Uncustomed Heroes of 2025: Guardians

 

What the Guardians were able to do this season, despite the amount that was stacked against them fundamentally, was incredible. That Stephen Vogt got this team to the playoffs without Emmanuel Clase, Ben Lively, Lane Thomas and any sort of foothold on the AL Central all year is a monumental achievement. The Guardians won the division in a season that was the Tigers' to lose, and even if the Tigers still knocked them out, they bodied them in the regular season. With, again, only a few huge pieces and a lot of youth. It proves that this team has staying power, depth, and isn't just Jose Ramirez. I respect it. 

Like, Tanner Bibee was the ace this season and honestly he didn't really have the greatest season, cause I really don't think he's ace material. You'd come from Kluber, Carrasco, Bieber...and Bibee maybe is a good 2 guy, but this year he wasn't a great #1. Gavin Williams was a lot more impressive. But Bibee at least had some nice starts, finishing the season with 12 wins, a 4.24 ERA and 162 Ks. He still made all his starts and went deep into games, it just was a very okay season in that respect. Remember when everybody made all their starts and that would just happen occasionally?

2026 Prediction: Much better year, but maybe misses a tiny bit of time. Helps keep the ERA lower though.

Gabriel Arias was supposed to take most of the starts at 2nd this year in Andres Gimenez's absence, but ended up taking most of the starts at shortstop due to the absence of Brayan Rocchio's bat. Either way, he was somewhat impressive, with 11 homers and 54 RBIs in 129 games, even if the bat isn't the main takeaway with Arias.

2026 Prediction: Similar middle infield role, a little less fluid, a little more production.

With Bibee and Williams cementing themselves atop the rotation, Logan Allen, for the most part, settled in behind them. He was a little spottier, with a 4.25 ERA, 122 Ks and an 8-11 record, but he was consistent, durable and topped 150 innings. 

2026 Prediction: A firmer breakout, a 3 ERA and some ASG consideration.

Hunter Gaddis continued to prove that moving him to the bullpen was a very good idea, with a with a 3.11 ERA and 73 Ks in as many games. 

2026 Prediction: Continues at this pace, with an ERA closer to 2024's.

And Cade Smith really saved the Guardians' ass this year, jumping into the ninth after the Clase suspension and keeping the lights on. In 74 innings, Smith had 8 wins, a 2.93 ERA, 104 Ks, a 1.005 WHIP and 16 saves, far and away the best relief season in Cleveland this year.

2026 Prediction: 30+ saves, chasing the league lead. Emmanuel who?

The Guardians brought up two very good looking rookies later this year, and they were impressive enough to distract the fans from neither of them being named Travis Bazzana. C.J. Kayfus is a very highly ranked hitting prospect for Cleveland, and he debuted in August and displayed decent power numbers immediately, with 19 RBIs and 4 homers in 44 games. Kayfus will have to contend with Kyle Manzardo at 1st, but Kayfus is slightly better defensively.

2026 Prediction: 30 homers, ROY votes.

And then Chase DeLauter, an organizational cornerstone, was brought up specifically for the AL Wild Card series against the Tigers, which was a very big deal. It's always wild when guys debut immediately in a playoff game, and DeLauter's hard-pounding work in Columbus was enough to make him a cool inclusion in October. In 2 games he did manage a major league hit, one that doesn't even technically count cause it's not in the regular season, and proved himself even in a losing season.

2026 Prediction: He's not gonna make the Opening Day roster. But he is gonna be a big part of the playoff push next year.

Coming Tomorrow- A few extras from a Mariners team that came within inches of their first World Series. 

The Intriguing Direction This Playoff Season Could Be Headed

 

Last night, the New York Yankees won Game 5 of the ALDS and advanced to a championship series, while the Philadelphia Phillies won the first game of the NLCS. And I am still immensely weirded out by it.

