Cleveland Guardians Fall In Potential Playoff Preview

The Houston Astros defeated the Cleveland Guardians in the final regular season series.

Sep 28, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Houston Astros first baseman Jon Singleton (28) tags out Cleveland Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio (4) during the fourth inning at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The Cleveland Guardians are wrapping up their regular season on Sunday against the Houston Astros.

No matter what happens on the final day of the regular season, Cleveland will finish with more than 90 wins and atop the American League Central under rookie manager Stephen Vogt.

There's a very good chance that fans, coaches, scouts, and players are watching a potential preview of next weekend's ALDS. As it stands, the Guardians will take on the winner of the third and sixth seeds in the AL, which just so happens to be either the Kansas City Royals or the Houston Astros.

The Astros would have home-field advantage in that series, and their roster is full of veterans and experience. The Royals are still young and have numerous players who have never appeared in the postseason before.

All of this makes a Guardians-Astros playoff series even more likely.

So, should Cleveland fans be concerned about how their team played considering these two teams could face off again in a matter of days? Not quite.

Vogt has made it clear that the team is still trying to answer some questions regarding their pitching staff and their playoff plan.

It's one of the main reasons Gavin Williams will come out of the bullpen in the series finale. Tanner Bibee and Matthew Boyd, arguably Cleveland's best two starters, were also pushed from making starts in this series and will throw simulated games instead.

This is all setting the Guardians up to have their top arms on the mound in the playoffs.

Sep 28, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians first baseman Kyle Manzardo (9) forces out Houston Astros designated hitter Zach Dezenzo (9) during the ninth inning at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The offense is a different story. Houston's Ronel Blanco took the mound on Friday night and shut down Cleveland's offense and even took a no-hitter into the second time through the Guardians' order. Then, on Saturday, Justin Verlander made Cleveland's lineup work in every at-bat.

The Guardians have only scored five runs through the first two games of the series. Three of those are courtesy of Cleveland superstar Jose Ramirez. The bats will have to pick it up in a playoff series with Houston, and Cleveland could find itself in trouble.

Thankfully, the more pitchers the Guardians see in this series, the more data that can be analyzed over the off-days. Even though Cleveland has struggled in this final series, they should be more than prepared for whoever their opponent is next weekend.