Five Bold Takeaways From Cleveland Guardians ALDS Win Over Detroit Tigers

The Cleveland Guardians are heading to New York to play the Yankees in the ALCS. Here are the biggest takeaways from Saturday's Game 5 win against Tarik Skubal and the Tigers.

Oct 12, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt (12) celebrates after the Guardians beat the Detroit Tigers in game five of the ALDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

How do you even begin to tell the story of Saturday afternoon in downtown Cleveland?

Cleveland baseball fans are starving for a winner and this Guardians team just may have what it takes to be the last one standing in a few weeks.

First things first, though. If you want to have a parade down East 9th street for the first time since 1948, you need to beat the best teams, with the best players, in the biggest pressure-packed moments.

Saturday's come-from-behind win against the presumptive American League Cy Young winner was a nostalgic throwback to some of the most magical nights ever at the Corner of Carnegie and Ontario. This is a Guardians team that has a couple of bonafide Major League stars in Jose Ramirez and Emmanuel Clase, but is mostly a collection of talented players that are team-first guys.

Saturday's 7-3 win in Game 5 of the ALDS over the Detroit Tigers felt like a game of pass-the-baton. Everyone contributed something, and without even one man's effort, perhaps the win doesn't happen. It was a mix of timely execution, good fortune and the city of Cleveland willing the team to a win.

For anyone that argued for "rhythm instead of rest" as October drew near (in other words, why not having a bye would be more beneficial), let Saturday's home field advantage in the decisive Game 5 be exhibit 1A to negate that theory. Cleveland fans made it a very difficult environment for the Tigers.

As it turns out, three of the four teams that had top-2 seeds in this year's postseason are playing in their respective LCS.

Here are a handful of parting thoughts from the Progressive Field press box as dusk falls on northeast Ohio.

Steven Kwan is SO back

All-star outfielder Steven Kwan looked like Ted Williams in the beginning of the season. There was lots of talk about him chasing a .400 batting average this year. But after he was hampered by injury and a really sluggish second half, it was fair to wonder if Kwan belonged at the top of Cleveland's lineup. Well, something about playoff baseball seems to bring out the best in Kwan.

Kwan became the first Clevelander and third MLB player ever to have three consecutive 3-hit games in the playoffs. He also extended his postseason hit-streak to 10 games, which ties Kenny Lofton (1995) for the longest in Cleveland postseason franchise history. His 11 base hits in the series is the second most by any player in ALDS/NLDS history.

Stephen Vogt, Lane Thomas, Brayan Rocchio deserve their flowers

Managing in the playoffs is a different animal. Stephen Vogt is a rookie manager who took some heat for the way his substitutions didn't work in Game 3, but he never flinched under pressure, didn't second guess himself after falling behind 2-1 in the series and he made a number of excellent moves that paid off to win Games 4 and 5.

Lane Thomas' first month after Cleveland traded for him didn't go well at all offensively. But Vogt and the Guardians staff stuck by Thomas and gave him a chance to work through it. Boy has that paid off in October. Thomas' grand slam was probably Cleveland's biggest hit since Rajai Davis' home run in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series off Aroldis Chapman. And how improbably to do it off Tarik Skubal - he seemed like the least susceptible pitcher in the game to give up a home run of that magnitude. It's the first grand slam Skubal ever allowed in his career.

LANE THOMAS. GRAND SLAM. @CLEGUARDIANS ON TOP.#ALDS pic.twitter.com/9bxvHY59T9

— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024

Thomas' third career grand slam was also the sixth postseason grand slam in Guardians history. It definitely brought back to mind the most recent postseason grand slam for Cleveland - Francisco Lindor's "Santa Maria" moment in Game 2 of the 2017 ALDS against the Yankees.

One more wild note: Thomas became the fourth player in MLB history (since 1903) to hit a go-ahead grand slam in a winner-take-all Postseason game. He joined Washington's Howie Kendrick (2019 NLDS Game 5 at Los Angeles), San Francisco's Brandon Crawford (2014 NL Wild Card Game at Pittsburgh) and Boston's Troy O'Leary (1999 ALDS Game 5 at Cleveland).

And then there's Brayan Rocchio. Of all the things I would have expected to hear this postseason, 34,105 fans rhythmically chanting his name in the playoffs wasn't on my bingo card. Rocchio has flashed a reasonably good glove at shortstop this year, but his bat has often been problematic. Well, tip your cap to the Venezuelan for a great series. He hit safely in all five games, going 6-for-16 with two doubles, two walks and a .944 OPS.

All gas, no breaks

So many moments stand out from this game, but perhaps my favorite was "the rematch." Clase got another shot at Kerry Carpenter after Carpenter took him deep to win Game 2 last Monday. After throwing three straight sliders to Carpenter on Monday and ultimately getting burned by it, Clase struck him out on an 8-pitch at bat featuring seven cutters and a 4-seam fastball, the slowest of which was 99.9 miles per hour. The primal scream and stare down from Clase after polishing off that at bat is forever seared in my memory.

Emmanuel Clase, 100mph Cutter...and Stare. pic.twitter.com/XFH7aRidYc

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 12, 2024

A new rivalry?

Cleveland and Detroit are techincally AL Central rivals. But there's something about the matchup that's been missing. Cleveland has stood in Detroit's way for so many of the last 30 years, but the Tigers have rarely prevented the Indians/Guardians from achieving postseason success.

It sure feels like that could change going forward.

Much like Cleveland, Detroit has a young roster with quite a bit of controllable talent. The Guardians got the better of the Tigers in this series, but there's no doubt Guardians fans are going to be keenly aware of when these two teams will play next summer. Detroit had an incredible 2-month run from August 11 to October 12. They had a 0.2 percent chance of making the playoffs, but they put together an unbelievable stretch and they'll be better for it next year.

Rewriting history

Earlier this week, the Guardians won Game 4 in a true elimination game. It was their first win in an elimination game in 27 years, having lost a Major League record 11 straight elimination games. While technically a loss Saturday would have ended their season, a winner-take-all game is classified differently than an elimination contest ... and Cleveland's win snapped a streak in that regard, too. The Guardians hadn't won a winner-take-all game since the 1997 ALDS against the New York Yankees, beating them 4-3 in Game 5. That was also the last time Cleveland overcame a 2-1 series deficit and won a division series in five games.

The New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland Guardians - one of those four teams is going to be the World Series champion.

Three down, eight to go.