Can the Cleveland Guardians pull it off and make the playoffs?

Can the Cleveland Guardians pull it off and make the playoffs?

Welcome everybody to the latest live edition of the ultimate Cleveland Guardian show along with Zach Meisel. I’m Adam the Bull and boy do we got a lot to get to. It seemed like just a week ago that everything seemed like a pipe dream even as recently as a week ago. But boy have things changed certainly in the last couple of weeks. Zack, are you excited? Do you have your playoff pants ready? Pants? Pants? I don’t know. Do you have special pants for the playoffs? No, you just It’s the fun part of this year is like starting today. Yeah, I know. I’m covering at least six games. It could be 26. I I have no idea. And you won’t you don’t get to come up for air until it’s over. So, yeah, I should probably do laundry this morning before I head to the ballpark. Let’s go. See, we figured out the pants problem on the Ultimate Cleveland Guardian show. [Music] So folks, we got two shows this week and then hopefully more next week. Well, we’ll have at least one next week. Uh hopefully, but hopefully more than that. Hopefully, it’s not just a season recap. Uh the way the Guardians have played, we were on this morning, obviously, and we’ll be back on Friday following the huge series between the Guardians and Tigers that gets underway tonight. But Zach, before we get look forward, let’s look at where we are right now. We begin today with six days remaining in the regular season. I’m pretty sure every team has six games left. Well, I shouldn’t say that. Maybe in the American League. Yeah. Is that the case? Yeah. Nobody’s got Thursday off. I don’t think so. Let’s see. No, it’s it’s everybody had yesterday off. Six six. Yeah. Everybody in the American League, all the playoff teams. Six. Uh oh, the Padres’s only have five day games left, but that’s in the National League. We don’t care about them. And same thing with the Cardinals. They don’t matter. Same thing with the Giants. Okay. But all the teams we care about in the American League have only have exactly six games left. Will play all six days remaining in the season, including the Guardians who begin today with a three-game series at home against Detroit, and that will be followed by a three-game series at home against Texas. Uh I a number of times in the last couple of weeks, we’ve talked about could that Texas series mean something? Well, now it’s the Detroit series that means a whole lot more. We were kind of joking last week, hey, if the Guardians win every game and sweep the Tigers, they could still win this division. Well, turns out they don’t need to win every game. They they just need to sweep the Tigers. In fact, even if they take two out of three from the Tigers, I like their chances because if they take two out of three, they’d be tied with the Tigers. They’d have the tiebreaker. They’d be playing Texas and the Tigers would be playing Boston. I’d kind of lean in the Guardians favor there. Guardians obviously have to win this series. A sweep would be pretty sweet. In fact, a sweep would just just about lock up the division, which is hard to believe. Yeah. I think if you were designing what last week would look like, you wouldn’t have even considered how it actually played out. You would have said, “No, no, no. That’s not realistic. Guardians go six and one, including a sweep at Detroit.” And the one game they lose, everybody else lost. The Red Sox lost Sunday. The Astros lost Sunday. The Tigers lost Sunday. So, this played out perfectly. And now, like I’m looking at Fang Graph’s playoff odds and they put the Guardians at 59%. Um, you know, it’s interesting. They they actually have they have the Astros at 66%. I think if you look at it, so there’s there’s two paths here. There’s the division and the wild card. Let’s look at the the wild card first because you’re tied with the Astros. You hold the tiebreaker over the Astros. So, if you outplay the Astros this week, you’re in, right? There’s that. So, that’s path one. The issue is the Astros play the Athletics and the Angels. And while the Athletics are they’re feisty, they’ve got a really good lineup. Um, and also, let’s say the Astros are free falling and they’ve got tons of injuries and they can’t pitch all of a sudden. Um, but the Angels, who they play at the end, are an absolute dumpster fire at this. I was looking up the the Guardians starting rotation erra over the last three weeks is 125, which is just insane. And we could talk more about that in a bit. The Angels erra for their rotation over that period is last in the majors at 7 and a half. So, so if you’re rooting for the Astros to have like a two and four week or something, probably not going to happen. But you could still, you know, the Astros could go four and two, you can go five and one. Or they can go three and three, you can go four and two. Or or you can just you can do the same if if both teams go three and three or something like you you hold a tiebreaker. So if you outplay the Astros or if you match the Astros this week I should say you’re in. The other one is is the Red Sox who sit a game ahead of the Guardians. So they’re the five seed right now. They also hold a tiebreaker over the Guardians. It’s tricky to catch them, but not impossible because the Red Sox go at Toronto