Stephen Vogt’s Gavin Williams decision could reverberate throughout long, cold winter for Guardians fans 

The final nine innings of the 2026 Cleveland Guardians’ season featured a reliever starting (Shawn Armstrong), a starter working in relief (Joey Cantillo) and Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis serving up home runs in the final innings. 

And while all that happened, Gavin Williams sat in the dugout waiting for a Game 7 that never came. 

From the moment the Guardians’ pitching plan got thrown on its head following last Friday’s rainout, Stephen Vogt was clear that Gavin Williams wasn’t going to be available until Game 7. Although that would have given the Guardians a clear advantage in that winner-take-all game, he was left waiting in the dugout after the rest of Cleveland's pitching staff wasn’t able to get the job done ahead of him. 

The Guardians went with some Shawn Armstrong-led pitching madness in Game 4 but they suffered a 7-3 loss after every reliever but one gave up a run behind Armstrong. Vogt and the rest of the Guardians' brain trust elected to push Parker Messick up to Game 5. But he went just two innings, which proved to be the beginning of the end for the 2026 Guardians. 

The Guardians ALCS loss featured a serve lack of Gavin Williams

Williams finished his third postseason with a 2.16 ERA in 16 2/3 innings across three starts and one relief appearance with an eye-popping 33 strikeouts… yet he still only made one appearance in a six-game series that could have pushed the Guardians to the World Series. 

Part of that stemmed from the fact Williams pitched the final game of the American League Division Series so he wasn’t available until Game 3 of the ALCS, but it’s still hard to believe the Guardians only used their best pitcher once in a series that presented them with their best chance to make the World Series in a decade. 

It would be one thing if the Guardians’ lack of Williams came in a series where the Guardians got solid pitching from the rest of their staff, but they surrendered 17 runs in the final three games of the series while using two bullpen games and plenty of Matt Festa. 

Even if Williams’ lack of usage was an aggravating end note for the Guardians’ postseason run, it didn’t do anything to take away from a fantastic season that could end with him earning some down-ballot Cy Young votes. 

He finished the year with an American League-leading 248 strikeouts in a career-high 184 1/3 innings while cutting nearly 3% off his walk rate. His price tag is about to go up now that he’s arbitration-eligible (projected $4.4 million salary), but that’s still a cheap enough price tag that the Guardians won’t consider trading him (yet). 

Williams may not have been a big part of the Guardians’ ALCS plans, but he’s going to be a big part of the 2027 rotation.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow