Keys to the ALDS for the Guardians

How should the Guards approach the first stop in the 2024 Postseason?

It’s just about that time for the Guardians. That time when the cool fall air blows through the concourses at a jam-packed Progressive Field. It’s a time in which Guardians fans have gotten very used to over the last 11-or-so years. Playoff baseball.

The postseason has become a near-annual occurence for the city of Cleveland, and this year the tension and anticipation are palpable, especially for this impending series against a division foe we know all too well.

The Detroit Tigers have been the story of September: going from a team that was second-to-last in the AL Central to usurping the Minnesota Twins for the last Wild Card spot, there is no wondering why faithful baseball fans are supporting this gritty team.

The Tigers have combined a 2022 Guardians-esque surge of electricity on offense, while being supported by the dominant arm of Tarik Skubal. Tack on another great arm in their number 2 — Reese Olson, as well as the scary Tigers bullpen, and this team becomes no laughing matter for the Guardians.

It goes without saying that the Guards need to take this matchup seriously, for obvious reasons. That said, I would like to offer a few key points to this series. The Tigers are a more formidable team than many would be led to think (especially during this torrent streak of theirs), so let’s dive into which areas we need to attack.

Make a good first impression and win game 1

Tarik Skubal is a dominant force to be reckoned with, and he is starting game 2 (and likely 5). Reese Olson will be starting game 1, and though he has a very respectable regular season statline, the Guardians must try to get to him and win the game.

If we lose game 1, we could easily find ourselves headed to Detroit 0-2 on the series solely because of Skubal’s dominance. So this first game is nearly make-or-break for this series to me.

Limit damage — don’t be afraid to rely heavily on the bullpen early

The starting rotation has been such a looming question over the course of the season and for this playoff push. We’ve seen many times this year that the rotation is very susceptible to being victim to crooked numbers.

But the team’s bullpen this year is arguably the best in franchise history. And luckily, the Guardians go back-to-back only once, so we could really rely on our relief pitchers in a big way. If the rotation struggles early, I will not be surprised if Vogter throws in some guys to get us over to the late innings.

Be in the lead when the bullpen comes in

Staying on the bullpen topic, if we could take the lead by the time the bullpen comes in during the ALDS, our chances of winning each game goes up ten-fold. The Guardians have lost only two games when leading in the 7th or later, and if we are in the lead and use the bullpen early like I said we could, we will be sitting very pretty.

From what I see, we could throw at least four men out there every game and allow at most a run or two: Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis, Cade Smith and Emmanuel Clase. Eli Morgan, Andrew Walters and Erik Sabrowski are other options as well. These guys are going to be the main contributors to our hopeful success.

Keep the foot on the gas

I cannot stress this enough. The Guardians offense needs to keep their foot on the gas. We’ve seen how hot this Tigers offense can get, so even though we may be in the lead with the bullpen ready to take us home, we cannot get complacent.

Giving up leads, both in the game and in the series has been a plague for Cleveland playoff baseball for as long as I can remember, so we need to run up the scores and make sure Detroit has no room at all to breathe. If we can attack early and stay on the offensive even against an efficient Tigers bullpen, our chances of losing decrease plentifully.

Do NOT underestimate the Tigers’ bullpen

Headlined by an incredible duo of Will Vest and Tyler Holton, the Tigers’ bullpen is nothing to mess with. This group of dudes ranks 5th in the league in ERA (3.55), 2nd in WHIP (1.14), 11th in FIP (3.84) and 1st in BB/9 (2.72).

So what I would suggest is to make their bullpen work, and get to it early like I mentioned in the previous key. It’s deep, but I would tend to believe that it isn’t as deep as ours. But still, we need to keep a steady approach and jump on pitches in the zone.

Execute with RISP and generate scoring opportunities for the heart of the order

Down the stretch of the season, we’ve seen the Guardians fail to execute and drive in runs, even when opposing pitchers were backed against the wall. Many of those times, they ultimately came down to the bottom third of our order.

It is more important to generate opportunities for the heart of our order, because our run output isn’t going to come from that bottom third. Our guys 1-6 are very lethal in my eyes, so it’s up to them to generate rallies and execute on scoring opportunitites.

Final Thoughts

I would love nothing more than to see the Guardians take this series against the Tigers and move onto the ALCS for the first time since 2016. The AL is wide open, and we can take this possible perfect storm and run away with an AL pennant.

But it begins here, and there is no telling how great the Tigers have been in September. This is what you sign up for when you are going for a World Series ring, however. It’s just up to us to rise to the occasion just as the Tigers have and meet them there. These Guards have a daunting task ahead of them, but we all know that the team is full of heart and will fight till the very last out.