SURGE: Cleveland Guardians CONTROL Playoff Destiny Thanks to Pitching; Bo Naylor’s ELECTRIC Run

SURGE: Cleveland Guardians CONTROL Playoff Destiny Thanks to Pitching; Bo Naylor’s ELECTRIC Run

Justin Lada: The Guardian September mad dash has finally paid off. They are now masters of their own fate when it comes to the 2025 playoffs. And they come home to try to fin ish the improbable redemption arc. Jeff Ellis: You are Locked on Guardians, your daily podcast on the Cleveland Guardians, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Justin Lada: Welcome on into a victory Monday all across Cleveland. Now I know the Guardians didn’t win on Sunday, but you know what? They won three of four. They are in control of their own fate when it comes to the playoff race. This is Locked on Guardians, the only place for you to get daily Cleveland Guardians content on the podcast webs. And we’re covering the Guardians, the majors, the minors, the draft, everything in between. And we’re glad you’re here with us. I am Justin Lada, one of your two co-hosts. Been here since October of 2022. I’m sorry, September 2022. It’s three years, and I’ve been covering the Guardians’ minor league system for the last 18 years. Jeff Ellis: Of course you should know it’s three years. You just got your little alert with all of your congratulations. Justin Lada: I did. Jeff Ellis: I am Jeff Ellis. I’m your other co-host here. I’ve been here since Locked On expanded into baseball six years ago. Before that, I was a national writer at Scout and 247 focused on prospects in the draft. I want to thank you for making today’s episode your first listen today and every day, wherever it is that you get podcasts. I guess a special shoutout to Mia the cat who’s an everyday listener who’s here for all of our recordings, as well as all of our other everydayers out there who listen and download. She does not download, so we appreciate all of you who set that to daily to catch the show. And a special shoutout after Friday’s episode, at least in terms of what we do, exploded. So thank you all for having fun with us while this season has gotten a lot more fun. Justin Lada: Yes, continues to be fun. All right. On today’s show, we’ll talk about how the Guardians avoided a letdown in Minnesota again. We know they lost on Sunday, but the series overall was successful considering everything else that went into it. We’ll talk about Bo Naylor also having a mad finish to the season, whether or not this is just another mirage or if this is something that is believable. And we’ll talk about the playoff race, the scenarios today, and how the Guardians now control their own fate when it comes to the postseason in 2025. As we get into it, today’s episode of Locked On Guardians is brought to you by our friends at 5 Hour Energy. Enough with boring, flavorless caffeine. It’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5 Hour Energy shots. Go to 5hourenergy.com or Amazon today. I really watched this entire series. I mean, it basically was a playoff series. I know everything has kind of been a playoff series for a while now. If they wanted to stay in this, like staying around the hunt. And I’m trying to remember exactly what it was when it started, where it was like, “Oh, they might have a shot at this.” I can’t remember what it was. But every game, like every passing day over the weekend, especially like I was covering a high school football game Friday, and in the press box at the game, we were watching the Guardians game. I had some family invite me out to watch the Browns game on Sunday, and I said, I’m only going out if I can watch the Guardians game. Like, everything right now is, is about the Guardians. And I’m very curious to know from our listeners how their watching habits have changed this month. Like, were you kind of checked out? Were you just checking in a little bit? Were you watching? Maybe not sitting down? Was it appointment television viewing? Because now it is appointment viewing. Like every pitch, especially today on Sunday, felt like it was a playoff game. I felt on edge the whole time. I would say for me, and it’s just unbelievable, like I had to look it up. I was like, “What’s the last time a team has lost 10 in a row in a season and also won 10 in a row?” And shockingly enough, the Guardians, the Indians also did this in 2008. Now, that team wasn’t quite as good. I hope this one’s better. That team, by the time September, by the time the second half rolled around or September rolled around, they were out of any playoff race. Jeff Ellis: So it was their