and the Blue Jays are trying to hold off the Yankees and capture the number one seed. So, they still have stuff to play for here. And then the Red Sox host the Tigers. So, there’s a lot of different ways, yeah, this could go. So, that’s still in play, too. So, if you’re thinking about it, like I think the Mariners are pretty safely the two seed at this point. So, the Guardians could be the three if they win the Central. They could be the five if they catch the Red Sox and the Astros, but they don’t catch the Tigers. They could be the six if they catch the Astros, but don’t catch the Tigers. Um or they could still be left out like that. That’s the big key here is you have to keep your foot on the gas. You have to win games and it starts tonight to me. Like, take care of business against Detroit. Obviously, you got to win this series. Even if they lose the series, it’s certainly not over, but you can’t get swept obviously. But, uh, even if he only took one out of three, I you’ll still be alive going into the weekend, but you’ll be in bad not in great shape if they win this series because the Tigers and Red Sox are playing each other. They are in I mean yeah I think they’re in basically in because one of them has to lose and those would be even if the Astros sweep this next series and you’re right even though they’re they have the type and the Astros could easily go six and 0 even though they’re not playing particularly well uh they could just go six and 0 but let’s listen the Guardians control their own destiny the final six days of the season. If you and I would have said that three weeks ago, we you would have thought you were out of your mind. And it’s and and to the point where like they didn’t it’s not it’s not like they you know if they go four and two this week, they’re probably making the playoffs. Oh, I think so. Right. Like they they just have to go as uh you know, as long as two of those wins are against the Tigers. Well, not even I mean I think if they go one and two against the Tigers and three and 0 against Texas, they’re still probably in as a wild probably right. Yeah. But you’re right. like the, you know, we’re we’re going through all these scenarios. You’re you’re like, you can drive yourself crazy. It’s insane. It’s like I’ve lost so much sleep over the last week doing this. And if you’re, you know, if you’re Steven Vote or if you’re a player on the team, you have to resist that urge to to think about all this because you can drive, you can lose so much brain power. Yeah. And the bottom line, and they’ll tell you this, is just, well, if we just win today, then it’s it’s a lot simpler, right? Right. Yeah. So, yeah, I I you know, the big key is if you I think whoever wins the the Tiger series probably wins the division. If the Tigers sweep, they clinch. If the Guardians sweep, their magic number to win the division is one. So, a sweep either way pretty much settles it. Yes. If the Guardians win two of three, then they pull even and they had the tiebreaker as you said. So, all they would need to do is match the Tigers the final week, which shouldn’t be too hard because the Tigers are at Boston. Boston will be fighting for their playoff lives and the Guardians host the Rangers who have no one who have a lot of injuries and nothing to play for, right? So, there’s that. If the Guardians win one, they still get the they still have the tiebreaker. So, the division’s not impossible, but it’s it’s definitely trickier. You’d be two back. You So, you’d have to outplay the Tigers by two games in the final series. Again, not you could sweep the Rangers and the Red Sox could win two or three against the Tigers. So, it’s it’s not impossible, but it would, you know, you’d have to sweep Texas probably to get a wild card, too. Yeah. Yeah. I I think the win I I think the winner of the series is going to win the division. I I’d be very surprised. Certainly, the Tigers will win will very likely win the division if they win the series, but because the Guardians have the tiebreaker, it’s not a huge differential. I I think even if the Guardians take two out of three, they’re going to win a division. I certainly not a guarantee, but if they’re tied going into the final three games with it with the tiebreaker, I I I’d be surprised if the Red Sox, you know, if if the Tigers did better in those final three games, which they’d have to do, not even tied do better than the Guardians when when the Red Sox are playing a team with something to play for. I mean, the Tigers playing a team with something to play for and the Guardians would would not be. I mean, it’s crazy that it’s gotten to this point, right? Obviously, we’ve spent so much time talking about the Guardians trailed by 15 and a half games at one point. They trailed by 12 and a half games with a few days left in August. Y they trailed by I think it was like 10 and a half 11 games on like September. It’s crazy. Like they’ve made up 10 games in two and a half weeks which is nuts. Yeah. That’s This has never happened. Um the the biggest loan blown lead if we if you go through the biggest lead on September 1st that a team blew was seven and a half games. Was that the Mets against the Phillies? That was the probably should have pulled it up. It’s maybe the Cubs. It was the Mariners taking overtaking the Angels in 95. Those