Cleveland Guardians are red hot but, is it to late?

Cleveland Guardians are red hot but, is it to late?

live on a beautiful Wednesday morning in Cleveland, Ohio. I’m Adam the Bull. He’s Zach Meisel and he’s in Detroit. Is it a beautiful morning in Detroit as well, Zach? Yeah, I think we’ll get there. Yeah. I mean, we’re in like it’s supposed to be in the 80s this week, right? I mean, this is this is summer heat. It’s supposed to feel like, you know, the weather starts getting cooler and playoff baseball’s around the corner, but no, it feels like July. Don’t worry about that, though, because soon enough in both Cleveland and Detroit, it’ll just the the weather kind of like the Browns will go off a cliff quickly. Um, it it happens. So, uh, soon enough. But let’s appreciate this great weather while we still have it. It is beautiful and the Guardians are playing some beautiful baseball, but is it too late? We’ll get to all that coming up. Plus, we’ll take your comments and questions on the ultimate Cleveland Guardian show. [Music] All right, Zach. So, the Y the Yankees the Guardians um last night with a victory, a wild game. We’ll get to the specifics of the game, but let’s let’s just tell the folks where they stand here. Uh on this morning, as of this morning, the Guardians are 79 and 71, eight games over 500. Uh very likely, if nothing else, to finish over 500 again this season. They are only, and it’s it’s a lot for this time of year, but considering where they were, they are only five and a half games out of first place in the American League Central. Unfortunately, from the wild card perspective, most of the teams uh that are ahead of the Guardians have played at least decently. None of them Well, Boston’s actually playing pretty poorly. But the Guardians start the day two and a half games back of Boston for the third wildcard spot, three games back of Houston for the second wildcard spot. But they are only two games behind both of those teams in the loss column because the Guardians have more games to play. The Guardians have played 150. The Red Sox have played 151 and the Astros have played 152. So, Guardians have more chances to make up uh some of that lost ground. The Rangers have who have lost three in a row and two straight to the Astros have now fallen behind the Guardians. The Royals and Rays are finished. It’s down to really just uh the Guardians and and the Rangers to compete for those last spots with with Boston and Houston. So, still a lot to be determined, but Zach, with 12 games to go in the season, how do you feel about the where the Guardians stand right now? Well, I’m I’m grateful that there’s It’s refreshing to have this to talk about, is it not? I mean, this is you can there’s temptation to to be the negative Nancy and say, “Well, you know, if you would have just added a bat or two over the off season, you wouldn’t be in this struggle right now.” Or if you and we’ll get to that at the end of the year. Yeah. You know, if if you would have gone 2-8 instead of 0 and 10 or and then, you know, well, they went 0 and 10 and 1 and nine in two separate stretches. So, one and 19. And if you would have gone four and 16, you’d be sitting pretty, right? So there’s there’s temptation to do that, but I’d rather just focus on what they’ve accomplished here because it’s impressive. And you know, for the pitching staff to be as dominant and consistent as it’s been, and that’s without Class A, without Ortiz, it’s been remarkable. They’ve got a six-man rotation, and no one’s yelling like, “No, you got to kick kick this guy out and make it a five.” No, they’re all pitching. Like even Logan Allen who’s maybe the weak link of the six like he’s been solid. So um you know it’s fun this time of year you you we can go through it bull but like you mentioned the Astros and like there’s a different path to catching the Astros as there is to the path to catching the Red Sox and the path to catching the Tigers. And there’s still a path to catching the Mariners because the Mariners play the Astros this weekend and the Tigers play the Red Sox at the end. And if the Rangers can hang around because they get the Twins and the Marlins coming up, well then the Rangers have to come to Cleveland so you can take care of them on your own. It’s like all these scenarios relate to each other and it’s going to make this fascinating. And you know, I think the good thing is for the Guardians, this is the toughest series they’re going to have left, right? Like they’re facing the Tigers three best pitchers. They’re in Detroit and if there’s any remote chance of winning the division, obviously I think do we agree you have to win all six against the Tigers? 