News and Notes for Monday, September 23rd, 2024
The Guardians lost 2-1 to the Cardinals while fielding Jose Ramirez, Josh Naylor, Brayan Rocchio and their B-team after clinching the AL Central.
Gavin Williams looked solid, going five and two-thirds innings and giving up four hits, two walks and one run, while striking out three. Andrew Walters had his first hiccup in the majors, struggling with command and giving up a run.
The rest of the game was fairly uneventful for the Guardians’ offense. Myles Straw broke up the no-hit bid from Cardinals’ starter Andre Pallante, then stole second, then stole third, then scored on an Austin Hedges’ bunt.
I think the most interesting position battle for the Guardians’ playoff roster is right-field. Will they go with the home run potential of Jhonkensy Noel? Noel missed two fairly simple and crucial catches in right field on Sunday. Will they go with the clutch abilities of Will Brennan? Will they try Angel Martinez out there? Or are we looking at Straw in center and Lane Thomas in right (gulp)? It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out. To me, Daniel Schneemann is the position player who should stay home, but it does require the team to be willing to play either Angel Martinez or Andres Gimenez at short, should Brayan Rocchio get hurt in a playoff game.
The Athletic’s Zack Meisel wrote about the division clinching moment with pitching coach Carl Willis as his primary subject.
AROUND MLB:
Best news of the day was that the Angels came back against Josh Hader and beat the Astros 9-8, bringing the Guardians’ magic number for the #2 seed down to two.
The Tigers won and Twins and Royals lost. The Tigers are currently the second wildcard spot leader.
The Reds fired David Bell, their manager, leading to an interesting dynamic in their next game, which is in Cleveland.