Game 6 of ALCS is going to give the Guardians’ pitching factory its biggest test in recent memory 

For the past decade, the Guardians have been able to keep their window of contention wide open thanks to a seemingly endless supply of young, above-average pitchers. 

While not all of them have gone on to become frontline starters like Parker Messick and Gavin Williams, guys like Tanner Bibee and Joey Cantillo (and Triston McKenzie, Ben Lively and others) showed enough to be considered solid middle-of-the-rotation arms. 

But the rubber is going to hit the road on that hypothesis later today when the Guardians take on the Rays in Game 6 of the ALCS on a day where their pitching staff is the furthest thing from fresh. 

The Guardians and manager Stephen Vogt thought they had gamed the system yesterday by starting Parker Messick in Game 5, but he lasted just two innings and Vogt was forced to burn five of his relievers to cover the final seven innings of an eventual 3-1 loss. 

Now they’re staring down the barrel of an elimination game with a pitching picture that likely includes Tanner Bibee, Joey Cantillo and Slade Cecconi. Having fun yet? 

The Guardians season is going to come down to their pitching depth

Messick’s start unraveled from the start thanks to a rough first inning where Messick walked in a run and was forced to throw 31 pitches. His day was done not long after a laborious second inning where the Rays scored another run on a Jonathan Aranda single. 

The rest of the game was covered by the five biggest names in the Guardians’ bullpen in Tim Herrin, Shawn Armstrong, Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith. 

That isn’t going to stop them from being available tonight (or tomorrow if needed), but it does likely put a limit on their effectiveness for later today. 

The “good” news is that none of Bibee, Cantillo and Cecconi pitched. But even that isn’t a true win since Bibee has made two appearances over the last calendar month while Cantillo and Cecconi both pitched on Saturday. It’s hard to imagine that any of them are going to be able to give the Guardians more than two innings.

One option on the table for the Guardians is to use Daniel Espino as an opener ahead of Cantillo, which worked well at the end of the season and in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. 

But no matter what the Guardians do, Gavin Williams isn’t going to be a part of it after Vogt announced that Williams isn’t going to be an option on short rest. The next time we’ll see him will either be on Tuesday in Game 7 or sometime next season (whenever that is). 

The Guardians’ stable of quality pitching has been a lifeline at various points over the past decade. It’s going to need to be at its best for three hours later today if they want their season to continue.

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