100% right. So obviously you can only take care of the business in front of you and that’s three games in Detroit. And so to to get that gut punch with two outs in the ninth last night and then respond the way they did in the 10th was a microcosm of their season where you just think they’re down on the mat and they’re left for dead and they keep getting up. They’ve done this all year and you have to give credit to Steven vote. You know we can critique certain you know Tim Herren coming in in the eighth inning last night. I’m like, “Okay.” And then he looks incredible, right? Like, like we can critique certain in-game things or whatever, but the way he and the coaching staff and the leaders in the clubhouse have kept that team united all season and kept putting them in a position to rebound and respond. It’s been incredible. I did not think we were going to get to this point in the season having these sorts of conversations. No, I two weeks ago I thought they were going to finish under 500 and now they might win, you know, I mean they could win it. They could win close to 90 games the way they’re playing right now, you know, and they may need to like what’s what’s funny. I was talking about this yesterday on UCSS. So, the Guardians have won 10 of 11. It was nine of 10 at the time, but they’ve won 10 of 11 and they had 13 games left. And I said, I think they’re gonna have to win at least 10 to make the playoffs. So, I’m thinking they could go like 19 and5 to end the season and still not make it. Uh, that’s because, you know, it’s again, I don’t think anybody’s again the Astro uh the uh the Red Sox aren’t playing great, but nobody’s like completely falling apart here ahead of you. And in a weird way, even though they’re further out, it feels like the to me and and I’m probably crazy here. It feels like the Central is more realistic even though it’s not real because they control to somewhat or their own destiny there. Like let me ask you this. To beat them six times is going to be especially got to face Scoo and two of these next five against them. But if somehow they win all six, they you know essentially Well, they don’t have the tie. Well, they would have the tiebreaker. Yes. If they won all six, wouldn’t they? Uh it must be. Well, the the the key is, you know, you’ve got Minnesota four times this weekend. All those two. Yeah. So you can’t slip up there either. It’s tough to win to sweep a double header. Um even against that the the Twins stink. Yeah. But yeah, so so they would Yeah. The the Tigers and Guardians are now tied 4-4 this season, right? If you remember back in May, Guardians came here to Detroit and won three straight and then Scooble destroyed them in the finale. So, believe it or not, Zach, before you go here, the Guardians, correct me if I’m wrong, I know this is crazy, but they control their own destiny to win the division. If they win every game the rest of the season, I it’s 12. They don’t even have they don’t even have to do that. No, no, they don’t have to necessarily to win the division, but if they do win all 12 games, they win the division 100%. Because the best the Tigers could be is they have what, 11 games left, the Tigers? Yeah, they have 11. So the best the Tigers could be is six and five. And if the Guardians go 12-0, the Tigers go six and five, they finish tied and the Guardians would have the tiebreaker, right? So So the that’s why I keep coming back to the final weekend with the Tigers playing the Red Sox because there’s a chance that there are two ways for the Guardians to chase down a playoff spot and those are the two teams they’d be chasing. And then you’re like, “Okay, well, do you want which team do you want to take two or three or to sweep?” And it’s like right I don’t like it’s it’s uh it’s tricky and that’s why you know you talk to anybody on this team right now and they’re like look of course the temptation is there to scoreboard watch and to map out all these scenarios and but that does us no good. Steven vote I I wrote this on the athletic this morning. Stephen vote they you know they got into Detroit Monday night. He fell asleep in the hotel like immediately. Yeah. Had a great night asleep. He said he got like eight and a half hours, but he woke up at 5:00 a.m. and you’re sitting there and you’re like, “Okay, we got two weeks left in the season.” I know if I’m Steven Vote in that scenario, it’s 5:00 a.m. I don’t have to be at the ballpark for a while. I’m going on, you know, I’m looking at the standings and the playoff odds and I’m charting out, okay, who do the Red Sox play here? How many games do they need to win? What What’s the realistic scenario for the Tigers here? What are the pitching matchups? Yeah. No, he watched the longest yard, the original or the 2005 with Adam Sandler and Chris Rock and Burr Reynolds. Okay. And he said, “Look, what am I going to gain by trying to map all this out and drive myself crazy and you know, it’s it’s a waste of energy.” So, like the there are some players who are Stephen V or Steven Quan got back to his locker last night and before he could even pick up his phone to see like what the Astros were doing, what