sell-off, right? Like that’s when they traded away CC, was it in ’08, wasn’t it? Justin Lada: Yes, CC, and then the next year, in ’09, was Victor and Cliff Lee. Jeff Ellis: So, so was Lee that year, or was he after? Was it Victor and… I can’t remember. Justin Lada: ’08. Jeff Ellis: Wait, and then, okay, and then ’09. Justin Lada: He got traded to Philadelphia, which is… Jeff Ellis: You know, one of those great apocryphal stories that supposedly at the time they called the Dodgers and said, “We’ll trade you Martinez and Lee for Clayton Kersh aw” because they liked him so much as a prospect. And the Dodgers said no. And it’s just, you know, you have to bring it up now since we just saw last regular season start to mention that. Yeah, I, unfortunately, I’ll be very honest with everyone. My daughter’s birthday was this past week, and Sunday was when we had scheduled the birthday party because Saturday was a soccer game. So we have to, you know, when you have kids, you have to balance things out. So of course that came to pass. So I think after about the third inning, I texted Justin Lada. I’m like, “I’m gonna miss the rest of this one.” So, yeah, if you want to come at me then. Well, I guess be mad at me that I’m trying to be a good parent and prioritizing my kids first. But, you know, we went, we had fun. I kept checking on the scores and just getting frustrated. But again, if you take three out of four, I’m gonna go back to what I said earlier this year. If you keep winning series, you’re going to make the postseason. Like I made that statement when there were some ups and downs and when they were winning a lot of series in the first half of the year, it’s like all you gotta do is keep winning series and you know, that’s the points where they weren’t. But here we go. At the end of the year, I mean, if they take two out of three and two out of three, I think they’re in the postseason. I honestly believe that at this point, if they win four. Justin Lada: Out of their final six. Yeah. Jeff Ellis: So it’s. And it’s. Justin Lada: Yeah. Jeff Ellis: I mean, would I have loved to have the win today and be tied heading into the weekend? Absolutely. And if you had asked me what was the most likely game for them to win all weekend, the one I would have had the most faith in them winning, it would have been Sunday because of the pitching matchup. But they did not have their best game and we’ll get into that. But like, more importantly though, it’s like everything was in stasis today and right now they control their destiny and right now they are the team in the third wild card. Justin Lada: And yeah, it’s, they’re finally getting help too. Like, this all changed. Like, the Guardians have been playing great baseball all month long. Like their offense during this 10-game winning streak. Obviously now they scored seven because of an outburst in extra innings in Detroit, but they put up, you know, 14, 22 runs in three games against Minnesota from Friday through Saturday. They only Justin Lada: allowed two, which, you know, for a while they really shrunk their run differential. I guess they still have a negative run differential, which is crazy to me, but we were looking that up before the show and other teams have done it before. But yeah, they’ve come very close to erasing their run differential. Now they’ll probably still, if they’re going to get in the playoffs, I bet you they’ll do it just because of the amount of games they have to win at this point to erase it. But I also want people to know, like, how crazy this is because we’ve talked Justin Lada: ad nauseam. I think everybody has at this point. Like the 10-game losing streak, the one-in-nine stretch, the two pitchers who are out for the gambling investigation, the injuries. You know, the MLB Network put up a graphic about the best outfields in baseball, and their total FanGraphs WAR. And I was like, “Oh, that’s great and all, but guess what? The Guardians are in possession of a playoff spot, and they have a negative WAR for their outfield.” Their outfield has a negative point now. It’s almost a zero, but it’s negative 0.2. They have Justin Lada: a negative outfield WAR. But I want people to realize just how improbable this is. And if you’re watching, if you’re listening, I’m sorry, but if you’re watching on YouTube, I’ll try to do my best description, if you’re watching on YouTube. This was the playoff race month by month in the American League. The Guardians were pretty much flatlined coming into September. Even though they played, you know, kind of good at the end of August, right? They