The Guardians ascent back to a contender can be traced back to bullpen's quiet dominance

While the Cleveland Guardians managed to pull out an 8-6 win over the Angels on Tuesday night, that dream outcome started with a nightmare scenario thanks to Gavin Williams’ disastrous start. 

Williams, who had authored a Cy Young worthy start his last time out, allowed five runs over 1 1/3 innings before being pulled, which put Cleveland’s bullpen in the unenviable spot of needing to cover at least 7 2/3 innings while also trying to stop the bleeding. 

And they were able to do both of those things thanks to a complete effort from up and down the bullpen.

Matt Festa, Craig Yoho and Logan Allen were able to hold the line as the Guardians offense clawed its way back into the game before Colin Holderman, Erik Sabrowski and Cade Smith closed the door at the end. 

Even if there aren’t going to be many fingernails left in Cleveland if Festa, Yoho and Allen end up pitching in the postseason, their valiant efforts on Tuesday are the kind of performances that helps separate contenders from pretenders across the marathon of the 162-game MLB regular season. 

That outing was also a good example of just how good Cleveland’s bullpen has been lately, as they’ve combined for a 3.77 ERA since the start of August.

While that mark may not seem impressive at face value, it’s important to remember how much the Guardians’ bullpen has changed over the past month. 

The Guardians bullpen has found its footing over the past month

Surely you remember the one inning Will Dion recorded out of the bullpen in August before being traded to the Nationals. How about Franco Aleman’s ineffective 4 2/3 innings? What about Slade Cecconi’s disastrous relief stint that led to him going on the injured list? 

But even with those pitcher’s struggles, the Guardians’ ‘pen has been anchored by some of more unheralded arms. Sabrowski’s been the best of the bunch with eight scoreless innings where he’s allowed just six baserunners along with racking up 13 strikeouts. 

Festa’s also in the midst of his best stretch with the Guardians (0.79 ERA in 11 1/3 innings) while Craig Yoho in the midst of six scoreless innings since he had back-to-back disastrous outings at the beginning of the month. 

Although Guardians fans have gotten used to bullpen dominance in past years, they’ve never really had a unit like this. 

In 2024, it was Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis serving as the solid set up options ahead of Emmanuel Clase in the ninth inning. That was the case again last year until it became an all hands on deck situation after Clase was removed from the roster.

This year has been a bit of a mismash. Smith has morphed into one of the most dominant closers in MLB, but there’s also been a fair amount of instability in front of him thanks to injuries and ineffectiveness. 

But it seems like that’s in the past thanks to Sabrowski, Gaddis, Tim Herrin and Colin Holderman all looking like the ace relievers the Guardians expected them to be. 

Even if the Guardians’ offense has been playing better of late, the bullpen is going to be just as important over the final month of the season.

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