are like the miracle Mariners who rode then they had to play a game 163. Then they beat the Yankees in the division series and then they lost to to the Indians and in the LCS. The the Mets the Cubs lead in 69 was down to four and a half on September 1st. Okay. Yeah. Um but that’s on the list too. But think about it. Yeah. 7 and a half is the record. Yeah. Do you know what the Tigers lead was on September 1st? I believe it was 11, wasn’t it? It was nine and a half. Oh, okay. Over the Royals. Oh, that’s funny. The Guardians were in third place, 10 and a half back. So, okay. Yeah. So, this is unprecedented. And it’s I mean that that sweep last week in Detroit was enormous because not only do you make the Tigers sweat, but then the Tigers clearly are, you know, they’re they’re they can’t stop thinking about this and they’re they’re hurting themselves, right? They lose they get swept to by the Braves. Yeah. And you know, you’re going to get scubble tonight and now they’re at a point where if Detroit like if things are unsettled, they have to start scubble on Sunday. So, if the Tigers, like if the Guardians can win this series, if they can win the division, Scubble’s got to pitch Sunday and if the Tigers still get in as a wild card, and there is there’s a good chance that these two teams would match up again. Yeah. In the wild card series, right, as a three and the six, Scoo, the only way he pitches is short rest in game three. Yeah. which which which is a massive advantage for the I mean like things couldn’t be breaking any better right now. Hopefully that will continue with the Guardian. I mean if if the Guardians win tonight against Scooble and I know Gavin Williams has been very good. I mean obviously they’re already crapping themselves in in Detroit. If they lose tonight with Scooble, it’s going to be beyond panic in Detroit. Yeah. I mean it’s the biggest game of the season. I I think the Guardians can survive if they don’t lose if they don’t win tonight because I think they’ll have the pitching advantage. Uh tomorrow Flity is better than I think what he’s shown this year. Although you could say the same for me. Yeah. I I would say the Guardians maybe have a slight advantage tomorrow and then also th the Tigers are probably just going bullpen game piece mealing it together. Yeah. Um so the Guardians could rebound. I if the Tigers lose tonight like I I don’t know how they win both of the next two. No, I think it’s that’s unlikely. It’s it is crazy. The Guardians have won 15 of 17. They’ve won 20 of 26. I I’m gonna throw throw this this like on the side. I think we all rationally understand this is insane. They would might be the worst offensive team ever make the playoffs. They still ranked 28th in batting average, 29th in on base percentage, and 30th in selecting percentage. It’s crazy. This changes nothing in terms of all the complaints we’ve had about how they’ve handled the hitting. But that’s all I want to talk about that is is 10 seconds. I put that to the side for now. For now, I see what’s happening. They’re playing great. Obviously, the pitching is dominating. They’ve gotten some contributions from guys who haven’t hit much led by Boone Naylor and Gabriel Aras who have been good down the stretch, especially B Naylor. And so, we put that rest to the side. I think if you’re dwelling on that part, a number of people have said to me, “Yeah, this is this is a nice run, but they’re not going to do anything in the playoffs.” And that may ultimately be so, but if you’re going like we did not think June, July, August that the Guardians are going to play meaningful baseball at the end of the year. There was not a moment in those three months that I thought. And so we have meaningful baseball. It’s excitement. Feels a little like 2012. And okay, do am I pick picking the Guardians to win the World Series? Of course not. But you never know. It’s baseball. Weird things happen. You remember two years ago, obviously Texas and Arizona got hot, got to the World Series. We’ll see. You there’s no to me there’s not a clear dominant team. I know Seattle’s probably the best right now, but who the hell knows? So, I’m just going to enjoy the moment and and go with it and and appreciate that the pitching right now is just unbelievable. So, our buddy TJ Zupie has a really interesting perspective on this because he was in the media for a long time and got to see this stuff up close and and the you know, the fandom gets beaten out of you and and you’re yeah, you realize you can’t live and die with the wins and losses because you have no control over it and you still have to write your story or deliver your your report on the radio regardless, right? So, he has been removed from that for a couple years now and that fandom has started to creep back in and he’s he’s seeing things with a more well-rounded perspective. And so, he was saying this summer was some of the worst like in terms of being a fan, the the worst experiences he’s had watching baseball. You know, the teams the brand of baseball was brutal. They couldn’t score runs. You know, Class A had a really rough first month, so it seemed like no lead was safe and um you know, the starting pitching was okay at times, but like Bobby wasn’t pitching well, Williams was it was like Ben Lively was saving the rotation, right? And then