00:00We start with the Gardos this morning as the magic number Spencer is down to two
00:05after an exciting game last night in Kansas City.
00:09The Guardians win 12-9 after scoring five runs in the ninth inning off of one hit
00:15to stay atop of the Chicago White Sox who beat the Colorado Rockies 6-1.
00:20The Guardians is playing lights out baseball right now.
00:23They're playing with a whole lot of momentum, a whole lot of energy,
00:26a whole lot of positivity, and they got those bats going.
00:30After, you know, not scoring a run in game two against your Boston Red Sox
00:34and then getting a 1-0 victory.
00:35So one run in two games and you turn around for a 12-run explosion off of nine hits.
00:41Hell of a game last night for the Guardians.
00:43It was kind of, last night was weirdly like this,
00:47it kind of felt like this weird like push and pull where it's like,
00:50hey, or maybe not even push and pull, but like good thing, bad thing,
00:55where it's like, hey, look how many runs you scored in this game.
00:59Look at the scoreboard, 12-9, you scored 12 runs, the offense comes alive, that's awesome.
01:04But then the flip side, you're sitting there and you're like, oh, Gavin Williams, what happened there?
01:09I'm not, you're not feeling good about that going into the playoffs.
01:12But listen, I think ultimately Gavin Williams is going to be fine.
01:14I don't know that that needs to be something to necessarily worry about.
01:19I don't know, man.
01:23Obviously, they could clinch the division as early as tonight.
01:26We all got to be Rockies fans to a degree.
01:29Hope that they can beat the White Sox and then if the Guardians win in the combo with that,
01:33then they would close this thing out.
01:35I think it's made, it has made this last couple weeks extremely fun.
01:40It has.
01:41Them overtaking the White Sox after they win two out of three in that series against them
01:46and then it took another day or so, I think, to finally get the lead in the division.
01:50And then it's just been this like race to the finish of like who's going to actually win it.
01:56And so it's been as, it's nice because it's not do or die, right?
02:00Like they're in the playoffs no matter what.
02:02But it does feel cool that we're going into the final two games of the regular season
02:07and we get a chance to feel like there's still something to cheer for.
02:10Like you talk about the Red Sox, like they can't really go anywhere.
02:14They were locked in pretty much the two, the second wild card.
02:17If they had lost out or something, there was a chance.
02:20They're the fifth seed, right?
02:20Well, there was a chance they would have been the third wild card and been the fifth seed.
02:24But no, it's whoever ends up losing the division for the AL Central,
02:31that's who ends up the fifth seed essentially because they'd be the fifth wild card
02:33because neither of those teams have as good of a record as the Red Sox.
02:36It's the whole thing.
02:37See, I thought I had, okay, well, I had it wrong this whole time
02:39because I thought it was either second seed or sixth seed for the Cougar Garden.
02:41No, it's second seed or you're the fifth seed because you're that fifth wild card.
02:47But I think even that in itself is a whole lot to play for
02:50because to me that's a dramatic difference in how you can approach the playoffs.
02:54You get that second seed, you get an opportunity to rest Jose Ramirez,
02:57you get an opportunity to really stabilize and go through what your starting rotation
03:01is going to look like.
03:02Well, that's a great question, honestly, though, because...
03:04It's still a lot to play for.
03:05Well, here's the thing.
03:07Are you somebody, Earl, who likes your team having the extra time off
03:14or are you somebody who subscribes to, like, the,
03:16man, baseball's such a game of rhythm and routine
03:20and I want my guys playing the next couple days leading into the ALDS
03:26because I think it's just better for them?
03:27I think it's a fascinating question.
03:29And by the way, for the Guardians, they've seen both, right?
03:32Right.
03:33Two years ago, they were a wild card team, right?
03:36Yeah.
03:36Two years ago, they were a wild card team or maybe it was three years ago
03:39they were a wild card team.
03:41And they obviously, they didn't, they,
03:46did they advance out of the first round that year, I think?
03:48And then this past year, they won the division and kind of lost their steam
03:53and they ended up losing to the Tigers in the ALDS.
03:56So you've kind of seen it go both ways, right?
03:58So it's weird because on one hand, one, I am a big momentum guy,
04:02especially when it comes to baseball.
04:04When you're hot, you want to keep playing as long as you can.
04:07You don't really want to see an off day.
04:09And I think up until probably this conversation,
04:13I had the mindset of you need to get Jose Ramirez some rest.
04:16Maybe if you could rest up Jose, get him as healthy as possible
04:19for this postseason run, it'll be the best thing overall,
04:22especially when you have a lineup full of young hitters.
04:27However, it's not like Jose has been awful, right?
04:30He's turned it around a little bit.
04:32The last seven days, what, he has 24 at-bats.
04:35He has scored nine runs and have eight hits.
04:38He's batted in seven runs.
04:40And so it's not like, you know, I guess what I'm trying to say,
04:44he himself has gained momentum throughout September.
04:47And so there's two sides to that coin.
04:49Do you want to get Jose some extended rest?
04:51Or is it a good opportunity for Jose to stay right where he is,
04:55right where he is right now and continue to build on that?
04:59But overall, I think, like you said, these are exciting times.
05:02They're giving you a lot to cheer for, a lot to pay attention to,
05:06and a lot to be excited for.
05:07As far as Gavin Williams go, that was not his best outing, Spencer.
05:12I'm just going to call that a one-off.
05:13Like, I'd rather him get that out the way before we get to the playoffs
05:16versus that happening in the playoffs.
05:18I thought Steven Vogt did a great job of getting him out of there early
05:22when he noticed he didn't have it.
05:24I think he only threw 74 pitches in that entire game.
