The Guardians rise has been remarkable.
Top AL contenders stunned by Guardians' improbable comeback originally appeared on The Sporting News
There is no better story currently going on in the baseball world than what the Cleveland Guardians are doing in September. After being down significantly in the division and looking like the 2025 season was a lost year, the Guardians are fighting back.
At one point in the season, the Guardians were down 15.5 games to the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central division. Now, after a remarkable stretch of baseball in September, they're just one game back of Detroit for the top spot in the division.
This meteoric rise has been stunning to witness, and as Bob Nightengale of USA Today highlighted in a recent piece, even other top American League postseason contenders are stunned by the Guardians' ascension of late.
How top AL contenders have reacted to Guardians' meteoric rise
The Guardians were down 15.5 games at one point this season, and were 12.5 games back on August 25th. Now, they're down just one game. Nightengale's report highlights just how improbable this comeback has been for the Guardians.
According to Nighetengale, "Not a single contender was advance scouting Cleveland until this weekend."
While teams like the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays were looking ahead at their top competition, like the Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, and Seattle Mariners. Instead, those teams now need to be wary and scout the Guardians.
It's an incredible indication of how much the season has shifted in the last two weeks. If some of the top contenders weren't even scouting the Guardians for a postseason series, it's a sign that those teams didn't believe they were a threat to make the postseason.
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Now, not only are the Guardians in good shape to make the playoffs, but they could also win the AL Central, and they're even still in play to potentially earn a first-round bye.
While such an outcome isn't likely, the Guardians winning the Central and securing a postseason spot is far from out of the question. No team is hotter than the Guardians with seven games to go, and there's ample reason to believe there's no stopping them now.
After the Guardians swept the Minnesota Twins in the doubleheader on Saturday, along with the Astros' loss on Saturday night, the Guardians now hold the third wild card spot. Even if they can't clinch the division, the Guardians can still make the postseason.
It's been an exciting past few weeks for the Guardians, and this report from Nightengale shows just how improbable this ascension has been. It's stunned fans, and even more impressive, it's stunned the top contenders in the American League.
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