he got hurt. So he said just like the depth of just how miserable it was to watch for months and then how thrilling this has been. It’s hard for him to wrap his head around just those two extremes. And it’s made it, he thinks, more thrilling because this was just so unexpected. I’ve seen people compare this to like the 22game winning streak in 2017 just in terms of like that they won 22 in a row because the pitching was unbelievable. They just didn’t give up runs ever. And the difference was, yes, that’s unexpected. It’s 20. It was record setting. That team was loaded. That team had, you go back and look at the roster, it’s insane how much talent they had. So, if I had to guess, well, some Cleveland team won 22 games in a row, I’d probably say, oh, it must have been 95 or 2017. If you told me, well, some Cleveland team’s going to win 15 to 17 and not ever give up more than two runs and go on this insane run to get into the playoffs, I never would have said it was this team. Like, we watched this team for five months and and it was it was a miserable experience. So, it’s I understand there are going to be some fans who say, you know, it’s championship or bust. And I I I that’s just how some people approach this and I get it. But if you’ve been along for the journey and if you’ve suffered along with that team that lost 10 games in a row and during that 10ame losing streak, the gambling investigation started and then you’re you’re worried that they’re going to trade Quan and as you’re worried about that, Class A gets busted and then you’re you’re you know sitting there tense on trade deadline day wondering if Quan’s going to get Dale Bieber gets traded. And I wrote about this today on The Athletic, like you can go see how they handled it and how they pushed through all that. Um, a behind-the-scenes look of it all, but that all of that in some ways galvanized them. That doesn’t guarantee you’re going to win anything. But doesn’t it just seem like they’ve been playing so free and easy and like it was hard for them to do that in June and July when it felt like everything was crashing down. Yeah. In a way, it’s like um you hit rock bottom, right? They kind of they hit rock bottom as a team like four different times. Yeah. And they it like everybody over the crux of the summer was playing poorly outside of Jose and maybe Manzardo and Gavin Williams, you know, everybody like even in the bullpen, Kate Smith when he first took over was struggling as the closer. He was kind of hit and miss. the rotation outside of uh Williams was pitching poorly. The lineup was mostly terrible. And so at some point it was like, “Okay, well, we got nothing to lose here. We stink. Let’s let’s Yeah. And and it and it shows it shows on the field.” And um you know some of these guys that on the offensive side like we mentioned like I mentioned Bo Naylor and and Arius just like guys are doing just enough right because they don’t the way they’re pitching right now they don’t need that much for the offense but they need some and they’re getting just enough from those guys. Yeah they’re they’re in September they’re I will give them credit their offense their uh team I think OPS plus is 106 so league average is 100 right? Um and like like Quan has had a really good month. Yep. He’s got seven stolen bases this month which I didn’t realize. Um Ramirez has been good obviously and you said like Bo Naylor they needed somebody somebody to come out of nowhere someone you know one of those guys and it’s been B Naylor and that’s huge because like how you you look at the names in this lineup the guys who have hit fifth and it’s like hard to take it seriously right but you know right now the way B Naylor’s going you can live with that. Yeah. All right. We’ll get to some fan comments in a minute, but first, let’s get a a message from you from FanDuel. Yeah, we’ve got baseball playoffs on the horizon. The NFL season is here. FanDuel’s making sure 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. Where did you go, Bull? Player props. You can build a same game parlay. You can jump in live as the action unfolds. It makes every game more exciting, whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. It’s quick, easy, it’s the best way to add a little more energy to your Sundays. So, if you’re 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. We had a little technical difficulty there for a second. I don’t know what the hell happened, but we are back. Um, all right, let’s get to some fan comments here. I I’m curious from the comments if fans are excited or if they’re jaded. And um, so let’s see. Beills. Let’s go Guardians. AL teams had the day off yesterday. Yes, they did. Uh, Benjamin Lynn, go Tribe. Bilrills. H. Uh, no. Too much torque. Here’s hoping the A’s do some work against the Astros. Uh, Philip Herd, for the longest time, I’ve been thinking, why does Bull look different? Just realizing the beard is gone. My beard’s been gone forever. I mean, I let When did you last have that? It’s been months, right? Uh, since I had the full beard. Yeah, I mean, I let it grow for a week or two sometimes, but I haven’t had the full beard in a while. I was just looking at a picture of myself with it. I look so old with that beard because it was very gray. Uh, Matthew, if the guards can pull this off, this should