Are The Cleveland Guardians Primed For A World Series Run?
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As I sit in the press box this afternoon and watch the grounds-keeping staff prepare Progressive Field for postseason baseball Friday afternoon, my mind wanders to a place I realized it hadn't gone this season until just this very moment.
What if this team wins the World Series?
Back in April, I thought this team had a chance to finish the season plus-or-minus a few games from .500. I thought that their ceiling was probably an 86-win season if everything went right and that they would be in the mix in the A.L. Central deep into September. I'm not stunned they made the postseason, although that was a longshot by most experts before the year started.
But I hadn't dared let myself think about where this journey could lead until right now as we are about to begin playoff baseball.
It's nice to have butterflies again, isn't it? It's nice to think that it's not just been a great year and that this team has earned the right to keep playing. Nothing is guaranteed going forward ... and that's the beauty of October baseball. Anything can happen.
Even a team winning a World Series that was never projected to be in the race in the first place.
The playoffs have tended to favor teams that can play with some real power over the last few years: pitchers that consistently throw in the mid-to-upper 90's and hitters that routinely hit long home runs.
The Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays ... uhhhh ... don't have a whole lot of that.
But what they lack in power, they make up for in finesse and effort. The Guardians led all of MLB this year in lowest strikeout rate and in highest contact rate. They are the only team in baseball this year that had four players hit at least 22 doubles AND steal 19-or-more bases: Andres Gimenez, Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez and Amed Rosario.
No other team had more than two players achieve that.
Perhaps the feeling is fueled by the belief that they come into the playoffs with all the momentum in the world. They had the best record in the big leagues over their final 30 games of the season and became just the 17th team in MLB history to close the year with at least an .800 winning percentage of their final month of play.
By the way, the last team to do so ... was the 2017 Cleveland Indians.
Maybe it's fun to dream about October glory right now because so many things about this season have felt improbable.
How many times do we have to watch this team do something unexpected before we stop being surprised by their clutch performances? The Guardians were 29-12 this season in games decided in a team's final at bat. They finished the season 36-17 in games decided in the seventh inning or later. They are 28-17 in 1-run games and they've only blown a lead at home after the sixth inning once in 31 games.
Count 'em up, 40 comeback wins and a ridiculous 78-13 record when they score at least four runs in a game.
But most of all, they've done this all with a group of players that just wasn't "supposed" to be contenders this year.
Since 1947, only the 1969 World Series champion New York Mets and 1970 pennant-winning Cincinnati Reds finished the regular season with a better winning percentage than the 2022 Cleveland Guardians, among teams with an average age of under 26 years old.
It's been an incredible season and this team has achieved so far beyond anyone's expectations ... except for their own.
They never used youth as an excuse. They don't care that they haven't been here before or that 17 players made their Major League debut this summer.
They certainly aren't going to start using it now.
Cleveland's culture is hard to replicate. They value things here that some organizations around the big leagues overlook. They've put this team together with one of the smallest payrolls in baseball while out-performing many of the big spenders around the league.
The clubhouse is loose. Guys often play cards or shoot baskets on a small hoop pinned to the wall, and the music after a win is loud enough to wake the neighbors.
Are the Cleveland Guardians primed for a World Series run? Most experts would say no ... but they've been wrong time and time again this season.
There isn't a doubt in my mind that they're capable of making a run at a title. It's a tough road that would likely take them through both the Yankees and Astros, but they've proven they play the kind of baseball you need to play to win playoff games. I've had the 2015 Kansas City Royals on my mind several times this year while watching them take extra bases, play great defense and showcase a dominant bullpen.
There is something special brewing in Cleveland and I get the impression they are ready to take us on an incredible ride.
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Read More:
Guardians Fans Will See A Few Familiar Faces In The Wild Card Series Against The Rays
Shane Bieber Recalls Lessons From Corey Kluber As He Prepares For Wild Card Start
Josh Naylor Reflects On 2022 Season, Return From Injury, Time With Brother Bo
Terry Francona Loves Managing Guardians, Excited for Playoffs To Start
Cleveland Guardians, Progressive Field Prepares To Host A.L. Wild Card Series
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