The Cleveland Guardians completed their historic division comeback, surging from 15.5 games back in July to steal the American League Central crown from Detroit. They did so with a 20-7 September record to close out the regular season. This earned them the three seed in the AL and the right to play the opening Wild Card series at home.
As fate would have it, the Guards drew the Detroit Tigers in the first round. They came up short in game one due to a stellar performance from Cy Young-favorite Tarik Skubal. The Tigers did just enough to hold on to a 2-1 victory. Game two looked to be more of the same, until the late innings. The teams took a 1-1 tie into the eighth, where Cleveland scored five runs, which would not be answered.
Just like the regular season, this playoff series was decided on the last day. The winner-take-all game three began as another low-scoring affair, giving Cleveland fans some hopeful déjà vu. The energy at Progressive Field was high, just as we have come to expect during playoff baseball in the Land. That was, until the seventh inning. The Tigers, holding a 2-1 lead, scored four runs, silencing the crowd. The Guardians came back with just two of their own and lost 6-3, ending their season.
So, as October moves on without the Guardians involved, what are we to think of this 2025 season? Well, fans have some mixed emotions for sure. The late-season explosion was unexpected. Of 28 ESPN voters, just one predicted during the preseason that the Guardians would win the Central. Many fans declared the season over after their 10-game losing streak in July. Overall, nobody really expected the Guardians to make an appearance, much less a real push, in October this year.
That doesn’t take away from the disappointment, though. It is hard to watch your team fight for three months to overcome a rival for a division title, just to lose to that same rival at home in the playoffs. It should be reasonable for fans to be both disappointed and encouraged by their team’s performance this season.
The young core that Cleveland is hoping to build around showed some strides late in the season. In the pitching rotation, Gavin Williams broke through as a true ace in the American League, finishing with a 3.06 ERA, the highest among Guardians starters. Tanner Bibee, Slade Cecconi, Joey Cantillo, and Parker Messick also gave the team great starts down the tretch. Without them, the playoffs would have been out of the question before September.
As for the lineup, catcher Bo Naylor came through time and time again for the Guards. He posted an .872 on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS) in September, behind only José Ramírez’s .889 and rookie first baseman C.J. Kayfus’ .888 (min. 40 at-bats).
Kayfus’ emergence as an impact bat creates somewhat of an issue for Cleveland. Kyle Manzardo, also a first baseman, joined José Ramírez as Cleveland’s only hitters to have an OPS above MLB’s average of .719 (min. 100 at-bats). There may be a bit of a logjam at that position, which is certainly a good problem to have.
However, Cleveland still has some glaring holes, offensively and defensively. General Manager Chris Antonetti will have his hands full between now and March to try to improve the Guardians’ roster in an effort to make another deep playoff run. That being said, fans have a lot to look forward to with young, promising talents both on the roster and in the farm system, as well as the potential of adding veterans through trade and free agency to improve the team.
