Cleveland Guardians Clinch AL Central Exceeding All Expectations

The Cleveland Guardians clinched the AL Central today with a 10-4 victory over the Texas Rangers. It was the Guardians' 7th consecutive win. Since Labor Day on September 5th, the Guardians have gone 18-3. During this period, the Guardians went from a 1 game lead to a 10 game lead in the division.

With a largely young club, 2022 was expected to be a rebuilding year for the Guardians. Like many others, I picked them to finish at the bottom of the AL Central. Cleveland started out slow, but would go over the .500 mark on June 9th and were even atop the division on June 22nd although the Minnesota Twins soon returned to first place while the Guardians struggled to stay above .500 through mid-July. 

Cleveland found its form after the All-Star Break would be in first place or have a share of it from August 9th onward. The Twins would eventually fade while the heavily favored Chicago White Sox had too much on-field and off-field drama to play with any kind of consistency. 

Aside from the steady hand of longtime manager Terry Francona and star player Jose Ramirez, the Guardians saw breakout seasons from rookies Steven Kwan and Andres Gimenez while Amad Rosario established himself as an everyday player. What the Guardians lacked in power was made up for in speed and defense. Former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber, Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie form a solid rotation accompanied by Emmanuel Clase who has established himself as MLB's premier closer. 

Whether it will be enough to overcome the Houston Astros or the New York Yankees or any of the AL Wild Card teams such as the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners remains to be seen. But Cleveland does have a chance to win its first World Series title in 74 years and if they do in their inaugural season as the Guardians their fans will soon forget they were ever called Indians.