Guardians News and Notes: Cantillo and Pen Send Cleveland to the Dance

The Guardians walked off the Texas Rangers 3-2 on a CJ Kayfus hit-by-pitch to knock out the Houston Astros and secure their spot in MLB’s postseason.

Today, Logan Allen will start as the team tries to secure an AL Central division title. It’ll be interesting to see how Detroit and Boston approach today, as you’d assume both would prefer to lose and face Cleveland over potentially winning and facing either the Yankees or the Blue Jays. Personally, I’d rather not see the Tigers again in such short succession, but either way, it’s fine. I’d love to see the Guardians win the Central and just enjoy October baseball. Call me easy, but everything from this point on is icing on the cake.

Here is Zack Meisel of the Athletic’s write-up of last night. Here is Tim Stebbins’ article about it. And here is Zach F.’s recap and my overreaction thread.

I will be interested to see which players make their way into Cleveland’s and Detroit’s lineups today. It sounded like Stephen Vogt really wants homefield for the wildcard round, but that may have been manager-speak. I saw some folks attacking Vogt for playing Noel too long yesterday - folks, did we not just see Noel help to save our season with one swing off the best pitcher in the AL? I don’t think he should make the playoff roster, but I understand the draw of that idea to a manager. And, getting that bullpen in when he did was perfectly justifiable. The Guardians’ bullpen is dominant and they were great. I don’t agree with everything Vogt does, but this season has bought him emotional, physical and mental capital with the teams he manages for decades to come.

I cannot believe I have gone from feeling on September 3rd to how I feel today. What a baseball team!

AROUND MLB:

If the Blue Jays win, they are AL East champs. If they lose and the Yankees lose, they’re still champs. If they lose and the Yankees win, New York is AL East champs. If the Reds win or the Mets lose, the Reds are the third NL wildcard. If the Mets win and the Reds lose, the Metropolitans take that spot.