Guardians clinch post-season berth, completing historic turnaround

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said during Cleveland's 10-game losing streak in early July there was light at the end of the tunnel and things would turn around.

Vogt ended up selling his team a little short, as the Guardians made one of the biggest turnarounds in baseball history.

Cleveland clinched a post-season spot in fittingly improbable fashion. C.J. Kayfus was hit in the arm by a fastball from Texas Rangers reliever Robert Garcia with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth inning Saturday night, scoring Petey Halpin with the winning run to give the hometown Guardians a 3-2 victory that put them in the playoffs.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time since at least 1920 a team won on a walk-off hit by pitch to clinch a post-season spot.

"When they walked [Gabriel] Arias [to load the bases], I knew I had a job to do. I knew I was going to get that job done one way or another, but I definitely didn't think it was going to be like that," said Kayfus, called up from the minors in early August.

The Guardians (86-74) became the fourth major league team and first in the American League to reach the post-season after having a 10-game losing streak, joining the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers, 1982 Atlanta Braves and 1951 New York Giants.

"It's exactly us. Of course, we're going to get in on a walk-off hit by pitch" a champagne-soaked Vogt said in the clubhouse as his team was celebrating. "Just to stop and think about where we came from to get here, there's no words. I couldn't be more proud of these guys. They've earned every bit of this."

According to FanGraphs, the Guardians had a 2.9 per cent chance to make the postseason and a 0.2 per cent chance to win the AL Central on Sept. 1.

Cleveland remains tied with Detroit for the division lead after the Tigers also wrapped up a postseason spot Saturday with a 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

If Cleveland and Detroit end up tied after Sunday's games, the Guardians would win the AL Central due to an 8-5 advantage in the season series. They would host a Wild Card Series starting Tuesday.

Even though Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez have been the Guardians' offensive stalwarts all year, others have picked up the slack in September.

Johnathan Rodriguez, called up Wednesday after David Fry was hit in the face by a pitch Tuesday night, batted cleanup and hit a two-run homer in the first inning to put the Guardians up 2-1. It was the first at-bat for Rodriguez, who had a .167 batting average in 29 major league games, since he was called up for his third stint this season.

"They showed me the lineup last night and I showed it to my wife. She said just to play like you did at triple-A," Rodriguez said.

On Wednesday, the Guardians became the first major league team to overcome a deficit of 15 1/2 games and take the lead in either division or league play with a 5-1 win over the Tigers. Cleveland was 40-48 and 6 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot on July 6 after a 7-2 loss in 10 innings to the Tigers extended the losing streak to 10.

Since July 7, the Guardians are an AL-best 47-26.

The 1914 Boston Braves were 15 games back in the National League on July 4 and rallied to win by 10 1/2 games, according to Elias. Since baseball went to division play in 1969, the biggest deficit overcome was 14 games by the 1978 New York Yankees to win the AL East.

On Sept. 4, the Guardians were 69-70 and 11 games behind the Tigers before going 15-1, including a 10-game winning streak that included a three-game sweep in Detroit. It is the largest September lead overcome to tie or take the lead in the division or league, according to Elias. The previous mark was 8 1/2 games by the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals and 1964 Cincinnati Reds.

Cleveland found its way back to the post-season despite reliever Emmanuel Clase and starting pitcher Luis Ortiz being placed on non-disciplinary leave in July as part of investigations into their possible involvement in gambling during games. Ortiz was placed on leave July 3 and Clase on July 28.

"I give our players and coaches and staff and [Vogt] a ton of credit because it was a really hard mountain to climb to make this a reality," Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said.

"There were obviously times during the season where this looked really far away, and our group was never daunted by that. They showed up each day with the same energy, the same focus, the same intensity, to try to figure out a way to win a game that night, and that mindset's really carried us forward to today."

The Boston clinch party moved across the diamond.

Less than 24 hours after the hometown Red Sox drenched the home clubhouse at Fenway Park to celebrate their pos-season berth, the Detroit Tigers were spraying Champagne in the visitors' locker room Saturday after beating Boston to earn a spot in the American League playoffs.

"They didn't forget to celebrate, I'll tell you that," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters as he ducked into a hallway to try to get away from the post-game mayhem. "We're having a good time because we've earned it. But it's very rewarding to get to the post-season, no matter how you do it."

After blowing a 14-game lead in the AL Central and an eighth-inning lead on Friday night that would have secured their spot a day earlier, the Tigers beat the Red Sox 2-1 on Saturday. Assured at least a wild card, Detroit can still win the division and host a first-round playoff series with a victory Sunday at Boston and a Cleveland loss to Texas.

The victory with one game to play averted a collapse that would have been among the biggest in baseball history. The Guardians, who were in fourth place and 15 1/2 games out of first on July 8, can complete the biggest comeback ever with a win Sunday or a Tigers loss. Cleveland topped Texas 3-2 on Saturday night and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Detroit after winning their season series.

The Houston Astros' streak of eight consecutive playoff appearances ended Saturday night in the second inning of their 6-1 victory over Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif.

The Astros took the field at Angel Stadium with a glimmer of hope, as the Cleveland Guardians and Texas Rangers were tied going into the ninth inning at Progressive Field.

But with Christian Walker at the plate in the top of the second in Anaheim, Guardians outfielder C.J. Kayfus was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to give Cleveland a 3-2 win over the Rangers, clinching the final American League playoff berth for the Guardians and eliminating the Astros.

This will be the first time the Astros (86-75) miss the postseason since 2016. They made seven straight trips to the AL Championship Series from 2017-23, winning four pennants and a pair of World Series titles (2017 and 2022) during that stretch.

In fact, Sunday's season finale against the Angels will be only the fourth game since the start of the 2015 season in which the Astros will be out of playoff contention.

"I want to apologize to the fans in Houston for falling short — it's not what they're accustomed to," Astros infielder Carlos Correa said. "They're used to watching playoff baseball, and they look forward to that every single year.

"We were not able to accomplish that this year, but we promise our fans in Houston that this offseason is going to be one of a lot of hard work. We're going to get better, and next year is going to be one to remember."