What. A. Week. After winning 10 in a row and ending the week by sitting in a Wild Card spot, there’s not much to complain about this week.
Week of Winning
If you look at the Guardians’ schedule for September, you’ll see a whole lot of Ws. Going 16-5 so far this month, the team is doing exactly what they needed to do heading into the playoffs. Remember when we were 15.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers for the division lead? You can forget about that. Cleveland is now just one game back of the division lead, and currently
has the tiebreaker for the final Wild Card spot above the Houston Astros. There are just six games left in the regular season, three of those coming against the Tigers. Another advantage? Those last six games are all here in Cleveland. Be sure to don your red and blue and show up to the ballpark this week; it’s gonna get crazy.
Pitching Locked In
The Guardians may have found the secret when it comes to the starting rotation… They’ve been rolling with a six-man rotation as of late, consisting of Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, Parker Messick, Gavin Williams, Joey Cantillo, and Slade Cecconi. While Bibee has had some trouble living up to his last two seasons, he’s seemed to have found it recently and has been much more reliable. Logan Allen and Gavin Williams have also had their own troubles this year but have been lights out lately. Joey Cantillo has had a very successful year, pitching twice as much as he did last year and having an ERA that is over a full point lower. For Parker Messick and Slade Cecconi, let’s just say they’ve been pleasant surprises. Messick has started six games and has given up just eight runs in those starts. Cecconi spent the last two years in Arizona, but has seemed to settle in with Cleveland, pitching to his lowest career ERA so far. While the six-man rotation is unconventional, it’s working pretty darn well.
Halpin Makes Debut
The young Guards saw yet another debut this week with Petey Halpin seeing his first Major League action on Saturday. He even picked up his first hit in that game and is holding down a .250/.400/.250 line after… two games. However, one look at his numbers in the minors will show you just why the decision was made to call him up. He has spent his last 126 games with Triple-A Columbus where he hit .249/.321/.414 with 123 hits and 14 home runs. While his Major League experience is extremely limited so far, he has the potential to be a vital part of this team if they make it to the playoffs.