I don't have two MLB allegiances for this outcome specifically. As I've said, I'm a Yankee fan because I come from a long line of Yankee fans, and I'm a Philly fan because I live right outside of Philadelphia. I just assume that one is gonna do well and the other won't, and for the last 10 or so years the Yankees have done pretty well while the Phillies have been poopoo. Going into this fall, I just assumed the Yankees would do their usual 'lose a crucial playoff series' schtick and the Phils would squander the golden opportunity handed to them, but the latter didn't happen and the former probably won't happen til the weekend. 

And so here we are. We have reached the championship series stage of the playoffs, and the Yankees and Phillies are still on the board. This has not happened since 2010. I shouldn't have to remind you all how well it went in 2010, but we had a Giants-Rangers World Series that year that, let's be clear, was still really good, but...y'know...coulda been better. And then before that it hadn't happened since 2009, which was a monumental World Series that had a full emotional arc, heroes and villains, and an amazing finish. I went to Game 2 of that World Series, and my god was it incredible. 

Now...a lot has to happen for us to get back there. And by that, I mean the Yankees have to actually beat the Astros in a playoff series. 

Folks...it may sound like a hyperbole, but it literally has never happened before. Three times in the past 8 seasons, the Yankees have needed to play the Astros in order to advance or to make a World Series. It has never happened. It didn't happen in 2015, it didn't happen in 2017, and it didn't happen in 2019. And I am firm in my belief that if the Yankees had gotten to a World Series in 2019, those Nats wouldn't have stood a chance. No matter the means, the Astros have always just been better than us in playoff competition. Sometimes they are, in fact, using illegal means, and sometimes they are still excellent as a result of those illegal means. And the thing is, that 2017 ALCS was close, and had the Astros not been cheating, we would be looking at a completely different narrative.

The trick with this Astros team will be stopping that rascal Yordan Alvarez. I am sick of nobody getting hits, and then him suddenly hitting a home run. If you were gonna do that the whole time, why didn't you do that to begin with? Infuriating man. The other object involves making sure that this simpler rotation has its cracks, and that Justin Verlander, Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers can be exploited. Honestly, though, the Yankees just need to get hits off these guys. There's a rumor Benintendi might be back today, that'd be a welcome presence. I think we're also gonna call up somebody like Florial for outfield help. Lord knows we need it if Hicks is done. 

The bottom line is that some of the Yankees' mistakes made it closer than it needed to be in Cleveland. And if we're having trouble against Cleveland, we need to make sure those problems don't fester in this Houston series. Because as much as people don't want the Yankees to advance, they also reeeeeally don't want the Astros to advance. The Yankees might, in fact, be baseball's last hope of a non-boring series.

...I mean, I say that, but at the same time, look at this Phils-Padres NLCS! Isn't this fun? Look, Machado and Harper are trading hits, this is great! 

Obviously I'd love it if the Phillies won, and after last night, we're looking really good. How the hell do we hold a team like the Padres to only a couple hits? Most of the hits/extra bases were caused by infield errors. Zack Wheeler legitimately kept down one of the toughest offenses in the game, and got nothing out of Soto, Machado or Bell. I am in AWE. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it very nearly did when Alvarado was on, but...we're up 1 on the Padres. 

I mean, at the same time, the Dodgers were up 1 on the Padres too, but...not IN San Diego. 

There's two more games today, including the first taste of what this damned Yanks-Astros series is gonna look like. I sincerely hope it looks different than all the other ones.

Also, since I've been eulogizing the fallen this year,

The Cleveland Guardians outdid my, and everyone else's, expectations. I thought they were headed for last this year. They lapped the White Sox and Twins and came alive in September, driving opposing teams away with their excellent contact ball, and laying waste to a decent Rays team through 15 innings. So many fun contact guys I wanna see more of. I wanna see if Gabriel Arias is the answer at 1st going forward, or if Will Brennan and Tyler Freeman have legs as members of this team. It's gonna be cool to see how this squad develops, for sure.