On July 8, the Cleveland Guardians were 15.5 games back from the first-place Detroit Tigers. By the end of the month, they had traded away two key pieces in starting pitcher Shane Bieber and reliever Paul Sewald. They did nothing to improve an offense that ranked last in MLB in batting average entering Saturday.
They are now on the verge of the biggest comeback in the history of MLB.
With their ninth and 10th straight wins on Saturday, the Guardians moved to just one game back from the Tigers, with six games left to play for both teams. If they manage to emerge with the division crown, it will be the biggest deficit overcome to win a division or league, via MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.
In addition to their proximity to the Tigers, the Guardians also moved into a tie for the final AL wild-card spot and are only five games back from the best record in the American League, which has been a den of chaos over the past month.
The current record-holder for largest comeback is held by the 1914 Boston Braves, who were 15 games back before going 61-16 in the second half to stun the New York Giants.
The Guardians will certainly get their chance to erase the Central deficit, as they will be hosting a three-game series with the Tigers starting Tuesday. In addition to potentially leaving the series with the division lead, they can clinch the season series and tiebreaker with just one more win.
The Guardians might really be doing this. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
In addition to winning 10 straight, the Guardians have also won 15 of their past 16 games. The Tigers were up 11 games on them when the span began, and have gone 4-10 since then.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said it was “hard trying to put into words” what the free fall has been like following a 6-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, which he managed to describe as “an absolute punch right to the face.”
The Guardians swept their doubleheader Saturday against the Minnesota Twins, another team that sold at the trade deadline, though much more so. Cleveland won by a combined score of 14-0, with José Ramírez, Bo Naylor, George Valera and Daniel Schneemann all supplying homers in Game 1, twice in Naylor’s case.
The Ramírez homer gave the Guardians veteran his third career 30-30 season.
Game 2 saw a six-run rally supply more than enough runs in the fifth inning. Meanwhile, starting pitchers Logan Allen and Slade Cecconi combined for 15 scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts, two walks and six hits allowed.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt gushed about the effort after Game 2:
“This was Games 22 and 23 in 23 days. Just super proud of them. They came with a win-today mindset two different times today. They did a great job turning off for a little while in between games, but then getting ready to go at game time and came out ready to rock.
“I’m so proud of this group. This stretch has been a lot of fun. They’re tired, but they’re overcoming it and they’re showing up every day ready to win.”
Cleveland will play the Twins one more time on Sunday before an off-day Monday. Then, that must-watch Tigers series.
Read the full article here