The Cleveland Guardians have won 10 straight, taken the lead for the third wildcard spot, and are now only one game behind the Detroit Tigers.
Nicole recapped game one of the double-header, a 6-0 shutout, and I recapped the second game, an 8-0 shutout. This is the first time the Guardians have shutout both halves of a double-header since 1964. The Twins haven’t scored on them in 21 innings.
Jose Ramirez got his 30th home run, making him and Alfonso Soriano the only players in MLB history to have two
30 homer, 30 double, and 40 steal seasons, with only Jose doing it in consecutive years. Only Jose and Bobby Bonds have had 30 homers and 40 steals after the age of 32. Jose is the second switch-hitter and second third-baseman in MLB history to have three 30-30 seasons, joining Howard Johnson.
Petey Halpin got his first major league hit and showed off his wheels on the bases and in the outfield.
Daniel Espino made his first appearance in a professional game since April 2022 for the Clippers and his stuff looked good. The results didn’t show it, but he was emotional leaving the mound as he realized the hard work he had done. It’ll be exciting to follow him in Arizona Fall League and hopefully in Spring Training.
Brian Hemminger, Matt Seese and I did an emergency podcast for Disgusting Baseball last night, talking about this miracle run.
AROUND MLB
The Astros lost to the Mariners, giving the Guardians the lead by virtue of the tiebreaker in the race for the AL’s third wildcard. We need the Mariners to sweep today, given the Astros have the Athletics and Angels next week. The Tigers lost to the Braves again; go, Spencer Strider today. Get that sweep. The Red Sox beat the Rays, and the Rangers lost again to the Marlins. The Rangers are now five games back of the Guardians and I’d like to see them completely out of it by the last series in Cleveland (given that it would probably convince them to tell Corey Seager not to try to make a comeback). Everything came up Guards yesterday.
