KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Six games back of the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox in mid-August, the Cleveland Guardians threw everything they had at chasing down their division foes.
Lucky them, the AL Central crown comes with a little break before their postseason begins.
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“We’ll get some rest. This team was on fumes,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said after his club wrapped up its third straight division title by beating the Kansas City Royals 11-5 on Saturday night while Chicago lost 9-6 to the Colorado Rockies.
Cleveland has won seven AL Central championships in the past 11 seasons — so the Guardians know how to celebrate.
After nearly an hour of dousing each other with bubbly in the clubhouse, drenched players spilled out of the visitors' dugout to continue their celebration and slip and slide on the tarp-covered Kauffman Stadium field as the rain began to fall harder.
“What an incredible accomplishment,” said Guardians president Chris Antonetti, who lauded the players, coaching staff and his front office for their hard work.
“But this is why we do it,” he said, gesturing to the celebration in the locker room.
The Guardians clinched a postseason berth with Thursday’s 1-0 win over the Boston Red Sox. They’ve earned a playoff spot eight times since 2016.
“There’s so many people that have contributed to this win, this championship, and I think that’s what makes this feel really good,” Vogt said. “I think that’s the story of this year, how deep the roster was.”
Vogt is the eighth manager to guide a team to the postseason in each of his first three seasons, and the 2026 title required his most creative efforts. That included overcoming injuries to José Ramírez, Angel Martínez and rookie Chase DeLauter.
“We were without three of our best hitters for over a month and the boys held it together,” Vogt said. “They held the season together. Our season could have gone very differently.”
The Guardians tried to bolster the club with the trade-deadline acquisitions of outfielder Jo Adell, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, left-hander Foster Griffin and right-hander Craig Yoho.
Yet the Guardians trailed Chicago by six games on Aug. 16. Then they won 25 of the next 36, including 15 of the past 21.
“What this team did over the last 21 games was really special,” Vogt said. “(The players) deserve all the credit.”
The White Sox led or were tied for first in the AL Central from July 4 until Sept. 16.
Cleveland became the first team since divisional play began in 1969 to win consecutive division titles after being at least six games back through 125 games in both years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“I feel like the thing about us, the stretch we had after the All-Star break, the majority of teams could have folded,” said Tanner Bibee, the winning pitcher Saturday.
“We could have went back in our shell, but we knew it was going to flip. If you show up every day on the field in the same way, usually the baseball gods reward you in a good way.”
Cleveland will wrap up its regular season Sunday, then will be off until opening a best-of-five Division Series at home next Saturday.
Bibee, whose 15 losses are tied for the major league lead, sees the playoffs as a reset.
“At this point, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Everyone’s at zero when it gets to October. The stats don’t matter. Only wins do now. That’s the beautiful thing about October.”
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