Guardians postseason margin for error just got even even slimmer after Tanner Bibee’s dud against Blue Jays 

Last September, Guardians starter Tanner Bibee put together the best month of his life when he recorded a 1.30 ERA in 27 2/3 innings as Cleveland chased down the Tigers for the American League Central title. 

It looks like this September could be a different story, as he allowed five runs in four innings on Thursday in a crucial 6-3 loss to the Blue Jays. The Guardians now sit at 70-70 and have a 1/2 game lead over the Blue Jays for the American League’s final Wild Card spot. 

The Orioles and Rangers could also join the “1/2 game away” club depending on how their games go tonight. The only silver lining is that the White Sox lost yet again.

The Guardians can't afford more bad starts from Tanner Bibee

Bibee’s strong September last season helped the Guardians in more ways than one. Not only did it help the Guardians catch up to Detroit, but it also helped him push his end of the season numbers into more respectable territory (he entered that month with a 4.77 ERA). 

Even if his ERA isn’t as bad as it was last season, he now has an MLB-leading 15 losses. Sure, part of that is because he wasn’t getting any run support, but his up-and-down performance has also played a part in the amount of losses on his ledger.

Thursday’s start was an example of everything that’s gone wrong for him this year, as he surrendered a season-high five walks along with getting some subpar defense behind him. 

The first instance of those free passes hurting him came in the second inning when he surrendered back-to-back walks  to Sean Keys and Josh Smith. Although he was able to get out of the inning, he needed 27 pitches to get out of the inning. 

The Blue Jays got on the board two innings later on an RBI single from Keys that was set up by an inning-opening walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 

It looked like Bibee had gotten Guerrero out when he induced a harmless pop fly down the third base line, but third baseman Angel Genao failed to corral the ball in foul territory. 

Toronto broke the game open an inning later with a two-run double from Nathan Lukes off Bibee along with a sacrifice fly from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a bloop single from Jesús Sánchez. 

Bibee has all the potential in the world, but it’s getting harder and harder to trust him in the postseason — especially since the Guardians have three ready-made postseason starters in Parker Messick, Gavin Williams and Foster Griffin. 

But first the Guardians need to get there. While they still control their own postseason destiny, they missed a golden opportunity to put the Blue Jays away this week. 

They can’t afford to lose too many more series the rest of the way if they want to stay in control of that postseason destiny. 

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