be remembered as an all-time great Cleveland sports moment. Will this be remembered as an all-time great? Can you imagine? I’m going to get people. Can you imagine if they win the World Series? As unlikely as that is, can you imagine what a story that would be? Yeah. I mean, that I don’t know how you’d fit that. You know, typically a book, if they win the World Series, there will be a book, right? Yes. But you got to fit that into like 250 to 300 pages. And I don’t I don’t know if there’s enough space. I mean, that would be the most maybe the most unlikely champion in the history of sports if they win the World Series. I mean, it’s been insane. It’s it’s funny. Like, it’s it’s we’ve talked about this where it’s like, yeah, at least we have, you know, it’s it’s like a pallet cleanser, like a breath of fresh air. We have it was so miserable all summer and like we came on here, we’re like, “All right, let’s let’s let’s try to avoid talking about payroll today.” Right. Right. Right. Things like that. And I feel like in the last week I’ve had so much to write about that’s just pleasant. Like it’s people ask all the time, they’re like, you know, like don’t are you rooting for the team or Well, you’re not rooting for the team, but you’re rooting for something like this because this just the content flows and the stories you can unearth and stuff like it’s it’s great. So, you know, they to they need to win playoff series or two, right? like to to make it really memorable. Yeah. Um but yeah, this is this has been insane and and it because it’s not there are some, you know, when we were talking about like the greatest deficits ever overcome like, you know, there there are some teams that have come back from 12 or 13 games, but they did it over the course of three months and it was just chipping away. This wasn’t chipping away. This was like just completely Yeah. detonating a boulder in your way. It’s funny. I was I I was away for a few days in for most of this weekend. I flew back Sunday morning. We had a bar mitzvah bot mitzvah to go to in New Jersey and the ceremony was Saturday morning and then uh during the party is the party went on for most of the day. I’m like on my phone watching the game Saturday and I was think you know I remember I I think I bought the plane tickets like two or three like in August or whatever and I you know I would have never thought I’ I probably wouldn’t even care I figured I wouldn’t be paying attention to the game at all last week of the season. They’re way out of it. Who cares? But here I am at like a you know wearing an uncomfortable sports coat and tie uh sitting there on my phone trying to watch the game and not be rude at this party. But uh I I think the I think the the way they’ve played got a lot of people paying attention again. I know this a lot of people disillusioned by the team and I understand that. It’s going to be interesting to see what the attendance is this week. Obviously the attendance has been bad of late. I I 100% understand that. You think we’ll get big crowds for the especially this Tiger series? Can the Can the weather cooperate, too? It’s true. Good point. We got tonight. I think tonight’s supposed to be all right, but Wednesday and Thursday it’s it’s looking very dicey. Well, who know, you know, maybe let school start and then you pull the tarp for a couple hours and Yeah. As of now, I mean, radar in the last six months has been terrible. Yeah. you know, a lot of people were fired by the weather service, all this this nonsense. But, um, so weather forecasting, which was never totally reliable, has been less. But, uh, as of now, only a 15% chance of rain today, 70% tomorrow, and then Thursday it clears up. Originally, I saw rain in the forecast. So, tomorrow looks very dicey. You might they might have to plan a double header on Thursday, which would be crazy. Yeah. Imagine. I wonder who would have the advantage there. almost feel like Cleveland because Detroit was already going bullpen game Thursday. That’s true. But again, who who knows? And one game at a time, right? The biggest thing like if you just need cuz like you’re going to see a lineup tonight that’s got, you know, Noel and Fry and Mhm. you just got to hit. You somehow have to just figure out a way to score a few runs and take the pressure off. Think of how much pressure would be on Detroit if you grab like an early three nothing lead. Yeah. Holy cow. I know that’s easier said than done against but but but you’re right. Obviously it would cuz I like I I was thinking about the off day they had like if you’re the Guardians you’re almost you’re almost pissed you have the off day because I know and if you’re the Tigers I think there’s two ways to you know you’re either sitting there stewing on what has happened and freaking out about what could happen or you know I I I wrote this I was like you know maybe they just like take a team trip to the Cleveland Zoo just take your mind off it do something go see the new red panda cub just So, there a new red panda cub. It’s new red panda cub and I think a new rhino. Yeah, I didn’t know that. I haven’t been to the zoo in a in a little bit. I got to get back over there. Love the zoo. Cleveland’s got a great zoo. I just think like it’s it’s dangerous to just like sit in a hotel room and like Oh, yeah. look at the