finished August on a good note. They were 14 and 13, and they took two of three from Tampa Bay, they took two of three from Justin Lada: Seattle, got back to .500. But this winning streak has propelled them to the top, rising like a roller coaster here. And now the Guardians, what did I say, Jeff, off air before we got into this? Because it’s changed, but they have a 35% chance of winning the AL Central. They came into Sunday with a 37% chance to win the AL Central. The Tigers started the month at a 99% chance Justin Lada: to win the Central. Now 99% is not 100%, and we’re finding that out right now. The Tigers are finding that out, but all month about how good the Guardians are playing and they’re not getting any help. But guess what? They stayed hot. The Tigers lost it. The Astros got swept at home by Seattle, who doesn’t play well on the road. The Red Sox may be inconsequential, but they lost a few in Boston. The Guardians finally got some help. The Rangers kept losing, so they’re off the Guardians’ backs. It is down to a three-team race. Justin Lada: Race now for that last wild card spot. It is the Tigers, it is the Guardians, it is the Astros. One of those teams is not going to play, going to be in the p layoffs. Yeah, and oh no, I was just gonna say it. There’s a very good chance that could be both Cleveland and the Tigers playing each other in October again. So they could be playing three this week and then playing three the following week. It just depends if it’s in Detroit or it’s in Cleveland. All right, we’ll talk more about that. We’ll talk about Bo. Justin Lada: Naylor’s changes at the plate. We’ll get into the Minnesota series as a whole. Coming up on this episode of Lockdown Guardians. Stick with us. Jeff Ellis: But first, I just had my entire webpage closed. Zippix Toothpicks, this is one of our fantastic new sponsors. You can see that mine is open. Why is it open? Because I love using Zippix. It is a fantastic product. It is a product that I am using almost daily because it’s a nice quick way to get caffeine, and this episode is brought to you by Zippix2Fix. Whether you’re looking for nicotine satisfaction or an energy boost, Zippix has you covered with nicotine-infused and caffeine-infused toothpicks. For nicotine users, Zippix provides a great way to satisfy cravings and the hand-to-mouth habit without vaping or smoking. Zippix can be a helpful tool as you work to reduce your dependence on vaping. Available in six great flavors with 2 mg or 3 mg of nicotine as options. If you need energy without a crash, their toothpicks are a game changer. That’s why I love them. At the end of the day, throw in a toothpick for me during my last planning period. Help me get the energy to finish my day. Go to ZippixToothpicks.com, use the code LOCKEDON for $10 off your first order. Must be 21 or older to order. Warning: Nicotine is an addictive chemical. That’s ZippixToothpicks.com, promo code LOCKEDON. Zip more smokeless with Zippix Toothpicks. Justin Lada: We all need a lot of caffeine right now to watch Guardians baseball, to sit there and have the energy to keep up with the ups and downs of this playoff race. And caffeine just got a flavor upgrade. Five Hour Energy shots deliver tasty caffeine in 17 bold flavors. Each two-ounce shot packs the caffeine of a premium 12-ounce cup of coffee, plus B vitamins, nutrients, zero sugar, zero crashes. These are very portable; they’ve got great taste. They’re a tiny shot. You can chug that thing back anywhere you need a boost. I had one Friday when I was covering high school football because I worked all day, had to cover a high school football game, had to walk by a very steep set of bleachers, which was really fun. Wouldn’t have gotten through that Friday without that boost of caffeine. It was very, very tasty. So get rid of the boring caffeine in your life with flavorless. It’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with Five Hour Energy shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in store, online at fivehourenergy.com or Amazon today. Appreciate y’all being here with us every single day. We love being part of your routine here on Lockdown Guardians, proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every single day. Make sure you’re hitting the bell on YouTube. I know lots of you are because our videos have gone way up. So keep doing that and get us closer to 5,000 subscriptions. We’re, I think we’re closing on what, 60 subscriptions until we get to 5K, and then auto-download in audio so we can be in your audio feeds as well. I also want