00:00So the Cleveland Guardians have shaken up the American League on their own because, you know, eventually you figured the Yankees would get going, and they did, and the Red Sox, they're where they are.
00:09But all of a sudden, Cleveland has not just jumped into the playoff picture.
00:13They're knocking out the Astros right now, which I don't think anybody had.
00:16And the Astros, by the way, Aram, if they finish 500, the rest of the season are going to look back and say, we won 87 games.
00:22Where do we go wrong?
00:23And they're not going to make the playoffs.
00:24I mean, this is a tough, tough league, this American League.
00:27Well, and even crazier, they could potentially take the division.
00:32The Guardians are only one game back of the Tigers who they play for a three-game set starting today.
00:37This has been one, and I know the Tigers had the, like, shocking run last year, but I'd argue this Guardians run has been as if not more shocking.
00:46Because you look at the offense, other than J-Ram, a little bit of Stephen Kwan and Kyle Manzardo a little bit as well,
00:53nobody in that offense is contributing very consistently or even really close to league average.
00:59They're getting a quality start from six different starters right now.
01:03And then the bullpen's doing its thing despite not having Class A, despite losing Luis Ortiz in that rotation.
01:09It's been one of the more improbable runs I think we've seen.
01:11And it's guard ball, man.
01:13It just seems to be what they do.
01:14Stephen Vogt deserves a ton of credit.
01:16And I'd be scared of them right now.
01:19This is, I think, the most pivotal series of the week.
01:22If the Guardians take care of business against the Tigers, now they're looking and saying,
01:25do we drop out of the playoffs entirely?
01:27I think you're going to look at Scott Harris and say, should he have been more aggressive at the deadline?
01:32Because you just got caught by a team that sold at the deadline a little bit.
01:37I mean, this Guardians team, again, six deep of quality starts, and they traded Shane Bieber away.
01:41So, I think Tigers fans have every right to be upset right now.
01:45And this is a big series going in.
01:47But one way or another, it looks like the Guardians have a couple different ways to make the playoffs here
01:52with a few different teams that could fall behind them.
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