CLEVELAND — The 2025 Guardians etched their name in the record books with one of the craziest runs to a division title in baseball history, but their playoff run came to an abrupt end at the hands of the Detroit Tigers, the team they spent six months chasing.

Statistically and historically, they weren’t supposed to be there in the first place. By most accounts, the Guardians were expected to pack it in months ago. They sputtered to start the season and then dealt with the sudden sidelining of Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase because of a gambling investigation, which led to a trade deadline that threatened to see them become sellers.

They were under .500 at points in the month of September. And then, for a few weeks, the Guardians borrowed a little magic from the ’90s teams that always seemed to rally, always seemed to produce whatever they needed to turn the tide. No team had ever before come back from a 15.5-game deficit to win the division.

But in the best-of-three Wild Card Series against the Tigers, the Guardians’ flaws caught up with them, and whatever remaining doses of magic dried up in a decisive 6-3 Game 3 loss that ended their playoff dreams.

Here are the top takeaways from the Guardians’ Game 3 and Wild Card Series defeat.

Stephen Vogt, Steven Kwan want playoff loss to Tigers to be felt in offseason

The postgame clubhouse after the loss was unsurprisingly quiet. A few players sat at their lockers staring into space, feeling the defeat wash over them. Others sat around a table quietly chatting. Some were packing, or giving hugs, or discussing plans for traveling back to their respective homes.

The overwhelming ingredient was that such an abrupt end to their run stung in the moment. But underneath was a feeling that the run they had gone on since Sept. 5 was, in several respects, special. They were the biggest underdogs of any baseball contender — in fact, they weren’t viewed as real contenders at all for some stretches, then they went out and won the division anyway.

“It stings. It stings for it to end that way,” said manager Stephen Vogt, who has a chance to repeat as AL Manager of the Year after the Guardians beat their outside expectations for the second consecutive season. “I couldn’t be more proud of them, of what we accomplished. It’s not enough. We want more.

“And I think that’s really the message is let this sting. We’re close. We’re really close.”

All-Star left fielder Steven Kwan, who joked before Game 3 that he felt like the uncle of the outfield surrounded by even younger players, echoed that sentiment. The Guardians feel like they’re still building something, which means the pain of a postseason run cut well short of their hopes needs to be a stepping stone, not a step back.

“Yeah, remember this feeling,” Kwan said. “This moment stings, it hurts, but I think it’s a good motivator as well. In those days where it’s cold out, you don’t feel like getting out of bed, just remember you don’t want this feeling again, and I think that’ll get us over the hump.”

Was Guardians-Tigers Wild Card Series a preview of Cleveland’s future lineup with Chase DeLauter, George Valera?

The other side of that coin is that the Guardians front office needs to be given the runway to bolster the roster, particularly the lineup. Cleveland again had a top-five bullpen, and the starting rotation went on a run in September that had only been equaled once in the previous 100 years of baseball. It’s also becoming imperative that the Guardians take advantage of Jose Ramirez’s time in Cleveland.

Games 2 and 3 of the Wild Card Series might have provided a preview of their in-house options. George Valera and Chase DeLauter both played major parts in the series. They both are long-time top prospects in the farm system, and they were both finally healthy and able to join the major league roster at the same time. The Guardians have been waiting for it.

Although it would be helpful for Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff to be given some extra leash when it comes to free agent spending, Valera and DeLauter — along with Travis Bazzana, Juan Brito and others — potentially represent built-in help for the 2026 lineup after Ramirez, Kwan and Kyle Manzardo. It’s a good start.

But one of the lessons to be learned from the 2025 Guardians is that if the lineup is left without much in the way of a safety net (like a veteran or two), and the team has to rely on several younger hitters all taking a developmental step forward at the same time, even a tremendously good pitching staff might not be enough to cover up those flaws. No American League team scored fewer runs during the regular season than Cleveland.

Perhaps the hope was that DeLauter, Valera, Bazzana, Brito and others would earn promotions and save the day if needed, but all four dealt with injuries and were sidelined at times. Or perhaps there wasn’t much choice.

“Guards Ball” took them a long way. But relying on it to such an extreme degree can be difficult. Given Cleveland’s track record compared to where they annually rank by payroll, Antonetti and Chernoff are likely among the best in the game at what they do. But counting on young hitters all taking a step forward in sync, without the aid of some major leaguers with track records to come in and provide some security, is difficult.

Stephen Vogt and the Guardians have earned benefit of the doubt

It’s also difficult to really quantify how much individual managers impact success because so much goes on behind the scenes.

But, regardless, Vogt has earned the benefit of the doubt moving forward.

In his two seasons as manager, the Guardians are averaging 90 wins, have two division titles and last year were three wins away from the World Series. And based on outside expectations, none of it was projected to happen.

Leading into the 2024 season, the Guardians weren’t expected to win the division. And midway through this season, they were thought to be buried.

“That’s our leader. We’re not here without him,” veteran catcher Austin Hedges said of Vogt. “It’s tough to put into words what he means to our group. … He had big shoes to fill [last year]. There’s a reason Terry Francona is one of the greatest managers of all time, and I love Tito to death, but [Vogt] had big shoes to fill and he immediately set the tone in his own way.

“It’s one thing to say it in the spring — and I believed him — but then he had to prove it, and he proved it all last season. … Then he really, really proved it this year. Because this year, this was the hardest season I’ve ever been a part of.”

Given that Cleveland came three wins short of the World Series last year, technically the 2025 season could be viewed as a step back with a Wild Card Series exit. But given the wild run over the last few weeks, it’s difficult to regard it as negatively as it otherwise might have been in other circumstances. An 88-win season didn’t seem possible for nearly the entire summer.

And, now, it’ll be an interesting winter.