Why this road trip could decide the Guardians’ postseason fate

In 2022, the newest era of Cleveland Guardians baseball was kicked off in earnest at Chase Field when José Ramírez agreed to his contract extension inside the crammed confines of the visiting manager’s office during spring training. 

Nearly three-and-a-half years later, the Guardians are heading to Chase Field to kick off a six-game road trip that may end up determining how the rest of the season goes for the Guardians. 

Why this road trip could decide the Guardians’ postseason fate

After entering the weekend just a half game behind the Yankees in the race for the American League Wild Card, the Guardians were swept by the Braves over the weekend, which has dropped them to 3 1/2 games back in the race for the Wild Card and 8 1/2 games behind the Tigers in the American League Central. 

But, after a rough weekend, they’re going to get a prime chance to build themselves back into the race this week thanks to a six game road trip that will take them to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks and Arlington to take on the Rangers. 

After spending most of August taking care of business against teams with losing records, they have a golden opportunity in front of them in the form of the 60-65 Diamondbacks.

Although they’re a bit better than their record, they traded off some big pieces at the deadline (starting with old friend Josh Naylor) and have pivoted more toward development than wins. There’s also the rumblings about some discontent in the clubhouse due to Ketel Marte’s desire (or lack thereof) to play. 

With all that in mind, the Guardians don’t have any excuse to not take at least two out of three from the Diamondbacks. Meanwhile, the Yankees have Monday off before they play a quick two-game series against the Rays while the Tigers start a three-game series against the Astros on Monday. 

The Guardians arguably have the weakest opponent of that trio, and they need to take advantage. They’ll have their top two starters going in the first two games of the series in the form of Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee, while their starter for the third game is still TBD.  

After that, they’ll head to Globe Life Field to take on the Rangers in a crucial three-game series. While it’s lost a bit of its luster thanks to the Rangers falling out of the postseason picture (they’re two games behind the Guardians in the Wild Card race), they still have enough talent to make life difficult for Cleveland.

That weekend, the Yankees are in Boston for a crucial four-game series against the Red Sox, while the Tigers are in Kansas City for an American League Central clash against the Royals. 

If the Guardians are able to come out of this road trip with a winning record, they’ll be in a strong spot ahead of a big homestand that features the Tampa Bay Rays (who are hanging out on the fringes of the Wild Card picture) and the Seattle Mariners, who are a 1/2 game up on the Yankees for the final Wild Card spot. 

The Guardians were granted a golden opportunity to pick up some key wins last weekend against the Braves and they failed to do so. They’ll look to avenge those demons on the biggest road trip of the year.