to get some quick shout-outs too. Dr. Priscilla Smith said listen to you and Jeff first thing every weekday. Look for the shorts. And Laula on Blue Sky said that we have made watching baseball somehow even more fun for her, that we have been part of her routine and she didn’t think it was possible to love baseball more, and we’re making it more fun for her. So that’s what we strive to do here, is make it more fun to be a Guardians fan. We love talking baseball, but if we’re making it more fun and having people pay more attention and just enjoy it a little bit more, that’s the best thing. Jeff Ellis: Just 30 away from a thousand. Just 30 away. Justin Lada: By the time you’re listening to this, we could be over 5,000 and you could be our 5,000 subscriber. That would be… I don’t know if we have anything to give away for that, but we can think of something. David, get us a Rally Dino shirt to give away. I’ll wear one on the show. Got the Rally Dino here, I guess maybe. Jeff Ellis: Is that the thing? I guess we got to look at our contracts. Can we start making T Public things? I created a T Public account on Friday. Justin Lada: Oh, look at that. Jeff Ellis: You know, do we start doing a Rally Dino? I’ll check with our station manager and see if we can do some T Public gear. Justin Lada: All right. So you were gonna mention something about the playoff race before we went to break. So before we get to the Bo Naylor of it all. Jeff Ellis: Well, I, the question is will it… will how well will it stick in my 45-year-old mind after I just had the excitement of my entire computer crashing out, losing my ad read and everything there. So hopefully everyone appreciated the sheer terror on my face when that happened. But you know, when it comes to this playoff race, the team and where they are right now, it is. Justin Lada: You’re. Jeff Ellis: Looking at a situation where yes, they have two tough teams they’ve got to face yet. While, and I got my point back while it had been a while, and it felt like,you know, the funny thing is, like, the teams they needed to lose never lost. But it’s the other teams. It’s, you know, we were focused for a while on like, I mean, Boston is losing now, but it’s like we were so focused on Seattle. Then Houston started to lose, and that’s what they needed. Right? Like, it would have been better if, I mean, I get better. We’ll have to see. Maybe it wouldn’t have been better if Texas had beat Houston or not, you know, that it will. It’s going to depend a bit. But Detroit started to lose. It’s actually the teams we weren’t as focused on, you know, a week ago that were the teams that came back. So teams were losing, but it’s just the unlikely team. So we weren’t focused in on them. If Houston doesn’t make it, it’ll be what their first time. I think I read in six years that they haven’t made the postseason. Justin Lada: Since 2016. They didn’t make it 2016. Jeff Ellis: And then for Detroit, it’s going to be like this is, I mean, if Cleveland ends up getting there and I don’t know what the, the tiebreaker is with Houston, Detroit, I’d have to look that up and I, I didn’t before the show. Sorry I didn’t do that preparation. But like, if Houston makes it and Detroit doesn’t, like this is going to go down as like the most epic collapse of the last 50 years. Like, it’s, I mean, no team has ever done what Cleveland has done so far. Now they got to finish it. Let’s be very honest. Like, if they, if this ends up being like 2004 where like, they really, you know, everything was going great for that 2014. I love that. Wasn’t it? Was it 2004? 2005 was a great, fun team. And then the last week, they just. Justin Lada: That was ’05. Jeff Ellis: It was like the. I felt like the Royals and the White Sox and like the White Sox had nothing to play for. This is in my mind. So I could be wrong. And then they just. They fell on their face in the last week of the season. Justin Lada: Well, it was the White Sox. They lost the final three games. Yeah. Jeff Ellis: And the White Sox were, like, all wrapped up. They were playing all their backups. They had nothing to play for, and Cleveland had, and they just couldn’t get it together. So unless that happens, I’m not saying it’s gonna happen. Maybe I’m even throwing it out there hoping I can reverse jinx things, because it feels like every time I get my reverse jinx powers have been high this year. But, yeah, looking at this team, that is what I wanted to just say. It’s like there has been some of that, and they’ve they’re in a great situation right now. Justin Lada: Yeah, they sure