the Red Sox had done, he had teammates chirping and saying, “Ah, this team won, this team lost.” Yeah, like there are guys paying attention, but sure, but all they can do is just win and and you you look up at the end of the season and hope it works out in your favor because yes, there’s just so you you can it’s like the what’s the scene that became a famous um meme from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Charlie Day’s character has like the the board on the wall and there’s like this path connected to this and and it’s like that that’s what this is like at this point. Yeah, it’s crazy. Yeah, because you could you could not I mean like they got to pay attention to the Red Sox, obviously the the Tigers, obviously the the Astros, the Mariners, the even the Rangers, even though they’re a game behind them, and even the Yankees. Like, it’s not impossible they could end up as the top wild card if things really went their way. I mean, every team in the playoff mix right now affects the could affect the Guardians outside of the Blue Jays. like there’s nothing with the Blue Jays, but every other team could because obviously the AL West is undecided. There’s a scenario, again, these things are extremely unlikely. There’s a scenario where the Guardians could get a buy in the first round, but if they win out, again, it’s crazy to think they would win out, but if they did, they’re they win the division and they could be the two seed, which there’s there’s a lot at stake. Yeah. I mean, I I I like the Tigers host the Braves this weekend who have really fallen short, but that’s still not a lineup I’m looking forward to facing in September, right? Like they’re still they’re loaded one through nine. The Rockies. Yeah. Uh well, yeah, the Mariners get the Rockies next week, but then they end with the Dodgers. I mean, there’s there’s a lot of a lot of moving parts, and you know, you got you got to keep applying pressure. The Braves have won four in a row. Yeah. I mean, like their pitching is rough, but like I don’t know. If I’m in a must-win game, I’m not trying to face Akunia and Olsen and all those guys. So, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you just It’s the tough thing is we listen to us, right? You’re saying if they win out I know two weeks. I know. I know it’s remote, but it’s such a miserable season. It’s fun to have these. Of course. And I’m not trying to throw water on that. I get it. It’s just funny that we’re saying like, “Oh, well, you know, they can go 10 and three and and and you know, we’ll see where they are.” And it’s like, yeah, and Daniel Schne hit second last night and Oh, Naylor and Gabe Baras hit fifth and six. And it’s like the lineup is still the lineup. I the 10th inning was incredible. Um, but I think to be able to have the strong finish they need, they’re going to have to have guys just get hot. And I don’t know if that’s going to be Joseé Ramirez or Stephven Quan or someone we don’t expect, but uh you you know it’s tough to sustain the style that they’ve played. Every game is 3-2. It’s you know you’re you’re biting your fingernails. You’re pulling out your hair to to the bitter end and then you exhale and your team wins by one. You know the other day Brian Rokio makes a diving stop or else they might not beat the White Sox in the finale. So, it’s it’s tough to rely on that that formula for another two weeks. Yeah. I mean, you think about it, it’s not like, oh, they’ve gotten hot because some of these guys who weren’t hitting all year have been great. No, that’s not the case. Like, who’s who’s sizzling hot on this team lineup wise? Bone Naylor is like uh not sizzling. He’s like he’s been when you first throw something on the grill and it’s Yeah. All right. But it’s not like like smoking yet. It’s not like the whole lineup has gotten hot here down the stretch. They’re they’re not much different than they’ve been all year. You only have two players on this roster who are having good offensive seasons, right? Manardo and Ramirez. And and you know, Kan’s been okay, but he’s been mostly it’s been more bad than good in the second half for him. And that’s it. I mean, every boy, I wrote I wrote this this morning, but like they they entered yesterday’s game with a team OPS of 666. And then in the 10th inning, they must have used devil magic or something. Oh my god. Four extra base in a row. Again, I’m sure people that watch this show, most people that watch this show are die hards, so they probably know. But an average OPS for a player average is about 710, 7:15, somewhere there. So if your team OPS is 666, I mean that is idiots. Second worst in baseball ahead of only the Pirates. Yeah. You want to know what uh the Rocky River River Bandits team OPS is? Should I tell you that? I do. Yeah. Here we go. Let’s see. I What’s the league What’s the league average though? I don’t know. But our team OPS is,51. What is this like the