05:28He had, what, three and a third of an inning?
05:31Yeah, three and a third, that was it.
05:32So, like, for me, good call by Steven Vogt.
05:34You go to the bullpen early.
05:35It was a lot of runs put up in this game.
05:37I think both teams had combined for, what, seven, eight runs,
05:42something like that, throughout the first four or five innings.
05:44And so to get him out of there early when you've seen he didn't have it,
05:48I thought that was a good call by him.
05:49I thought the bullpen, for the most part, kind of stabilized his game.
05:53The Guardians' offense was consistent.
05:54It was there all night.
05:56It seems like Jensen had our number.
05:59He had two two-run home runs, drove in another one for five total RBIs.
06:03And even in the eighth inning when it seemed like, you know,
06:05you get Gattis in there to kind of do whatever and Jensen ties it up,
06:10it's like the Guardians didn't break.
06:11They were still right there.
06:12They did what they had to do in the ninth inning,
06:14and then they come away victorious.
06:15So I thought it was a lot of good moves made by Steven Vogt
06:19to help us secure this win.
06:21And this is not a place, at least this season,
06:24the Guardians have played well that, meaning in Kansas City.
06:28And tonight, I think they go against Waka,
06:30who's had their number throughout this season.
06:32And so what a way to get this series off and rolling to a good start.
06:36Yeah, no, for sure.
06:37It was exactly what you wanted to see.
06:39I mean, like when the playoffs are this close,
06:41and the thing that we're worried about the most with the Guardians
06:43oftentimes is the offense.
06:44To see them explode for 12 was huge.
06:47You know, I'll tell you, Earl, like I know we sometimes tend to be –
06:53I don't want to be harsh.
06:55I don't know that harsh is the right word,
06:58but I think sometimes you are harsh on the Guardians
07:00because it's like they do this every year.
07:03They're in the playoffs every year.
07:04And so at some point it's like, well,
07:06when are you going to finally be the bride, not the bridesmaid, right?
07:09And it's great to be a bridesmaid,
07:11but at some point you want to see your team be the bride.
07:14And the team came so close in 2016, we came so close to seeing that in 2016,
07:19that there is just this feeling of it's never going to happen.
07:23And that's also part of the Cleveland sports lore.
07:25We know like it's always like there's always something standing in the way
07:28of your team winning it.
07:30But I'll tell you, man, yesterday or this week,
07:36hearing the exact like stats of Guardians going to the playoffs
07:41for the fourth time in five years, the eighth time in 11 years,
07:46the 16th time in 32 years.
07:51Like that is pretty remarkable when you think about it.
07:55Like when you put that in perspective of this city,
07:59what this team's economic means are,
08:03and I know that that gets thrown around too much sometimes,
08:05and sometimes you just want your owner to spend.
08:07I get it.
08:08But when you think about like the sport of baseball,
08:12how difficult that is to accomplish,
08:13the fact that they've been able to in the margins oftentimes make the playoffs
08:18four to the last five, eight to the last 11.
08:20Like they're constantly in it.
08:22They're constantly giving themselves a shot.
08:23And all it takes is like one year.
08:25And this is a year, by the way, we've talked about this a ton.
08:28The AL is wide open.
08:29So somebody was asking me the other day, like,
08:31do you really think the Guardians can win the AL?
08:34Like they were like saying it like they didn't actually believe there was a chance.
08:36And I was like, dude, I do like this.
08:39I understand like every team, every team in the AL has flaws.
08:43The Guardians have their flaws.
08:44We don't, their offense can be streaky at times.
08:46That's why they made some moves at the deadline that I think are starting to pay off now.
08:49And that's going to be the ultimate payoff, right?
08:51Like what are those guys doing the playoffs to help lift this team to maybe making a run?
08:56But like in this AL, absolutely.
08:59I think this team can make a run.
09:00And does that mean they're going to win the World Series?
09:02Not necessarily,
09:03but it is when you sit back and think about it pretty remarkable what this team has been able to
09:07accomplish when we know what we know about their budget and their restraints.
09:12And so we always get to this time of year.
09:14We sort of romanticize it, but it is true.
09:17Like however long this goes, I know Guardians fans are going to enjoy it.
09:20And I hope that there's a longer run in them because again, this field in the AL needs a lot
09:24to be desired.
09:25I would not be surprised if they're the team that comes out of it.
09:28They got to get past some tough teams.
09:29Yes.
09:30But if they're the team that comes out of it and they're, by the way, the side of the bracket
09:33they're going to be on is very advantageous.
09:36Because they're going to play the winner of the AL West, which is going to be a 500 team if
09:40they, you know, and then, or if they win, they will.
09:43And the wildcard teams, like they're all flawed.
09:45So it's going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out, but certainly going to be a fun
09:49ride with this team.
09:49Third straight appearance under Steven Vogt.
09:51Shout out to Steven Vogt.
09:53You know, you come in here as a rookie manager taking over for Tito.
09:56There's a lot of expectations that's associated with that.
09:58And you've got this playoff to the, you've got, you have gotten this team to the playoffs three straight years.
10:05Eight of the last 11 seasons, they've made it to the playoffs.
10:08And you think about it this season, the Cleveland Guardians have a bottom three payroll in all of Major League
10:14Baseball.
10:14This isn't a hand clap to an amazing front office that's led by Chris Antonetti.
10:20This is a hand clap for a guy like Steven Vogt, who always has his team disciplined, bought in, ready
10:26to play.
10:27And it seems like that they have nerves to steal and they know how to survive those big moments.
10:322-1-6-4-7-4-0-92.
10:35We want to hear your thoughts and reactions as the magic number is down to two for the Cleveland Guardians.
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