are. Yeah, they. I mean, they came out of the month 10. I mean, September 1 started. They were 10 and a half. To make up 10 games in less than a month of the season. This late, too, is just ridiculous. So it speaks to just Cleveland being relentless and keeping the pressure on and winning. And while the Tigers, like, for those two things that converge is just pretty incredible at the same time. So Bo Naylor, the Guardians would not be where they are without Bo Naylor. Like, I literally texted you on Saturday in game before game two of the doubleheader. And I said, do the Guardians actually have to have, like, can just Bo Naylor have to DH? Because I was like, this entire run in September, now everyone has contributed. Like, Bo Naylor has the highest WRC+ on the team in the month of September. Everybody has contributed, but nobody has been more impactful than Bo Naylor. He has 13 RBIs. He’s got three home runs. Again, he’s got the highest WRC+ and the highest WAR on the team in the month of September. And I was like, do they have to put him in the lineup in game two as a DH? Because if they don’t, like, is their offense gonna suffer now? It didn’t, but the changes we’re seeing. So Justin Morneau and one of our insiders tipped me off on this. Justin Morneau on the Twins broadcast broke down the changes by Bo Naylor this month. And Bo Naylor, he’s been telling Cleveland reporting, like, I’ve just simplified things. I’m not thinking about the adjustments. I’m just going up to the box and hitting and not worrying about all the adjustments I’m trying to make. And he’s trying to keep his mind clear of, you know, when you think about, like, it’s the same as a pitcher. When you think about all the pieces of your body that move you, you tend to overthink it. You’re trying to get, you’re getting too mechanical. But he’s also introduced the toe taps since August. So Justin Morneau. And it’s on. Jeff Ellis: It’s the twist. It’s the twist. He had a toe. He had a full, like, foot. Justin Lada: Well, he had a full. He had a. He didn’t have, like, a full leg lift, but he wasn’t tapping the toe either. It wasn’t a. Jeff Ellis: No, he was, like, stepping into it. When you look at the video, and then he’s now doing a twist. He’s actually kind of reduced back on the video, on his overall movement. Justin Lada: Yeah, but he didn’t have the front foot down the way he did on the tip of his front toe. He’s got the front tip of his toe down, and that’s making him a little more rotational. It’s keeping him back on the ball. And instead of popping things up to left field, instead of getting under the ball, he’s staying through the ball. And it’s just made his timing a whole heck of a lot better this month. I’ve never seen, like, we’ve seen Bo Naylor have good months before in September, particularly, you know, two. Two. Jeff Ellis: He’s Mr. September. Justin Lada: He is Mr. September, which is great, great timing for them. But I’m not gonna sit here and say, like, oh, he’s definitely changed, but there’s… I would not b e surprised. Like, I’m not gonna bet against him and say this is just a mirage. Like, I think there is a chance. Not saying there is, but it’s for sure. But I think there is a chance that what he’s doing here might lead to a breakout. Like, this might be something that’s more. I’m not saying he’s going to have a 175 WRC plus, but we might have something here that might be something he could do going forward. I’m gonna let myself get hurt again. I’m ready to be hurt. Jeff Ellis: I was gonna say. It’s just I do like that there is a mechanical change we can track back to that gives me some slight hope. But I, yeah, I’m the Doubting Thomas. I gotta see this. I gotta see an extended run before I’ll believe Mr. September. Justin Lada: No, I agree. 100%. Like, I definitely want to see it over a different month as well. But like you said, at least there is some actual change we can look at instead of just saying, well, he’s just getting a little luckier. No, he’s hitting the ball in better directions and all that stuff. All right. We’ll talk about the Minnesota series as a whole in our final segment. Talk about how the Guardians were able to sweep a doubleheader, a team that couldn’t win doubleheaders a couple years ago. We’ll talk about that, and heading into the Tigers series and the off day ahead on the rest of today’s Locked On Guardians. Jeff Ellis: But first, you’ve probably seen a million ads for hair growth and thought, sure, like that works. There are so many products out there it’s hard to know which ones are actually going to do anything. That’s why you should give Nutrafol a closer look. 