Call it a massive comeback. Call it a massive collapse. Call it whatever you want.
But, for the second consecutive season, call the Cleveland Guardians champions of the American League Central.
The Guardians, who found themselves eight games under .500 and 15½ games behind the Detroit Tigers on July 6, officially clinched the division Sunday by virtue of the Detroit Tigers’ 4-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox, before walking-off the Texas Rangers in the 10th inning of their season finale for good measure.
Cleveland’s reign continues despite it trading away fan favorites such as Josh Naylor and Andres Gimenez during the offseason and Shane Bieber at the trade deadline, while losing starter Luis Ortiz and All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase in the middle of the summer due to a gambling investigation.
The Tigers held a 14-game lead in the division on July 8 but went 28-41 since. The Guardians, meanwhile, went an astonishing 48-26 after losing to Detroit on July 6. That included winning 18 of 22 games from Sept. 5 and taking five of six from the Tigers since Sept. 16, when the Guardians still found themselves 5½ games out of first.
The Tigers held on to secure the AL’s final wild card berth.
It’s no surprise that at the center of the Guardians’ success has been Jose Ramirez. The do-everything star third baseman has turned in a second consecutive season of 30-plus homers and 40-plus steals, while slashing .283/.360/.503 with an .863 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
The surprise, though, comes in the starting rotation, which is what allowed the Guardians to claw back into the race and, ultimately, earn their third division title in the past four years. Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee, Slade Cecconi (acquired from Arizona for Josh Naylor), Logan Allen and rookie Parker Messick are hardly household names outside of Northeast Ohio, but the starters have prospered since manager Stephen Vogt turned to a six-man rotation on Sept. 5.
From that point through Sept. 24, the six allowed two runs or fewer in 19 consecutive games, the longest streak since the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019. The 1917 Chicago White Sox hold the record with 20 consecutive starts with two or fewer runs allowed.
The Guardians will be the AL’s No. 3 seed, which would pit them against the No. 6 seed: the Tigers.