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September 6th, 2025. The Cleveland Guardians trail the Detroit Tigers for first place in the American League Central by 11 games. Fast forward to September 28th, and the Guardians have clinched the AL Central. The Guardians once fell 15 ½ games back in the division after a seven-run lead was blown to the Tigers on July 6th. In the run-in-between, the Guardians broke the Major League Baseball record for the largest division or league comeback in history. The previous record was held by the 1914 Boston Braves, who trailed by 15 games and came all the way back to win the league championship, which is known today as the World Series. After the greatest comeback in over 100 years, Guardians catcher Austin Hedges said that Guardians Manager Stephen Vogt is “an amazing leader” and “sets the tone.” He feels Vogt was a huge reason the team stayed on course. Vogt played in the MLB for 10 seasons and is in his 2nd year as the Guardians manager. In his first year, Vogt won AL Manager of the Year, and after this comeback, he has a real chance to do it again. The Guardians will look to make their first World Series since 2016 and win their first in 77 years, which is the second-longest drought in the four major American sports. This team does have a sort of magic around them. The Guardians are below the MLB average for RBIs, home runs, batting average, and hits. They are not a team that hits particularly well and is led by their pitching.

Clutch Pitching Guides the Guardians

The Guardians have a league-best 2.61 earned run average (ERA) in the month of September. In 19 games spanning from September 1st to September 21st, Cleveland allowed two runs or fewer in 19 straight games, boasting an ERA of 1.35 during that span. Guardians are above MLB average for ERA, home runs per 9 innings (HR/9), strikeouts (SO), and strikeouts per 9 innings (SO/9). This just shows how impressive their pitching staff was. Key pitchers for Cleveland this season were starters Tanner Bibee and Gavin Williams, who led the team with 12 wins and both had sub-5 ERAs, with Williams having an ERA of 3.05. Bibee got better in September, in four starts, giving up four runs in 27.2 innings of work, which resulted in four wins for Cleveland. The Guardians were sellers at the trade deadline, which resulted in trading one of their best starters, Shane Bieber, to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Guardians also had two pitchers, Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, suspended due to an ongoing gambling investigation. Ortiz had a 4.36 ERA in 16 starts for the Guardians in 2025 before being put on restriction by MLB in early July. Meanwhile, Clase is a 2x Reliever of the Year in 2022 and 2024 and also led the AL in saves from 2022 to 24. Clase is one of the best closers in the game and has been on leave since July. This comeback and elite pitching have been without one of the league’s best.

Can’t Have Anything in Detroit

Every great comeback needs a collapse, and that is exactly what has happened in Detroit.  In the month of September, the Tigers have a 7-17 record and have squandered an 11-game lead in the division. The Tigers have a 5.23 ERA in September over the 24-game span, which was 28th in baseball. This year’s Tigers joined the 1978 Boston Red Sox, remembered for “The Boston Massacre,” when they lost a 14-game lead in July to the New York Yankees. This resulted in an infamous game 163, where Yankees shortstop Bucky Dent gave the Yankees the lead with a three-run homer and would propel the pinstripes to a 5-2 victory. The 2025 Detroit Tigers also join the collapse club that also hosts the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers, who blew a 13 ½ game lead in August. The 51’ Dodgers would go on to lose the pennant to the New York Giants. Detroit will look to rewrite history as the American League Pennant is still on the mind of the Tigers. Manager of the Tigers, A.J. Hinch said after they clinched, “Check the records come Tuesday, everybody is 0-0, the teams that are still playing, so we’re gonna take that to heart, obviously, and we’ve been one of the best teams in baseball all year.” The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals are an example of a team that struggled down the stretch going into October, then made it and eventually won a World Series. Once the postseason starts, you have a 0-0 record, like Hinch said, and anything can happen. Despite the September crumble, the Tigers did clinch a playoff spot on September 27th. As October beckons, Detroit needs all eyes on the future. 

Playoffs??????

The Detroit Tigers will seek revenge against a familiar foe in the AL Wild Card Series that comes in the form of the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday. Reigning Cy Young Award winner and 2025 Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal will take the ball for the Tigers in Game One. Meanwhile, Gavin Williams will be on the rubber for Cleveland. He enters the postseason with a 12-5 record with a 3.06 ERA in 2025.  As the calendar flips to October, it does not matter that the Tigers had a historic slide or that the Guardians did something that has not been done in over 100 years; all that matters is who will show up in a best-of-three series as, by Thursday one team’s dream of a deep October run will end and the other will have a date with the Seattle Mariners. Detroit will look to put a dreadful September behind them and take advantage of this opportunity. As Cleveland will look to keep the magic going and continue a dream season, in the words of Jake Taylor from Major League, “Well, then I guess there is only one thing left to do… win the whole thing.” Huge series between Detroit and Cleveland, and like the regular season, it will come down to pitching. The winner of the series will move on to the American League Division Series on Saturday where they will face off against the Seattle Mariners.

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