The Guardians were 'on fumes' to close out the AL Central, and now they get a bye to recover

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Six games back of the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox in mid-August, the Cleveland Guardians threw everything they had at chasing down their division foes.

Lucky them, the AL Central crown comes with a little break before their postseason begins.

“We’ll get some rest, this team was on fumes,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said after his club wrapped up its third straight division title by beating the Kansas City Royals 11-5 on Saturday night while Chicago lost 9-6 to the Colorado Rockies. Cleveland has won seven AL Central championships in the past 11 seasons.

So they know how to celebrate.

After nearly an hour of dousing each other with bubbly in the clubhouse, drenched Guardians players spilled out of their dugout to continue their celebration and slip-and-slide on the tarp-covered Kauffman Stadium field as the rain began to fall harder.

“What an incredible accomplishment,” said Guardians president Chris Antonetti, who lauded the players, coaching staff and his front office for their hard work.

“But this is why we do it,” he said, gesturing to the celebration in the locker room.

The Guardians clinched a postseason berth with Thursday’s 1-0 win over the Boston Red Sox. They’ve earned a playoff spot eight times since 2016.

“There’s so many people that have contributed to this win, this championship and I think that’s what makes this feel really good,” Vogt said. “I think that’s the story of this year, how deep the roster was.”

Vogt is the eighth manager to guide a team to the postseason in each of his first three seasons, and the 2026 championship required his most creative efforts. That included overcoming injuries to Jose Ramirez, Angel Martínez and rookie Chase DeLauter.

“We were without three of our best hitters for over a month and the boys held it together,” Vogt said. “They held the season together. Our season could have gone very differently.”

The Guardians tried to bolster the club with the trade-deadline acquisitions of outfielder Jo Adell, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, left-hander Foster Griffin and right-hander Craig Yoho.

Yet the Guardians trailed Chicago by six games on Aug. 16. Then they won 25 of the next 36, including 15 of their final 21.

“What this team did over the last 21 games was really special,” Vogt said. “(The players) deserve all the credit.”

“I feel like the thing about us, the stretch we had after the All-Star break, the majority of teams could have folded,” Saturday’s winning pitcher, Tanner Bibee said.

“We could have went back in our shell, but we knew it was going to flip. If you show up every day on the field in the same way, usually the baseball gods reward you in a good way.”

Cleveland will wrap its season Sunday, then will be off until opening an AL Division Series at home next Saturday.

Bibee, whose 15 losses are tied for the major-league lead, sees the playoffs as a reset.

“At this point, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Everyone’s at zero when it gets to October. The stats don’t matter. Only wins do now. That’s the beautiful thing about October.”

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