The Cleveland Defenders shouldn’t be here – yet. They entered the season with the youngest MLB roster, a season or two behind Chicago White Sox team that many experts believe will run away with the American League Central race.
And yet, here they are, after taking the throne with 92 wins and wipes Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Wild Card Series, currently facing New York Yankees in the split chain.
Their unexpected success can be attributed to a few things: clever promotions from the front office and a successful launch from many of the franchise’s 25-year-olds and unders. But, the most important is the presence of a true superstar in the team Jose Ramirez – the heart and soul of the team and one man, in early April, hours to go before trading.
On the last day of spring training, the Guardians office hit its deadline – if that day cannot renew his contract with the third All-Star fighter, he will be traded before Opening Day. desert. The San Diego Padresamong other candidates, waiting for a call.
The team’s interpreter, Agustin Rivero, who was training first base in a split game that afternoon, was pulled away for a final talk between the player and his office, and to help Ramirez shared about his actions: He wants to stay in Cleveland.
“I’m so grateful Jose wanted to be here and he made that a priority,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said during the wild weekend. “He’s personally engaged. …We wouldn’t be standing here without that.”
After a busy couple of hours, Ramirez moved from the commercial block to a long-term commitment from the only franchise he knew. And six months after Ramirez signed a seven-year, $141 million contract, he and his team celebrated their first playoff win since the 2016 AL Championship Series.
“I am really happy, especially for the commitment the organization has made,” Ramirez said via Rivero recently. “It’s really special. The most important part is family. The city has given me the opportunity to take care of my family. Cleveland is my family.”
One of the only veterans in a club filled with young players, Ramirez led his squad to an unlikely stretch of season – first with an MVP-caliber season featuring the Guardians. through October, then with a home run Match 1 of the AL Wild Card Series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
But how far Ramirez can lead this team is how quickly this season’s debut squad of 17 rookies is ready.
According to Antonetti, a lot of The Guardians’ success as a youth team signals the franchise’s culture. The current rookies have seen previous Cleveland teams make it to the knockout stages while they’ve done the same in the underage. Winning means winning, in his estimation.
“Our Double-A team won the Eastern Cup in 2021,” said Antonetti. “And there are about seven to nine of those here who are currently champions of AL Central.”
The rookies got their first taste of pennant racing in that minor season, but there was a level of pressure in the major leagues that couldn’t be replicated anywhere else. And perhaps the intense number of games they need to knock out two first-place competitors to hang on this season has given the kids a little extra edge when their October moment arrives.
And it came, when Oscar Gonzalez – a rookie with less than 100 games under him – only had a single win in the 1-0 win in Game 2 by placing a 15th inning pitch into the center-right stands – and made The playing field goes crazy.
“I could never have imagined something like this,” another rookie, Steve Kwan, said on the field after winning the wild card series. “And how it came to be. Tito [manager Terry Francona] At the beginning of the year, we expressed that we would play the right game because we couldn’t live or die running at home. “
Not losing to anyone as the Guardians’ two wins over Tampa Bay came from long balls, as well as their only one in Tuesday’s 4-1 ALDS opening loss at Yankee Stadium. But no one, not even the Guardians, thinks that’s how Cleveland will win the championship – at least not this year.
Their 127 home runs in the regular season place second to last in the pro, and while three runs may be enough to overtake the Rays, the Guardians will need to score a number of runs to take down the Yankees in the division series. Part of what helped fuel a 16-2 win in September that sent Cleveland into the knockout stages was putting the ball in play and making key strokes: That month, the Guardians published the fifth-highest batting average. two in the majors (.264), fourth -best OBP (.331), least attacks fifth (195) and most stolen bases (31).
Cleveland is known for a baseball style that takes a lot of energy – not to grind the ball into the stands. But what may be more important for the Guardian, who have gone five under .500 games twice this season, is their determination.
“There’s a quiet confidence in our group of boys,” said the 26-year-old Sam Hentges speak. “We go to the pitch every day and we don’t really back down from the challenges. That’s been told from Tito … and that’s how we attack every day.”
Hentges, in his first year in the major leagues, aggregated a 2.32 ERA in 57 games, followed by three pressure-free innings on Saturday for a crunch win. before Rays.
But now after crushing that wild card streak against another small-markets team, Cleveland is being put to the ultimate test against the big-market 99-winner Yankees, who have won five out of six regular meetings. period during the season. between the teams before taking a 1-0 lead over ALDS on Tuesday night in New York.
“The first time I really opened my eyes,” Kwan said of the game in New York at the end of April. “Hopefully, we can play baseball like we always do.”
While the Guardians head office will never use the difference in pay as an excuse for anything happening on the field this week, it’s hard to ignore the nature between David and Goliath in the game. This is because Cleveland brought in a salary of $82 million, ranking 28th in all baseball with New York’s $265 million roster.
“We operate in very different markets, but we have the same goal,” noted Antonetti with a smile.
That goal – to win in October – may have been too far-fetched in March, but it became a little more doable when Ramirez signed. Then, as each young player began to contribute and the team kept winning, the concept of post-season emerged as a reality. Cleveland went from a complete unknown, with only a 7.5% chance of winning the championship at the start of the season, to an ALCS contender. Now, facing a shortfall in their first series of playoffs, it’s time to see if the Guardians can assuage their doubts once again.
“They don’t let anyone else write their season story for them,” Antonetti said. “They took the reins and wrote their own story.”