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Use code Locked On at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s $50 off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code Locked On MLB. All right, Jeff, the Guardians on Saturday. The Guardians—we had to go look it up. The Guardians have not swept a doubleheader since 2022, which actually tracks because in 2023, this team didn’t do anything good, really. My buddy Lance tweeted at you and said Jeff deserves credit because you have been saying all year that everybody was frustrated that this is not as bad as 2023. And lo and behold, it’s not because they are having a chance at the playoffs. So shout out to Lance. Shout out to… I know he’s an everyday or two and a big Guards fan. Jeff Ellis: I appreciate him saying that. The hand was just like, I don’t need to, you know, the play is justified. Justin Lada: Let somebody else call out your wins rather than you. That’s what I say. Let somebody else track your wins. Picture wins don’t mean anything. But podcast wins mean everything. That’s how we track everything here. Yes, they hadn’t swept a doubleheader since 2022, which again, doesn’t shock me because we talked about last year how bad this team was from doubleheaders and just even winning a game. Last year in a doubleheader, we were like, oh my God, they won a game in doubleheaders. Now they swept one. Not only do they sweep a doubleheader, they shut the Twins out for I think 20 straight innings. They had 18 shutout innings on Saturday and I think the Twins scored in like the sixth or the seventh on Friday. So it was like 20-something straight innings they shut… and I know which ones. Jeff Ellis: Offense and then number into Sunday as well. So it’s like it was probably, you know, Friday. Sunday, yeah, Friday. Sunday. Yeah, it was. I mean the star ting pitching was phenomenal. It’s like I messaged you. I’m like, I know Bo is having a great game because he was. But like I was like, man, the big thing here to me is Slade Cecconi going seven innings. Like the bullpen has had a lot of use of late. This is fantastic. And then Logan Allen was like, hold my root beer and goes eight and, you know, has his start of the year and one of the best starts of his career and goes out and gets things done. Again. We’ll point out like this Twins team has its ups and downs, but like they actually have been pretty good against left-hand pitching this year for the most part. That’s a nice, nice game for Allen. The pitching was fantastic. We talked about Bo Naylor over the weekend. You know, Friday night we really didn’t talk about this in the pre-game but like we had a text discussion about like will Junas take 5 million again? Can we bring Junas back? Like after he had the, you know, he’s pretty like, where are they gonna go? What are they gonna do? And Jake Junas was a pretty valuable player. I know we were debating like, who should they have gone to instead of Festa on Sunday. And I’ll say no. The guy I should have said when we were discussing that is like Junas, like, because we know Festa is not good with a guy on. Did he? Gosh, I’d forgotten because they only needed what, one inning and oh yeah, you’re right, you’re right. Justin Lada: It should have been Jake Junas. Jeff Ellis: It should have been Junas over. Because here’s the thing. I will defend Matt Festa. I know a lot. There’s a lot of Festa haters out there and I think Festa has been useful. But I think Festa does not do what he is demonstrably bad when there are guys on base. So it’s like you want to send him in in a clean inning, not in that situation. So they probably should have actually gone with Junas there. Justin Lada: Yeah, yeah. Colby Allard finally pitched in Detroit and high leverage because he had to. There was no other choice. And he came through in flying colors and then finally, optimally, the Guardians got him into the game in Game 1, behind Slade Cecconi. So he hadn’t pitched in like, like two weeks. And then he pitched twice in a week. And then Zach Kent. I, my buddy Brian has been texting me. He’s like, I want to see Zach Kent pitch. Not because he loves Zach Kent, but he wants a game where they’re winning by enough, where you can bring Zach Kent into the game and take the load off the shoulders of the other relievers. And I said, all right, you finally got Zach Kent on Saturday, on Saturday night’s nightcap of the double-header. Because they beat Bailey Ober in the, in the double-header. I mean, the Twins are not a good baseball team right