standings. Isn’t it funny? Last year at the trade deadline, the Tigers were sellers. They looked they looked terrible. They went on a great run at the end of the season, made the playoffs. This year at the trade deadline, the Guardians were sellers. They looked terrible. The Tigers looked like the division was in the bag. And now the Tigers might collapse the whole thing and the Guardians might get in and like and the Tigers could could not even make the playoffs. Yeah. Like even at the start of this month, three weeks ago, if I would have said the Tigers are not going to make the playoffs, you would have said I was crazy. And that’s Yeah. I mean, It is it’s taken, you know, like there’s there’s like a checklist of eight things that had to happen to get to this point. All eight happened, right? Yeah. And so it’s I mean, when you pitch the way the Guardians have pitched though, like that’s, you know, it’s not even just I I mentioned that their RA over the last 18 days is 125, the rotation. And the and the the bullpens is really good, too. I think it’s around like two or something. But they also are averaging six and a third innings per start. And I think the Phillies are like right behind them in in there. But everybody else is in the fives or or lower. Yeah. And so, you know, they don’t have class A, they don’t have Nick Enr Wright, they don’t have Andrew Walters. Um, and so you’ve taken some pressure off the bullpen. You know, they don’t have to cover as many innings. And you know how key was that double header where you have Sakone going seven scoreless. Yeah. And then Logan Allen going eight score. You know the only relievers you used on a double header day were Kobe Allard and Zack Kent. I mean that’s amazing. That is no one would have believed you if you like that is a manager’s dream. And so you know the bullpen is completely fresh coming into this week. And yeah, I would like Yeah, I would think if you’re in position to to win all three games, like Kate Smith will be in there all three like there there’s you can get aggressive here. So So that helps. And then as we said, like you’ve taken some of the burden off the offense where just get that timely hit or two. Like the way they that the way they played that scoo game last week where they just kept it close. Noel gave the early home run. So it’s it’s a 1-1 game. Just kept it close. go to get to the Tigers bullpen. They they ran up Scoop’s pitch count enough to get him out after six innings. They turn it over to the bullpen. Jose hits a home run. That’s all you needed. There you go. Like that’s the formula. That’s right. And their bullpen that was great early in the year has been terrible. What a bad trade deadline they had, too. Well, they got Finnegan. He’s hurt. They didn’t do anything else. Yeah. I mean, they tra they got Charlie Morton who they dfaided. Yeah. Right. Like Chris Paddock. Yeah. Paul Seawald who just came back. But yeah, I mean it’s it’s you know the position they were in and the farm system they have. They could have gotten anybody they wanted. That’s true. And yeah, that was a huge mistake. Uh let’s see. Dog chomps. We control our destiny. Let’s effing go. Besills. The Yankees could potentially get in first place if they end up winning out and the Blue Jays lose three games. So you’re rooting this week like the next three days. You’re rooting for Toronto to beat Boston. Correct. You’re rooting for the A’s to beat the Astros. I almost wonder if you want to root for the Yankees just so they stay close to Toronto. So Toronto has so Toronto’s motivated to beat Boston. Maybe. Wait, wait, hold on. I’m confused for a second. The Yankees The Blue Jays are two games up on the Yankees, right? So you’re rooting for the Blue Jays to beat the Red Sox, obviously, because you can still catch the Red Sox. Oh, I see what you’re saying. You also may be rooting for the Yankee. I mean the Yankees are playing the White Socks. You could root for them or not. They’re probably going to beat them. But I almost wonder if you just want the Yankees to keep close to the Blue Jays. So the Blue Jays are right. Do you have to worry do you actually I guess it depends how the Guardians do. There may be a scenario where that third game of the Blue Jays Red Sox series, you’re actually rooting for the Red Sox because you don’t want them to fall completely out of the playoff mix. It’s unlikely, but it could happen. Yeah, because you want them to still have something to play for against the Tigers. Yeah, you want them to have something to play for against Tigers all three games, too, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, we’ll see. It It’s going to be crazy. Um Ethan says, “Where does John Means fit into this?” That’s it’s it’s a good question. His rehab is over, so they do have to make a decision with him. So, so he got when you’re rehabbing, you get a 30-day window to make starts in the minors. And for guys coming off Tommy John, you can apply for a 10-day extension. So, they did that with him. And that allowed him to make two more starts, but I believe the 10-day extension runs out to today, tomorrow. Yeah. Um at some point in the middle of this week. And so, you have to either I think they might have to add him to the roster. I’m not I’m not exactly sure which they could do. I mean, you could cut Zack Kent or