Sept. 21 – The Cleveland Guardians are set to host another celebration.
After clinching a playoff spot on Thursday, the Guardians (90-65) lowered their magic number to one and clinched the American League Central title on Friday.
They can clinch the division title on Saturday by losing to the Kansas City Royals or beating the St. Louis Cardinals.
“You try to deal with situations like this every day,” Guardians outfielder Ryan Thomas told BallySports Cleveland. “I know the guys on this club love to work and I think we’ll keep working until we get where we want to be.”
Now they can win the division and be on their way to a bye in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
“We’ve been doing this all year, one game at a time,” catcher Austin Hedges said. “We play our game; we’re a tough team to beat.”
Left-hander Matthew Boyd (2-1, 2.52 ERA) will continue his comeback from Tommy John surgery on Saturday. He has allowed only one run in his first six starts since signing with the Guardians as a free agent in the middle of the season and completing his rehabilitation.
However, Boyd has struggled in recent games, giving up three runs (earned) and three walks on five hits in 2 2/3 innings against the Minnesota Twins on Monday. He struck out five of the eight batters he faced.
He is 1–0 with a 1.38 ERA in two career starts against the Cardinals.
The Cardinals (77-77) had their maths career come to an end Friday when they were eliminated from the NFC Wild Card round after losing 5-1 to the Guardians.
On Saturday, St. Louis will start Miles Mikolas (8-11, 5.49), who struggled in the second half of the season. He went 0-2 with a 6.39 ERA in five starts in August and lasted only six innings in his first two starts of the month, allowing 12 runs on 16 hits (9 ERA).
He showed improvement in his most recent start against the Toronto Blue Jays last Sunday. He allowed two runs on three hits in five innings and the Cardinals lost 3-2.
Mikolas doesn’t like his team’s tendency to lose close games this year.
“It’s Jon Bon Jovi ‘Living on the Edge,’” Mikolas said. “It’s a volatile place. It’s tough to walk on the razor’s edge out there. It makes for some exciting games. I think if you asked a lot of people, we’d like more blowouts on our side.”
“This (Cardinals) lineup can certainly put good swings on the ball and hurt opposing pitchers. I think that’s something we’re going to start to see at the end of the year and hopefully continue into next year with some of the young guys, guys becoming more adaptable and the veterans getting back on track.”
Mikolas lost the only start of his career against the Guardians, giving up two runs on five hits in seven innings. That was 10 years ago — Aug. 2, 2014 — when he was a member of the Texas Rangers.
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