The Cleveland Guardians are forcing a Game 3 against the Detroit Tigers. After late inning heroics from Brayan Rocchio, back-to-back doubles from Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann, and a crucial home run
from Bo Naylor, the Guardians had a momentum shifting win in Game 2. Nick has the full recap here.
Oh yeah! The long awaited debut of Chase DeLauter happened yesterday too. Although he went 0 for 3 with a walk and a little centerfield oopsie in the first, it was a very strong debut as Twitter user JordanZirm outlined here:
DeLauter became only the 6th player to debut in the playoffs and also became the first player to debut since the league introduced the debut patches. For those who aren’t in the card collecting hobby, the debut patches are included in chase cards making CDL’s debut even more historic.
Here’s a wonderful interview with the outfielder after yesterday’s victory.
Zack Meisel has a great piece on Brayan Rocchio’s fall ball alter ego that is Rocctober (and JIM Herrin???). Not only was Rocchio’s home run crucial, it was also historic:
When you look at yesterday’s game, you see names like C.J. Kayfus (who made the game ending jumping catch at first to bail out Cade Smith from a bases loaded situation), Brayan Rocchio, George Valera, Steven Kwan, Daniel Schneemann, Tim Herrin, Bo Naylor, etc. etc. the list goes on. What do all of those players have in common? They were drafted (domestic or international) by Cleveland. In fact, Cleveland has the most home grown talent out of any other team in the playoffs.
The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd also wrote a cool piece about the connections between Chase DeLauter and George Valera, as both try to help Cleveland advance in October.
Three Cleveland Guardians were nominated for the 2025 All-MLB Team. You can vote for José Ramírez, Gavin Williams, and Cade Smith here. Voting is open until October 10th!
Around the League:
Snitker is gone in Atlanta. He will stay on as a senior advisor, but has stepped down as manager of the Braves. More and more spots are opening up that seem perfect for someone like Craig Albernaz. Definitely something to keep an eye on this off season.
The Padres beat the Cubs 3-0, sending the series to Game 3.
The Red Sox fell to the Yankees, also sending their series to Game 3.
The Dodgers swept the Reds 8-4.
This all means a 3:08PM start time for today’s Guardians-Tigers game.