steroid era? It is. I got one kid who’s got a 1944 OPS. He’s He’s 18 for 24 with four extra base hits. It sounds like 38-year-old Barry Bonds. Um, these kids get tested. No, I don’t allow it. I don’t allow testing. You know, we actually if if we did I mean, my son’s the biggest kid. Well, he and one other one other kid are the two biggest kids on the team. though. But uh uh no, but the playoffs start this week. But we got a buy, Zach. First round buy. Will that hurt us? Be rusty the week after. I don’t know. We’ve seen that in the major league playoffs. All right. Uh I want to get to the pitching here because we talked about it briefly and I want to get to the fan comments. Before we do that, let’s get to FanDuel and what’s going on there, Zack. Yeah, I mean obviously baseball’s hitting the uh home stretch here, but NFL season is here and FanDuel’s making sure that you’re ready for kickoff with a can’t miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Do you like the Browns at home this week against the Packers? I don’t know about that. Uh but there’s a lot of other stuff you can do. player props, build a same game parlay, jump in live as the action unfolds makes every game more exciting, whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. And it’s quick, easy, and it’s the best way to add a little more energy to your Sundays. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com/uss to get started. That’s fanduel.com/uss to place your first $5 bet. Zack, good job out of you. Let’s uh get to the pitching um and let’s get to last night’s game again. We’ve talked about it a little bit, but uh when when he gives up that home run, Kade Smith to Carrie Carpenter because I in my mind, and I’m sure you did this too, maybe maybe I shouldn’t at a one-run game, but I I had already checked it off as a win. In my mind, been checked off as a win. And then Carpenter throw, I’m like, “Oh, f oh no.” Yeah. I was um I was struggling all night because it was it was kind of a nondescript game like nothing was really standing out and then it got to like the sixth or seventh inning and I’m like I don’t nothing’s moving me I don’t know what to write about this and then well then the eighth inning I just like hit my groove thought of thought of a good angle. Yeah. And so, you know, we in our our company has uses Slack and like you usually if you’re writing off of a game at night, you you send to our desk like what your your plan is. Yeah. So, I have this typed out, but I I don’t want to send it until the game’s official. So, it is sitting there on Slack. I have this paragraph typed out. Here’s exactly what I’m doing. The story’s written. I’ll have it in this time. And then he gives that up and I just control a delete. like um you know I I didn’t I actually don’t even think that was a bad pitch by Kate Smith. I went back and rewatched it. It was like 97 miles an hour outer part of the plate. Gary Carpenter is just good. He’s good. He’s very good. He was great in the playoffs last year. No doubt about it. Uh but good job and and they you know obviously the Tig Good thing they scored all those runs because the Tigers you know uh scored in the obviously the bottom of the 10th. But, uh, let’s talk about the pitching specifically. Joey Cantillo, another, uh, good start for him last night. This guy’s been unbelievable. Three September starts, 095 RA. Yeah. Um, it’s great. If you go back, I know he was down for a couple weeks. If you go back to his last five starts, he’s given up four earned runs in what 19 29 and 2/3, which is just and and you know what’s interesting is like it see it just seems like he’s really developing as a pitcher. It was Yeah. He’s not relying on striking guys out as much as he was, I feel like. And he’s just he’s pitching a contact a little more. It feels like he’s really matured in a quick time. Like I you like the progress he’s made. It’s very impressive. Yeah. You can see you can see like what they envision for him. You know, they told him they kept stressing to him just attack the strike zone. Just throw strikes. And if you look in under the hood, the metrics will tell you, you know, he doesn’t throw particularly hard. He’s like 92, maybe 93. and but he’s got such great extension that like he’s releasing the ball closer to the plate. So 92 seems like 97 and the change up has always been his his best pitch. So, you know, to simplify this, like if you’re a hitter, he does such a good job at he’s throwing you a change up, but it looks like the fast ball, and you don’t have enough time to react to a slower pitch that’s got more movement, so you swing on top of it. And the his he’s he gets so many swings and misses on this change up. Like, the numbers insane. And so, the problem is people don’t chase his pitches outside of the strike zone. like he’s got one of the worst chase rates in baseball. So, what that told the Guardians was nobody is offering at the