Foster Griffin is the key to whether the Guardians make the postseason or not

The start to Foster Griffin's time in Cleveland has not been a smooth ride.

His first start was a mini-disaster, as he gave up up five earned runs in just four innings. While he rebounded to find to stability after, his start against the Orioles earlier this week was even worse as he gave up eight earned runs and failed to make it out of the third inning.

However, he's still recorded some solid starts with the Guardians, even if none of them have jumped off the page. But he has a good chance to put that in the rearview mirror and build his Guardians legacy by pitching well over the final two weeks of the season.

Foster Griffin's struggles have loomed large for the Guardians

The main benefit that Griffin has brought the rotation is being another pitcher who can consistently get through five or six innings.

Of the five starts he had between his first and last start with the Guardians, he got through five innings in every one and even got through six in two others. On top of that, there were two games where he got taken out after five innings where had a pitch count that suggested he could have gone out for one more inning.

This may not seem like a big number, but Slade Cecconi (whose spot Griffin took) had been taken out prior to finishing the fifth inning in 33% of his starts this season and he failed to reach the mark in each of his final three starts before getting bumped out of the rotation.

His length may not be sign of a dominant starter or somebody that you are excited to have on the mound, but it helps save the bullpen a couple of innings whenever he goes out. 

That said, his consistency hasn't been something that people will write home about since he's had two blowup starts in seven appearances.

But most of his starts have resulted in the Guardians' offense knowing what they need to do to win. In his five starts that haven't been blow ups, he's given up anywhere between one and three runs and kept the Guardians in position to win.

The Guardians are 4-3 in his seven starts, which is not something that will amaze anyone but it is what you should hope to get out of the back of your rotation. 

As we enter the final weeks of the regular season Griffin is slated to start three more times this year, including a game against the White Sox next week.

If he can avoid another blow up, the Guardians should be in a situation to go at least 2-1 in those starts. This will help take a little bit of pressure off of Gavin Williams and Parker Messick as well as limiting the bullpen's workload.

Even though the Guardians are in control of a postseason spot, they're have some work to do to officially lock down a postseason spot.

If the Guardians do find themselves in October, Griffin will be even more of an asset in an already deep rotation.

Even though the Guardians' top-three postseason starters feel are likely already locked in (Messick, Williams and Tanner Bibee in some order), Griffin could serve as the Game 4 starter or long reliever depending on how the schedule lines up.

Griffin may not be somebody that Guardians fans would be super pumped to see in the postseason, but he's better than most team's fourth option. That kind of depth can be the difference in a long postseason run.

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