CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians are heading back to the postseason for the third time in four years and the 15th time since 1995 after clinching at least a wild card spot with Saturday’s 3-2 walk-off win against Texas.
Throughout the ups and downs of the last 28 weeks, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and Cleveland’s front office executed their plan and adjusted when necessary to get a team with the worst batting average in the league back to the playoffs.
Here’s what Antonetti had to say after the Guardians’ historic surge to the playoffs:
Q: How does this feel, just given everything you guys have gone through?
CHRIS ANTONETTI: It feels pretty good. Really good. I mean, I give our players and coaches and staff and Vogter a ton of credit because it was a really hard mountain to climb to make this a reality. There were obviously times during the season where this looked really far away, and our group was never daunted by that. They showed up each day with the same energy, the same focus, the same intensity, to try to figure out a way to win a game that night, and that mindset’s really carried us forward to today.
Q: How important a factor is Stephen Vogt in establishing that kind of a mindset?
ANTONETTI: Oh, he’s been incredible. His consistency, the steadiness of his leadership throughout the course of the season, really unwavering. And no matter what adversity we faced, no matter what the obstacle was, we figured out a way to come together. And he led us through that. He deserves a ton of credit for helping us be here.
Q: How rewarding is it to see a guy like Jonathan Rodriguez from the farm system and then C.J. Kayfus gets hit by a pitch, all these kind of young guys?
ANTONETTI: I mean, that’s how we have to win. We need the full roster to contribute, and I think it’s been a theme of our season. You never know where that contribution’s going to come from, and we need the entirety of the roster and the whole organization to make that happen.
Q: When you were 151/2 games back, how far away did a night like this feel?
ANTONETTI: I’m not sure that was our focus. Again, what we were looking at is what do we need to do today? How do we win a game today? And then as importantly for us is how do we help the guys that are here get better? Because we know that that’s what’s ultimately going to determine our success in the season: can we help support the growth and development of the guys that are here? You can look around the roster and see the massive progress guys have made from the beginning of the season.
Q: Has this season aged you maybe more than any other?
ANTONETTI: They all age you, it seems so, yeah, there’s been a lot of obstacles this year that we’ve had to overcome.
Q: Even the easy stuff’s not easy, right?
ANTONETTI: There is no such thing as easy. Especially this year.
Q: It feels like even though you guys obviously have been awesome in September, but every game feels like it’s 3-2.
ANTONETTI: Oh, yeah, yeah. We don’t make things easy on ourselves, but I give our guys a ton of credit no matter what the game was, no matter what the score, we found a way. The goal is to be one run better than the other team. Too many nights we were just one run better, but it’s still a win in the win column.
Q: Can you take us through your vantage point of the bottom of the ninth there and just how that all unfolded and then maybe the exhale at the end?
ANTONETTI: It was more than an exhale. It was a loud scream. So yeah, I remember we were all with the baseball ops group watching in the suite together and just figuring out, Hey, let’s get one more guy on. Let’s get one more guy on. And with C.J., we were just counting on him to have a quality at-bat. One of us actually joked that we’ll take a walk-off hit by pitch, whatever it takes. It turns out that’s what happened.
Q: What’d you think when Petey Halpin went halfway down the third baseline?
ANTONETTI: I thought that was a really aggressive, smart play by a rookie. Yeah, I mean, you want to score there with two outs, and then Rougie gave him enough time and held him up and gave ourselves a chance. I’m glad it worked out the way it did.
Q: After you guys fell behind 1-0, how fitting was it for the rally to start with Jose Ramirez?
ANTONETTI: Jose’s always in the middle of everything it seems for us, but he did his part. And then Jonathan Rodriguez, who has not had a lot of opportunities, came up hitting fourth in the lineup. That’s a lot to ask of a young player, especially a guy who has not had a lot of it back this year up here. And for him to come through and put a really good swing on that ball away and drive it out the other way, that was a huge lift for us.
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