change. Like if you throw the change up below the strike zone, no one’s swinging at that because the trick is they think your change up’s your fast ball. So, if the fast ball if if they think the pitch coming to them is a fast ball, but it’s below the strike zone, well, why would they swing it? Like, that’s not going to be a strike. So, the key is if you can throw your pitches in the zone, it’s not about getting them to to lunge at something that’s low and away. It’s about getting them to mistake the identity of the pitch. You know, you could throw it down the middle, but if they’re swinging at what they think is a fast ball and it’s actually a change up, they’re going to miss it. So, that’s why they told him just just throw strikes, attack the strikes on your stuff’s good enough. And he’s come back and he’s done that. You know, the walks are down, the pitch count’s been better. That’s how he he went eight innings against Kansas City last week, right? Eight shutout innings. Carl Willis was so excited that it’s 1 in the morning. He’s laying in bed. He texts Joey Cantillo about how proud he is. Like it’s that’s awesome. Like Carl Willis has had five sai young winners. He’s accomplished everything you can accomplish and he’s like still getting giddy at the age of 64 or 65 about Joey Cantillo developing in front of your eyes, right? So yeah, now he’s got this curveball that he’s been throwing for strikes a little more and and that helps so guys can’t just sit on either the fast ball or the change up and you know it’s it’s he looks like a guy, you know, you’re you’re trying to figure out like who’s gotten better from start to finish. I think that’s a key element here this season because you’re also looking toward 2026, right? Like this is a young team and you want guys to get better to know what you have to build around. If you look at the rotation and you’re thinking, okay, like Williams has certainly taken huge strides, you still hope that Bobby can be the guy you’ve you’ve banked on him being and he looked awesome last start. Yeah, he did. And now all of a sudden it’s like, well, Cantilla looks great. Messik looks great. Um, Sakone has looked great lately. So, you can start to understand like what they’re building here and and what they could have moving forward. Yeah. And I think a big part of the conversation in the off season is the Guardians don’t really need to invest any new money in pitching this year, especially if Ortiz and and Claus are able to come back. You know, we’ll see what happens. You made a face there. You don’t think that’s possible? Do you think they’re coming back? No, but I I’m leaving open the possibility. But I think even without them, I don’t think you need to invest anything in pitching right now. Would you pick up John Mean’s $6 million option? I would not. I would not. No, they uh No, I want Well, if I if my owner is willing to have a more reasonable payroll, then sure, I would. But he’s not. If he’s not, I have to spend every dollar getting better in the lineup. I can’t spend any money on pitching. So anyway, but that’s a that’s that’s a a story for the offseason. reliever in there somewhere. But I agree, Zach. But they they have to it has to be all about hitting. No, I hear I agree. You know, the six million for means shouldn’t prevent you from no addressing the lineup. But if it would, then I’m I’m we’re on the same You can’t bring hedges back. I You got to stop with that. I mean, you know, they probably will, but I don’t know. Anyway, and I want I’m with you. I want to be positive right now cuz cuz obviously they have a chance to make the playoffs and that would be you know especially especially as a Cleveland fan right now like you got to deal with the Browns and they suck and they’re not going anywhere and it would be nice if we got a surprise playoff appearance from the Guardians because next Sunday if the Guardians have a chance to wrap up a playoff spot will you be watching them or Lions Browns? Um, okay. So, I would rather watch the Guardians. Um, but because I do a live postgame show. Are they playing exactly the same time? No, I think Guardians will be at 3:00 that day. Okay. Oh, yeah. They play every game at three o’clock that day. That’s right. Well, so I can watch both. There we go. We haven’t talked Baker Mayfield yet. Oh, boy. Let’s not do that. I just I recorded my my Thursday podcast uh that I do 9:00 am Thursday with Zack Jackson. He joins me every other week. Um I I I’m leaving town. So I we recorded it uh about an hour ago and uh we got into Baker a little bit. So people be able to hear that then. But I don’t think there’s too much salt in the wounds right now. If he wins a Super Bowl, it’s forget about it. I don’t even know what’s going to happen. But let’s get to some fan comments here on the Guardians because I think people are excited. I think uh Guzzi Music says the Guardians at 500 were still two or two