+ (108), 6th in runs scored (245).
And Ramírez ... has actually hurt those numbers. Of 161 qualified hitters, Ramírez ranked 145th in wRC+ over the season's final two months (72). He was worse in September, slashing .198/.237/.264 over 97 plate appearances, leading to a dreadful 39 wRC+.
Cleveland's franchise player has looked like a shell of his former self since returning on July 22 after more than a month on the sidelines following left hand surgery. Despite that, the Guardians' lineup has been quite potent for an extended period.
Some holdovers deserve a heaping amount of credit. Steven Kwan has been one of the best hitters in the sport during the second half of the year. Angel Martínez and Brayan Rocchio each recorded 11 extra-base hits and an OPS better than .900 in September.
But this lineup looks longer and stronger this October thanks in large part to three players who were not on the active roster at the end of the 2025 regular season.
DeLauter actually made his MLB debut one year ago today, when he became just the sixth player in big league history to play his first game on a postseason stage.
He then got off to a red-hot start this season, including a two-homer game on Opening Day. The 2022 first-round Draft pick went through a swoon in May and June (and missed some time due to a rib fracture), but he has picked it back up at the plate since the start of August, boasting a .311/.400/.507 slash line with 17 extra-base hits across 170 PAs.
His whiff and chase rates rank above the 90th percentile in MLB this season. He has an OPS above .800 against both right- and left-handed pitchers, and his .323 average versus southpaws ranks third among 95 left-handed hitters (min. 75 PA).
DeLauter has looked like a star in the making for a while now. The only question was, after a series of significant injuries, if his body would hold up to allow him to show all of his skills. After playing in 133 games this year -- well more than double his previous high in any season as a pro -- there are no questions left for him to answer. The 24-year-old looks like he'll be a staple in the top third of Cleveland's order for years to come.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 Draft and the Guardians' No. 1 prospect entering this season, Bazzana debuted on April 28. Within a month, he was the team's leadoff hitter.
Kwan's huge turnaround has led to Bazzana typically batting in the lower half of the lineup during the second half, but that has helped lengthen out this group as Bazzana has been doing serious damage at the dish since the beginning of September, hitting six homers in 23 games. His 170 wRC+ last month ranked 19th among qualified hitters.
Bazzana is much more of a hitter than a slugger, but in September, he nearly doubled his barrel rate (4.6% to 8.2%; the league average this year is 7.7%), and he started pulling fly balls in the air at a dramatically higher clip (15.4% pulled airball rate through August; 26.2% in September). That's a good way to tap into your raw power, and the 24-year-old infielder clearly did down the stretch.
The Guardians have not been a huge home run-hitting team in recent years, and that hasn't changed in 2026, even with their late-season surge. Their 162 homers on the season rank 27th in MLB, and their 56 since the beginning of August are the 19th-most in the game. Martínez is the team leader with just 18 home runs.
But Cleveland knew it needed to add more muscle ahead of the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline, and it did that by bringing in Adell, who swings harder than almost any player in the Majors. Coming off a 37-homer season with the Angels, Adell has seven homers in 48 games with the Guardians, the most on the squad since his first game on Aug. 4.
The righty has also walked 18 times in 204 plate appearances with Cleveland, a rate of 8.8%. Before the trade, he had walked only 16 times in 456 PAs with the Angels (3.5%). That's boosted his on-base percentage by nearly 40 points (from .287 to .324) and has played a big part in the Guardians' .330 OBP since Aug. 1, sixth-best in MLB.
The Guardians' pitching was already going to be a problem for whichever team made it out of the AL Wild Card Series on its side of the bracket. But when you couple that with what they are doing at the plate right now, Cleveland has the look of a very well-rounded unit heading into the ALDS, even with its team leader not playing up to his usual standards.
Oh, but don't look now: J-Ram did end the regular season with 12 hits and an .831 OPS over his final nine games.