somebody, but um I mean, you could ask him with his permission. They could send him to the Miners, couldn’t they? I don’t know what his contract status is. And because he’s signed a what’s he got? He’s got a one-year deal with a team option for next year. Yeah. I mean, I don’t know. Can he really? I mean, like, you going to trust him? No. you know, so maybe if he if he fills a a mopup role for the next six days, you could do that. Um, but yeah, I don’t he’s not gonna be on a playoff roster. I can’t can’t see any way that happens. Uh, Aravo says, “Some nice defensive plays and throws by Rokio and Arius this past week, and I never want to see in high leverage situations again.” What was that? I said the defense has been awesome. That that’s another underrated key. Like Quan’s been unbeliev unbelievable in left. Arius and Rokio up the middle have been great. And we’ve talked about this all year. Like for a lot of the year they were uncharacteristically playing poor defense. They were uncharacteristically running the bases poorly. Uh the pitching wasn’t as good. And all those things have turned around. Like we’re used to even when they can’t hit the Guardians pitching well, fielding well, and running the bases well. And those things were not happening for most of the season. And now that’s all kind of turned around here. It’s crazy. It’s just night and day. Uh, Sith Commander, call me crazy, but try batting Jon uh John Kenzie lead off versus Scooble. You going for that? No. Quan’s been hot in in September and I don’t care if he’s facing a lefty or righty. I I do I do wonder what pitchers feel facing him. Yeah, Noel. Just because like that presence has got to be like if he makes contact, you’re screwed, right? Like it’s that that pitch he hit off off Scoo last week. It was like a 91 mph change up low blow and away and he just pulled it to left center and like it didn’t even look like he swung hard and we were asking him after the game like did you know it was did you know it was out? He’s like, “Well, yeah, I hit it.” It’s like like he’s hilarious, but I think, you know, that that’s he’s a key to this, right? Like it it’s and he’s been in these moments before and has delivered. So, I don’t think his confidence gets shaken just because he had a really lousy season. Hey, hopefully has a good final month, you know, and hit some lefties here. Uh, too much torque. It’s been a crazy up and down season. So excited to be where we are right now. Let’s go, boys. Uh, S says, “I don’t believe any of these games are on national TV, including MLB TV.” I think I don’t know. So, weirdly, I think Saturday against the Rangers is on Fox, but there I I believe tonight. And I think there’s Should look this up before I say it. I think we are on WKYC. Um, that’s right. Friday, I think. I thought tonight, but I could be wrong. Okay, we’ll double check that. Okay, not tonight. Uh, well, either way, make sure you’re tuning in to WKYC for Camino will be at Progressive Field this week. There it is. Even in Major League, we couldn’t win it all, says Dog Chmps. That’s true. Uh, didn’t they win it all in Major League 2? I can’t remember. Uh, Ethan says, “We have to give Vote his flowers.” And remember, Bill Nye predicted us to win the World Series. That is true. Bill Nye, the science guy, picked the Guardians to win the World Series before the season. That’s right. I would trust that guy. Absolutely. Uh yeah, Vot’s done an he’s done a great job. But again, like I don’t want to I’m not trying to plug my stuff or pump it up too much, but if if you want to know get a sense of the job he’s done, go read my story today because he’s he’s had some moments, you know, that he didn’t have in year one, right? Like it not that it was easy last year, like he would tell you it was just as tough, just different because last year was all about getting acclimated and learning how to do the job. this year, you know, he’s had to have some tough conversations. Um, you know, the gambling thing like that that was a cloud over this club and no doubt the the way that they’ve pulled through and I think it took until after the trade deadline to really move forward. Um, you know, you’re looking for like the manager of the year thing. We we’ve talked about this, but like feel like everybody just says, “Okay, what team exceeded expectations?” Right? And you pick that manager and it’s like, “Well, maybe our expectations were wrong.” Like right maybe the team was just better and the manager didn’t have to do much. He just had a team that was good. Um this is an example of I think a manager keeping a clubhouse together when very easily this team could have just lost 90 95 games and moved on to next season. No doubt. No doubt. he he will have a chance there 100%. Uh, you know, Benjamin Lynn brings up a good point. Um, George Valera, we haven’t talked about him at all. I mean, this is a guy who at once was a top prospect, then he got taken off the 40man roster. Anybody could have picked him up. He gets ends up back in the system, gets an opportunity for the first time, and he’s done well. He’s done a nice job. You know what’s cool is how often do you see young guys come up and I remember Kyle Manzardo was like this the first time he ever came up. He was always a guy who walked a lot in the minors and then you get to the majors and