and a half games back in the wild card and now we’re about 10 games above 500 and in the same boat. It is funny like they haven’t It feels like they haven’t gained any ground. They have on the Tigers, right? They haven’t gained ground, but like one of these teams is going to collapse. Can’t you feel it? Like you can’t stay hot forever. Yes. I mean it might be the Guardians. I don’t know. But I just someone’s gonna I’m feel optimistic about the team and I haven’t been for much of this season. I’ve been very negative. Abel Bull is not above temptation to being the negative Nancy. See, I just was a few minutes ago about the the the payroll. Uh DJ Romeu, I like that. Tigers and Red Sox will play each other. Mariners and Astros have a series together as well. Mariners and Rangers right now. You’ll have a chance to gain some ground on somebody. Yeah, but they could, you know. Yes. Yeah. So, I I guess for rooting purposes, Cleveland fans should want the Mariners. You should want the Rangers to beat the Astros today, correct? You should want the Mariners to beat the Astros this weekend or just have one of those teams sweep, right? Do they have a What’s the tiebreaker situation with those two teams? You know, off hand, I have it. I believe it’s undecided. Uh a while while you look that up, I’ll see. Abel says, “I’m a really big A’s fan. And here’s to hoping they go on a historic winning streak against the Red Sox and Tigers. It is It is undecided, by the way. So, Oh, why are they cuz I think I think their season series is 55 and then they’ll play this weekend. No, no, no, no, no. Who’s the What’s the Guardian? The Guardians. Uh the Guardians do not have it against the Mariners. They do have it against the Astros. So, okay. So, you’d rather the Mariners win the division? Yeah. I also think just in terms of the status of the teams, like the team are a mess. They’re they’ve got so many injuries and the Mariners are they’re loaded. Yeah, I’m rooting for the I I think the way to go is rooting for the Mariners to win that. It sucks that the need the Rangers to pull out this last one. I’d like to see the Rangers pull out this game and then the Mariners kind of but the you know and who are the Red Sox playing? What’s their schedule? Red Sox have the A’s and then they’ve got they’re at Tampa at Toronto. Oh, and then and then they host the Tigers. So they’re they need the Blue Jays not to have clinched before then, right? But they’re the Blue Jays will still want, you know, you want that number one seed. That’s true, man. They got a tough they got a challenging schedule, the Red Sox after the A’s, but they they lost to the A’s yesterday. Uh yeah, Tampa’s always feisty. That last week is really tough. I mean, but the Guardians have a tough schedule. I mean, they’re playing the Tigers, they’re playing the Rangers. The Twins is the only easy The Yankees have a very easy schedule, but the Yankees were a long shot to be uh important to the Guardians, but they I think they have the easiest schedule. I don’t think they play any good teams the rest of the way. I mean, is the key you got to win these two against Detroit and then win three or four this weekend? Yeah. I mean, is that enough? Uh, no. I think you mean against Minnesota, you got I think you got to win all four. So, you think they have to win the go undefeated this week? It’s a lot to ask. It’s a lot to I mean, yes, they got to go at least you have you’re they have four games in Minnesota in three days and it’s going to be like Messik, Allen, Sakone, Tantillo. Yeah, it is interesting. That’s tough. I like that they moved by and and Williams up. That was the right call. And now then they’ll both pitch against the Tigers next week as well. Yeah. I mean, okay. Yeah. If they win three out of four, you can’t split. You can’t split with the Twins. Got to But they’ve got like if they go 10 uh they have 12 games left, right? 12. Yeah. If they go So, yesterday I said they got to go 10 and three. So, if they go nine and three the rest of the season, will they make the playoffs? But see the it depends on who the nine and who the right like it’s I guess if we’re saying forget about the division. Yeah. For a minute then nine and three probably puts them in a tie and it depends if they have a tie right like like what’s the what if the three is Texas at the end and then Texas leapfrogs Cleveland like it’s it’s I keep coming back to that Boston Detroit series at the end. Yeah. I mean, I it’s it’s crazy. You could be sitting there and it’s like, we could win the division. If this happens, we get a wild card if this happens or we could get maybe neither. Yeah. I mean, obviously, you need one of those teams to sweep. Obviously, you’d rather win the division, but if you’re closer to the Red Sox than the Tigers, you know, you want to get the safe bet in that situation. It’s going to be fascinating. I mean, by the time we we get back together here