now. Let’s be honest. Their offense isn’t good. But Joe Ryan is still a good pitcher. Jeff Ellis: Yes. Justin Lada: And Jose Bo Naylor, Jose Ramirez, George Valera, all homered off Joe Ryan. That’s a legit attack against him. They had four. They have five home runs, I think, during the day game off of Joe Ryan. Like they beat a legitimate starter in that game. They crushed him and Cecconi was awesome. And then the nightcap. Bailey Ober is a guy that’s given this team fits. And that’s kind of like the thing for me that stood out. Yeah, they swept a double-header that, like I said last year, we were just hoping they won a double-header game, but they swept a double-header and they beat Bailey Ober. Like they got to the, what was it, the sixth or the fifth inning. They finally exploded for six runs and they got two runs to start that inning. And then Jose Ramirez beat out a two-out infield single, and then four runs followed that after that. So not only did they beat Bailey Ober, but they were up two nothing. Jose Ramirez hustles out an infield single and that allowed four more runs to score. That was a huge point for me. I think over the weekend it was just like, these are all things they’re doing. They’re doing the little things really well. There’s great defense. I mean, Petey Halpin, we haven’t talked about him. Petey Halpin is up. He had his first career hit. He scored a run. People are really impressed with his speed. We could dive more into Petey Halpin tomorrow if we want because I know we’re talking Daniel Espino tomorrow as well. I know someone’s got a comment saying, well, I know it’s been Espino talk. We’ll get into that on the Tuesday show. But Zach Kemp pitched in back-to-back days. I know it’s because they lost on Sunday, but they beat Bailey Ober. They don’t beat Bailey Ober. Joe Ryan’s really good. And like you said, the game they probably should have won. They wish they should have lost one of those games. You’re on mute. So whatever you’re saying is, well, it’s in. Jeff Ellis: Pablo Lopez was Friday and… Pablo Lopez is Friday. It’s not like he’s a slouch. I know he got hurt, but, like. Justin Lada: No. Got hurt. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Sunday was the game they definitely should have won. And the other three would have been much tougher offensively because it’s like, this o ffense has been great. Now, luckily, the bullpen for the Twins has been bad, but they scored legitimate runs off of Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober. Like, they didn’t have to wait till the bullpen on Saturday. They crushed the starter. Friday helped a little bit because of the bullpen, but they did everything well this weekend. And I know Sunday was frustrating because they only had four hits. Canó was good until he wasn’t. And then, you know, Matt Festa was, like you said, not great with runners on, and then Hunter Gaddis just didn’t have it. That’s going to happen. But the silver lining is, Jeff, Cade Smith didn’t have to pitch on Saturday night. He didn’t pitch on Sunday. He’s not going to pitch on Monday. He’s going to have three days off heading into this Tigers series. You might need him all three days. You might be able to pitch him all three days because he just had three days in a row off. Jeff Ellis: Agreed. You know, you got to save him. I guess. Maybe they were saving Jake Junas. Maybe that’s what we’re going to find out, is that they’re saving Jake Junas is why he didn’t appear. But yeah, there’s on Friday. Justin Lada: Seriously. I was serious. Like, he. He won the game set Friday night. Like, he— that’s a legitimate pitcher’s win. He gave him two great innings on Friday night. Jeff Ellis: Yeah, it was. Were they perfect innings, too? Off the top of my head, I’m trying to remember. I think they might have been two perfect innings where he looked really good. Justin Lada: I said, build the statue. Build a statue of Jake Junas. Go for it. Jeff Ellis: Yeah, it’s, you know, in all of it, it’s okay the last Sunday, but, like, you’re not going to keep winning. And they won an unbelievable amount. Justin Lada: If nothing bad happened, everybody else lost. Jeff Ellis: And you always want to see more and more and more just because you’re so close to taking over. Like I said, if you manage to win today, and I’m not going to get mad at the bullpen, like if I’m going to sit back at this game, be like, well, it’s the offense. The offense did not step up. Like, like it’s 100. After that first inning, there was no offense. Like, literally they had three total hits in the game. So it was