pitchers aren’t going to mess around with you. They’re not going to nibble around the corners when they’re facing you cuz you’re new. Yeah. And so they just attack you and so Manardo like drew very few walks his first month. Valera already has six in 34 played appearances. Yeah. So to show that patience and not be trying to do too much when you’re hitting second, you just got called up. You’re batting second a lot of the time and the team’s in a playoff race and you’re able to to stick to your offensive approach. That’s really impressive. Brett says, “Would you consider bringing up Daniel Espino the last week of the season? He finally appeared in a minor league game for the first time in over three years. He did not pitch well. He went two-thirds of an inning. Gave him three hits and three runs. I can’t imagine you would call him up. Yeah. No, I mean, who he Yeah. He had last pitched April of 2022. It’s It’s It was just the fact that he got out there and you could tell if if you saw any pictures or video like he was so emotional. Like I don’t know how he even was able to keep it together on the mound, but he was he was hitting mid to upper 90s with this fast ball. So that’s something to dream on for next year. But for now, it’s just good to see him healthy. Uh Jason says, “Join late. Do you think we can draw 30,000 tonight?” I say 25. That’d be good. I mean, the place only holds 33. Yeah. So 25 would would be a good crowd. I wonder what what kind of Tiger fan presence there will be tonight. What do you think? Aren’t they just pissed at their team? I think they are. Yeah. I don’t know if they’re signing up to drive two and a half hours to No. Not at all. Uh, and finally, Jason says, “Also, is an optimistic game plan to try to knock Scooble out in five innings by going deep in counts and driving his pitch count to 100? That would be 20 per inning.” That’s that may be easier said than done. It’s tough because he just throws strikes like remember that start you know in May Memorial Day weekend the Guardians won the first three in Detroit and then Scooble went complete game shut out struck out 13 and he threw like 95 pitches or something. It was insane. Yeah. And so he just attacks the strike zone. So, you know, they did a good job of this last week where he was I think through four innings like they had a run off of him and he was at like 65 pitches. That’s that’s the dream. Um but a lot of times like if you try to be too patient and stuff that’s when he just he’ll just attack the strike zone and you know he gets ahead in every count. So it’s it’s that’s why he’s so tough. Yeah. Yeah. It you’re more likely to run up the pitch count by fouling off a lot of balls than you are you know forcing him to get deep counts. So there you go. All right. Thanks everybody for watching today. Just an update on Guardians coverage. So obviously Zach will have you covered with the Athletic. He’s writing about them every day. His latest article came out this morning, you said, right? Yep. So make sure you check that out at the Athletic. Uh tonight I will be on live on my podcast in the bullpen soon after the game. Maybe immediately following, pretty close to immediately following the game. I will be on live. I’ll be on live again tomorrow after the game. uh potentially Thursday depending on how the what happens these next two days. Zach and I will be back in the bullpen the bullpen. We’ll be back here on the Ultimate Guardian show Friday morning at 8 a.m. and then we’ll we’ll see from there what happens. So hopefully the winning ways continue and they take care of business. Gavin Williams has a tall task tonight, but he’s uh been their most reliable starter. So he’s he’s a good it’s good to have him on the mound because he’s been there. you know, these other guys have have come around lately, but he’s been, you know, for the pretty consistent, especially the second half of the year. You got a fresh bullpen. Yep. Got a home crowd. You had an off day. Yep. It’s all there for them. If the playoffs, if if the regular season ended today, they’d be in and just win two of the next three and you are in really good spot to win the division. I can’t believe that we’re saying this. This is crazy. Enjoy it, folks. We’ll talk to you uh next time. Where else? But right here on the Ultimate Cleveland Guardian Show. See you everybody.

The sizzling hot Cleveland Guardians would be a playoff team if the season were over but, it’s not. With 6 games left, starting with 3 with the Tigers, everything is still in play for the once dormant Guardians,

FANATICS LINK: www.fanatics.com/UCSS Subscribe and ring the bell for the latest talk about the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Ohio State Buckeyes: https://bit.ly/ucss_subscribe Follow on Twitter: @ultclesports Watch live on YouTube 11 a.m.-1 p.m. weekdays on YouTube and WKYC+ on your Roku and Fire TV apps! The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show is your daily source of the best conversation about the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as sports throughout Northeast Ohio. Hosted by Jay Crawford, Adam the Bull, G Bush, Jason Lloyd, Brad Sellers and Tyvis Powell. NATIONAL DISCLAIMER: 21+ and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino, LLC. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.