CLEVELAND — The sound of backslaps stuffed the Guardians’ clubhouse proper after Cleveland misplaced within the American League Championship Collection to the New York Yankees on Saturday night time — teammates giving each other season-ending hugs, silent expressions of thanks for a yr of shared accomplishment.
In a single nook, teammates Josh Naylor, Austin Hedges and Matthew Boyd talked quietly, and when Steven Kwan walked as much as the group, Boyd reached out and supplied a fist bump. “As a result of we have been so shut,” Kwan mentioned, “it makes it sting slightly bit extra.”
Supervisor Stephen Vogt gathered the gamers proper after the Guardians misplaced on a Tenth-inning house run by Juan Soto, and advised them how proud he was of them. “Clearly, we’re hurting,” Vogt advised reporters after a 5-2 loss. “What a recreation to complete on.”
The Guardians performed effectively past expectations all through the 2024 season, seizing first place within the AL Central early within the yr and holding it all through the summer time on the way in which to a 92-69 file. Having clinched a first-round bye within the playoffs, the Guardians got here again to beat Detroit within the division sequence, beating presumptive Cy Younger Award winner Tarik Skubal with a dramatic grand slam by Lane Thomas.
The matchup with the Yankees in a sequence was much more intense than the 4-1 outcome would recommend. In Recreation 3, the Guardians had come again with late-inning house runs from Jhonkensy Noel and David Fry to win in a walk-off, and in Recreation 4, Cleveland had rebounded from a 6-2 deficit to push the Yankees earlier than shedding. And in Recreation 5, the Yankees wanted an extra-inning house run from Soto.
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In the long run, the relievers largely liable for the Guardians’ success this season lastly faltered within the playoffs. Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith gave up three homers on this sequence, after giving up solely three in the course of the common season, and Hunter Gaddis, who was spectacular in the course of the common season, gave up Soto’s homer. “They carried us right here,” mentioned Vogt, who’s prone to obtain sturdy consideration for supervisor of the yr in his first season because the substitute for Terry Francona. “If it wasn’t for these guys, we would not have gotten this far. They deserve a ton of credit score.”
Brayan Rocchio, the Guardians’ shortstop, wouldn’t settle for the premise that the loss to the Yankees was a disappointment, “as a result of alongside the way in which, we skilled a variety of development.”
Within the speedy distress of elimination, there appeared to be an acknowledgment of a yr of progress, for younger gamers equivalent to Rocchio and Noel. For Tanner Bibee, who turned the Guardians’ de facto ace after accidents and struggles of different beginning pitchers; this is likely to be why Bibee was emotional as he talked concerning the yr the Guardians shared. Jose Ramirez, Kwan, the members of that dominant bullpen will all be again subsequent yr. “This,” Boyd mentioned, “was a particular group.”
