A huge week for the Guardians has them in good shape as they approach the Playoffs.
After a rough start to the second half of the season, the Guardians have locked in and gotten (the first part of) the job done.
AL Central Champs
For the fifth time since 2016, the Cleveland Guardians have clinched the American League Central championship. Thanks to a 5-1 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday and a Kansas City Royals loss on Saturday, the Guardians clinched the division with a 7.5 game lead over the Royals and the Detroit Tigers and an 8.5 game lead over the Minnesota Twins. Remember when everyone said there was no chance anyone other than the Twins would take the division? Yea, me too.
As of today, the Guardians hold the two-seed and will have a bye-week. To clinch this seeding, the Guardians only need to win two more games. With five games left to play, it’s looking like a real possibility. Let’s turn this 90-win team into a 95-win team and secure that bye.
Smith Reaches Milestone
In just his 73rd inning of work, rookie reliever Cade Smith struck out his 100th batter of the season. This made him only the fourth Cleveland reliever to do this, and the first since Paul Shuey who had 103 Ks across 81 innings in 1999 (via Zack Meisel on Twitter). As of this writing, he boasts a 1.96 ERA and a 6-1 record. The Vancouver native has been a huge part of Cleveland’s success this year, taking on innings and mowing down hitters.
Smith also became just the fourth Canadian reliever in MLB history to achieve 100 strikeouts. It will surely be exciting to see what he can do in the Playoffs and how the rest of the bullpen can perform around him. If it’s anything like the rest of the season has been, I think we’re in good hands. Not only that, he’s also still a rookie. This means the team will have plenty of time with him regardless of how this season ends where he can only improve.
Ramírez Close to History
Guardians’ third-baseman José Ramírez is as little as three pitches away from making history. With 37 home runs and 40 stolen bases, he needs just three “home run pitches” to become the first player in Cleveland history to join the 40-40 Club. He would, amazingly, be the second player to achieve this feat this season behind phenom Shohei Ohtani.
He would, more notably, become only the seventh player in MLB history to do so. I hadn’t realized just how rare this feat was because I had just seen Ohtani do it this year and Ronald Acuña Jr. do it last year. But as it turns out, Ramírez really will be inking his name into the MLB history books if he can hit three more balls into the stands.