Tides are turning
My oh my, how things have changed for the Guardians in the last couple weeks. On August 18th, the Guards had a 50.7% chance of making the playoffs according to FanGraphs. As of September 5th, they currently have a 45.1% chance of making the playoffs. My calculator app tells me that is a 5.6% decrease in about 17 days, yikes. If the Guardians want to make a playoff push this year, they need to get back to winning ways.
Going into their series with the Kansas City Royals on Monday, September 5th, the Guardians hold a 0.5 game advantage over the Twins. Clearly, due to the Guards extremely slender lead in the division, this upcoming series now becomes quite important.
How did we get here?
Didn’t we just have a multiple game lead over the AL Central division?! Yes. Quite recently too. However, the last 3 series have not been kind to Cleveland.
- The Guardians played the Mariners 7 times (2 series overall, 1 home and 1 away) in the last 12 games, winning only one time. The Guardians got “Marinered” in both Seattle and Cleveland, ouch.
- The Guards also lost 2 out of 3 games to the Orioles between the 2 Mariners series. They got Orioled as well.
Let’s hope these last 10 games were a not so momentary blip. That 45.1% is looking shaky. There appears to be a wee bit of a confidence issue in the team right now and I hope that they can right the ship as soon as possible.
An example of the ship that needs to be righted.
What’s Next?
There are 30 games left in the season. A win for the Guardians in their first game in the upcoming series against the Royals would go a long way to help their fans feel more confident and restore a 1-game lead over Minnesota.
Speaking of Minnesota, the Guardians play them 8 times before the end of the season. It is entirely possible that whichever team can win the majority of those games will be in the driver’s seat for the AL Central crown.
Push! Push! Push!
While this is not a revolutionary idea, Cleveland must continue to win in order to stay atop the Central or snag 1 of the 3 wild card spots in the new MLB playoff format. I want the Guardians to deliver this metaphorical “playoff baby” and they will need to push like crazy in order to get there. A strange visual but necessary for our purposes.
Terry Crews is incredible.
Is your confidence shaken? Can they do it? Did I not consider any other crucial aspects? Let me know in the comments and as always, keep it respectful!
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