next week, I mean, we’ll have a maybe we’ll do two shows next week. I’ll I’ll talk to the powers that be. We may we and and and I’ll and you and I will discuss as well, but cuz we’ll see how it goes the next few days, but if if uh if thing if they’re looking like legitimately in the mix going into the last week, we may have to do two shows next week. Uh let’s see. C uh Forest Reed says CJ Kus is hot right now. Yeah, he’s hit he’s hit pretty well. Manardo had a great game last night, too. I mean they they that’s the key is you know it seems like like Arius homered last night, Bone Naylor homered previous game like as long as you’re getting contributions up and down the lineup like you can you can live with uh you know Nolan Jones playing every day. I can’t live with it especially because I thought he was gonna be so good this year and I was couldn’t have been more wrong. So it’s depressing to see him out there. I I like I I really like what I’ve seen from Kay in in the limited time we’ve seen him. Actually uh picked them up in my fantasy league for the final two weeks. I’m tied for first with with 12 days to go in the season. It’s going to be a battle down the wire. Texas has Deg Grom going today. So that’s Yes, that could help. Uh Ramzig says, “Great work Bull and Zack. Who do you think is more likely to falter, Texas or Houston?” Well, you need them both to falter. Well, I mean, you don’t really need Texas to falter at this point, I guess, but you have to pay. You have to be ahead of both of those teams or, you know, one of those teams and one other team to to make. It’s very weird like Texas lost all of their stars to injuries and didn’t matter. Like, they kept playing really well until this series and then Houston like they lost Alvarez. They’re down like a crazy number of pitchers. Um, you know, the Astros end on the road against the A’s and the Angels. So, like that’s that’s a relatively easy week, right? Um, I think that’s why like you need them to falter today and then against Seattle this weekend. Yeah. And I I I think it would could help if the like if the Rangers you want the Rangers to win today, but then you want them to lose because if they have nothing to play for like like Marcus Simeon could be back that last week. Seager maybe And if if if they’re not if they’re out of it, you probably don’t bring those guys back. Yeah. So, and again, you’re right. They they’ve played well without those guys, but you’d still rather face, you know, some of the guys that Alejandro Osuna and Michael Helman rather than Corey Seager and and, you know, Marcus Simeon. So, but uh man, I mean it’s it this is a little bit like the the 20 what was it 2013 when they won all those games at the end. It is it reminds me of 2019 as well. Um remember that year they won 93 games but fell short of the wild card and they went into the final week. remember we were in Chicago and then triple Chicago DC but it was them I think Tampa and Oakland and like the scenarios were insane because it everyone kept winning and it looked like well what if there’s a three team tie for a wild card spot and then back then they used to play tiebreaker games right so it was like okay well are they going to have to go from Chicago to DC to Tampa to Oakland to wherever they play the wild card game then to wherever they play the division And it’s, you know, you drive yourself insane thinking of all the scenarios. Yeah. Well, they’re not going to get to 93 wins this year, but they don’t need to. I think 88, 89 could be enough, but that’s a lot of games to win here down the stretch. We’ll see. All right. Thanks everybody for I think they get to 88 or 89 when they were 40 and 48. Never would have thought that. Not in a million years. I even as recently as two weeks ago, I thought they’d probably finish under 500. And uh they’ve it’s they’ve done a great job. Uh Steven Vote has driven me crazy at times this year with his Manardo and and sometimes Kay usage down the stretch, but man uh just wait until Manardo’s not in the lineup against Scoo tomorrow. Oh boy, he’ll have a conion. Don’t get me started. And Kay, they’ll set them both probably. N I want to think about it. They’ve come around to it. All right, I’m going to stay positive. I’m going to stay positive. All right. Uh thanks everybody for joining us. We’ll let you know. The plan is to be on next Wednesday, but depending on how things go over the next few days, we may do multiple shows next week. We will be in touch with you and update you on Twitter and social media. Thanks again everybody for joining us. Uh we’ll talk to you next time. Where else? right here on the Ultimate Cleveland Guardian Show.

The Cleveland Guardians have won 10 of their last 11 games but they remain 2.5 games out of the WC and 5.5 out if 1s okace with just 12 games left in the season. Is it to late for them to catch up?

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