one of those games. There was one of those games, like earlier this year when they were so up and down, which is the one thing that kind of scares me. I’m like, oh, this is one of those up-and-down games. Hopefully this is a blip and they’ll go back to it. This is one of those games. I’m like, man, three stars is hard to come by. It’s hard to figure out who’s going to be your third star in this one. So, yeah, I, I— that last game was just like, oh, man. But hopefully that is the letdown game. And now they’re going to go from there. You got Detroit, and it’s just this— it’s what I talked about back in May. It’s what I talked about maybe even as early as April. It’s like, you win series, you’ll make the postseason. And that’s where we are right now. Two series to go. If they win both these series, postseason bound, that’s all it takes. Justin Lada: Yeah. If they win two of two or four of six over the next six games and somehow the Astros are perfect, I guess they’re out. Jeff Ellis: But, I mean, you’re going to knock the— you’re going to knock Detroit enough out of that. If you go two and three, like, there’s a good chance it doesn’t matter, right? Justin Lada: Yeah. They got to play Boston over the weekend. And Boston will be fighting for positioning too. Like that series is gonna matter. They moved up Tarik Skubal to Tuesday, the Tigers. So he’ll pitch Tuesday in the final. Jeff Ellis: Day, and that way he gets two starts to end the year for them. Yeah, that’s why they move him up like that. Justin Lada: But also because I don’t think they wanted to lose game one of the Guardians series because they know how— Jeff Ellis: I think it’s more important about just making sure he gets two more starts. They need— with the way they have been, they need those two starts from him. Justin Lada: They do. It’s going to be an interesting week. For sure. It’s going to be an interesting week. I also want to point out too, like I mentioned on Friday’s show, I said the thing I’m worried about most after an emotional Tigers series, that there’ll be a letdown in Minnesota. That, you know, they spent all their energy trying to win that series in Detroit. Didn’t happen. I know they lost on Sunday, but you swept a doubleheader. You took three of four in Minnesota. You beat two really good pitchers. I guess we’ll call it three— three if you count Pablo López. But there was no letdown in Minnesota. No, that looked like a team that is focused, has its head down trying to win the game and not worrying about everything else. So, which means good things will come to them. And I think that’ll keep happening this week. I think the loss on Sunday will refocus them. It’ll allow them to breathe a little bit and say, okay, we don’t have to keep being perfect. We just have to go out and win the game. So gonna be a fun week here on Lockdown Guardians as it’s been the whole month, really. On tomorrow’s show, we will touch on the Tigers’ previous— we’ll have a full preview of the Tigers series. Still to talk about whether or not Steven Vogt deserves Manager of the Year at this point, and we gotta talk Daniel Espino. He made his return to the mound on Saturday for the Clippers for the Guardians organization. We’ll dive into that on Tuesday’s show. You’re not going to want to miss any second of it, Ken. Jeff Ellis: Thank you all for joining us. Remember to rate and review Download Daily. It helps do your part. 30 away from 5,000 on YouTube, so if you’re not subscribed, hey, why not do us a favor and click the subscribe button? Thank you all for joining us. We hope you’re having as much fun as we are. And go, go Guardians. Go.

GUARDIANS SURGE: Playoff Hopes Alive in Stunning September Run
Cleveland’s improbable postseason push takes center stage as the Guardians seize control of their playoff destiny. Justin Lada and Jeff Ellis break down the team’s remarkable 10-game win streak and dissect their crucial series victory over the Minnesota Twins. The show also dives into Bo Naylor’s recent offensive explosion and what mechanical adjustments have helped improved his performance at the plate. Can Cleveland maintain their momentum and chase down the AL Central of a playoff spot?

0:00 Intro: Guardians control playoff destiny
5:02 Guardians erase 10-game deficit in September
10:12 Bo Naylor’s impact and mechanical changes
15:34 Playoff race tightens between CLE, DET, HOU
20:21 Guardians sweep doubleheader against Twins
25:58 Key performances from Cecconi, Allen, Junis
31:28 Looking ahead to crucial Tigers series

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