For the third time in less than a month, the Cleveland Guardians formed a semi-circle in their clubhouse, celebrating by pouring champagne and beer on each other while “Rocky Top” played loudly.
The choice of song is special, just like this team. The Guardians are an unexpected surprise this October.
Lane Thomas hit a grand slam off Detroit’s star pitcher Tarik Skubal, and the Guardians, who have won games with timely hitting and a strong bullpen all season, followed that formula for a 7-3 victory over the Tigers in Game 5 of their AL Division Series on Saturday.
Next, Cleveland will face the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series, a matchup between two teams that have played each other in the playoffs six times before. They last met in 2022, when the Yankees won their ALDS in five games.
Game 1 is on Monday in the Bronx. With their $109 million payroll, the Guardians stand out among baseball’s final four teams — the underdogs going up against the big-spending Yankees, Mets, and Los Angeles Dodgers.
It’s Cleveland against everyone else.
“We’re playing a very, very good Yankees team,” said Guardians first-year manager Stephen Vogt. “We’ve seen them in the regular season. This is one of the most talented teams in the league. So we know we have our work cut out for us.”
Thomas had five RBIs for the Guardians, who were not expected to be competitive this season. However, they won the tough AL Central under Vogt, giving the franchise a chance to end a World Series title drought that dates back to 1948.
“We’re a step closer. Any time you’re a step closer, the more you want to win,” All-Star third baseman José Ramírez said through an interpreter. “And we want to win it for the city.”
The Guardians needed to overcome Skubal, who is a strong candidate for the AL Cy Young Award, to keep their season alive. The left-hander hadn’t given up a run in 28 consecutive innings — including 17 in this postseason — before the Guardians scored five runs against him in the fifth inning, matching the most he allowed in 2024.
“They wanted to face him today,” Vogt said. “And if you don’t show up fully confident that you’re going to win, you don’t show up to the field. That’s been our approach all year, and we’re not going to stop now.”
Cleveland created their big inning off Skubal using their familiar, scrappy style called “Guards Ball,” getting three singles — one being an infield hit — to load the bases before Skubal hit Ramírez on the left hand, forcing in a run.
“That’s who we are,” Vogt said. “That’s who that group has been in that room all year. As soon as we get punched, we answer. That’s been our M.O. all year long — as soon as we give up a run, our guys come right back.”
This led to Thomas, who hit a three-run homer in Cleveland’s 7-0 victory in Game 1.
The center fielder, who had a tough first month with the Guardians after joining in a July trade from Washington, connected on Skubal’s first pitch, sending it just over the 19-foot-high wall in left-center field.
When the ball landed, the Guardians’ dugout emptied, and the excited crowd at Progressive Field erupted in cheers.
It was another big moment for Thomas, a Tennessee native, and the reason why the team added “Rocky Top” to its postgame playlist.
“Definitely had some struggles those first two weeks, or maybe even the month,” Thomas said, reflecting on his rocky start with Cleveland. “I’m just thankful they kind of hung with me and let me get my feet under me and kept giving me at-bats. It felt good to kind of come through late in September and obviously in the playoffs.”
The homer was a rare mistake in what has been a strong season for Skubal.
“It was one pitch,” Skubal said. “I would love to have it back. But what a swing. In the moment, you think about executing the pitch and I didn’t do it. This will sting a little bit and it should.”
As he has done all season, Vogt relied on his MLB-best bullpen, which showed some signs of fatigue.
After Thomas hit his homer, the Tigers threatened in the sixth inning, scoring a run on a single by Jake Rogers and loading the bases with two outs. But Hunter Gaddis struck out Kerry Carpenter, who won Game 2 with a three-run homer in the ninth.
The Tigers, however, kept fighting and made it 5-3 with Colt Keith’s one-out RBI double in the seventh. Eli Morgan came in for Cleveland and struck out both batters he faced.
Thomas hit an RBI single in the seventh to give the Guardians a three-run lead, and Vogt called on All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase, the AL’s saves leader, in the eighth to finish off the Tigers.
Clase threw one fastball after another at 100 mph, securing the final six outs. When he retired Keith on a routine grounder to first base, the Guardians could finally relax and prepare for their first ALCS appearance since 2016.
“These moments are made for confidence,” Clase said through an interpreter. “I feel that I’m made for that.”
Skubal lost for the first time since August 2, and the Tigers, who had a chance to eliminate the Guardians at Comerica Park on Thursday, saw their surprising late-season run end in disappointment.
“I have a heartbroken team for all the right reasons,” said Detroit manager A.J. Hinch, who made all the right moves down the stretch.
“I mean we left everything we could on the field against a really good team and we didn’t want the season to end as abruptly as it did.”
Out of the playoff race in August, Detroit regrouped and changed its season. Energized by some young players they called up from the minors, the Tigers went 31-13 after August 11 to earn a postseason spot — one of three AL Central teams to make it.
They swept Houston in the wild-card round before facing Cleveland in the postseason for the first time after more than 2,300 games between the teams.
The Guardians took the lead in April and never let it go. Cleveland became one of the season’s biggest surprises, winning 92 games under Vogt, a former catcher with no prior managerial experience.
Before the game, Vogt felt confident his team wasn’t finished. “It feels like we’re going to New York,” said Vogt. The Guardians are on their way.
