CLEVELAND — Last October, Gavin Williams wasn’t entirely sure he’d make the postseason rosters. Now, he’s preparing to start Game 1 as Cleveland’s hopeful playoff run begins.
The Guardians have announced that Williams will get the ball to open the AL Wild Card Series against Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers. First pitch for Game 1 is set for 1:08 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30 at Progressive Field.
“I mean, kind of star struck a little bit, just being able to start a playoff game,” Williams said. “It’s phenomenal. Them trusting me to go Game 1, it’s unbelievable.”
Both the Guardians and Tigers opted not to throw their top options for Game 1 on the regular season’s final day, instead saving them for the best-of-3 wild card series. In the end, the Guardians won in walk-off fashion and the Tigers lost, giving Cleveland the No. 3 seed and homefield advantage.
It sets up a matchup in which Williams will try to duel arguably the game’s most elite pitcher in Skubal, who could win a second consecutive Cy Young Award.
“Gavin has been incredible,” said manager Stephen Vogt. “Obviously we’ve talked about him all year long, just the strides that he’s made, the development that he’s come along with. From the start of the year to now, he’s just been incredible [and] incredibly fun to watch.”
Gavin Williams’ stats
Williams has been a case study in what a success story can look like with the game’s best pitching development staff.
After starting the 2024 season on the injured list and never really finding his footing (4.86 ERA), Williams had a breakthrough 2025, finishing the regular season 12-5 with a 3.06 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 167 2/3 innings. He was exceptional down the stretch, posting a 1.88 ERA with 30 strikeouts over his final four starts and being a key part of a starting rotation that accomplished a level of consistency that had been equaled only once in more than a century.
Much that success, especially recently, is the culmination of a change in his delivery and tweaks to his repertoire, along with some better command that made it all click.
He re-positioned his glove, which led to more arm length and some more advantageous shapes on some of his breaking balls. The development of his sinker and cutter also acted as an avenue for a breakthrough, as it kept hitters off his other offerings.
“I mean, it opened up the whole zone for me,” Williams said of those two pitches. “It opened up the top half, the bottom half, East and West. Just having a couple more pitches in the back of the hitter’s mind, it opens up a lot of things for me to be able to go deeper into games and help myself out.”
Guardians-Tigers Game 1 starting pitchers: Gavin Williams vs Tarik Skubal
The Guardians have a difficult task ahead of them in Game 1 against Skubal, who has a 0.64 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 28 innings against them in 2025.
Williams’ track record against the Tigers lineup this season has been almost perfect, which is why the Guardians are countering with him. In three starts, he’s allowed only eight hits and two earned runs while striking out 29. Detroit hasn’t found an answer when he’s been on the mound.
And the Guardians are hoping they fail that test again in Game 1.
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