AL Central Standings: Guardians' sweep of Tigers proves postseason dream is legit

It’s safe to say that the Detroit Tigers are probably tired of José Ramírez. 

Ramírez has tortured the Tigers for the better part of the last decade, and he added another signature moment on Thursday with a tie-breaking two-run home in the seventh inning in a 3-1 win that secured a Guardians sweep. They've won seven games in a row.

Ramírez now has mashed 35 career home runs against the Tigers, which is tied for the most he’s hit against any team in his career (he's also hit 35 against the White Sox).

With the win, the Guardians are now just 3 1/2 games back of the Tigers with a little more than a week left in the season. Although the Tigers’ magic number is still five games (which shrinks with every Guardians loss and/or Tigers win), the Guardians did their part to hold that off week by sweeping the Tigers. 

The Cleveland Guardians are a legitimate postseason contender

They’re currently two games out of a Wild Card spot, but that could shrink depending on how things shake out in the rest of the afternoon. 

The Guardians moved Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee up in the rotation so that they could face off against the Tigers, and they combined to allow just one run over 11 innings. Combine that with Joey Cantillo’s five innings on Tuesday, and Guardians starters had a 1.69 ERA over 16 innings in the three-game series.

And those performances stood up thanks to some strong performances from the offense. While Thursday’s win was the classic game where the Guardians got just enough from their offense, they scored seven runs in Tuesday’s win and four runs in Wednesday’s shutout win. 

Bibee nearly matched reigning American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal pitch-for-pitch. Skubal’s one blemish came on a solo home run from Jhonkensy Noel, whereas the Tigers' run came on an RBI double from Colt Keith in the second inning. The Tigers seemed poised for a big inning since Keith’s double came with no one out, but Bibee was able to lock down and wiggle out of the inning. 

While Bibee’s outing wasn’t as good as the complete game shutout he threw against the White Sox, he’s now allowed just three earned runs in 21 2/3 innings this season. 

That’ll play. 

The Guardians’ bullpen followed Bibee with three huge innings from Tim Herrin, Kolby Allard and Hunter Gaddis. Not a murder’s row, but Cleveland’s bullpen was pretty tapped after two high-stress games so they had to lean on some of the lower tier arms, and they answered the call. 

Prior to this series, the Guardians’ postseason aspirations seemed like a fun story or something that could be explained away. 

“Sure they’ve gone 9-1 in their last 10, but their postseason chances are barely in double-digits. Get real!”

But that’s no longer the case. Their deficit in the division is less than four games and they still have three games remaining against the Tigers next week. 

But first they’ll need to take care of business in their four-game series this weekend against the Twins. The Guardians have already gone 6-3 against the Twins so far this year, and will have a chance to gain multiple games in the standings on Saturday thanks to a double-header. 

The Guardians are on the cusp of knocking down the door in the American League Central thanks to their sweep this week. If they handle business against the Twins, they should break that door down.