What Went Wrong: 76 Years

First off, let's get the happiness part over with!

The New York Yankees are in the World Series for the first time since 2009! Now, I know that 15 years is a cup of coffee in baseball. I'm not one of those "woe is me" Yankees fans who act like 15 years without a pennant is the end of the world, when so many other teams have it much worse. But even so, this is a huge deal, and I'm over the moon! So yeah, I am in happiness overload right now.

As it is in sports, though, we had to beat somebody to get there. And that somebody just had to be the Cleveland Guardians. In the immortal words of the iconic John Sterling, "That's baseball, Suzyn."

The Cleveland Guardians had quite the season; 92-69 and winners of the American League Central for the second time in three years. This was all under first year manager Stephen Vogt, and also despite being without their top ace, Shane Bieber, for the entire season. The Guardians finished as the second best team in the American League, and the Division Series saw the team need all five games to defeat the upstart Detroit Tigers. Cleveland faced off against the Yankees in the ALCS, and as we know, the team's history against the Yankees is not a good one. Losing the first two games in The Bronx would not make it better, and it looked like they would go down 3-0, only for the Guardians to come back in the ninth inning and win it in the 10th. That momentum would not last long. Though the Guardians mounted a comeback in Game Four, they would still lose it in the ninth, and Game Five saw them reach extras, only for Juan Soto to hit them where it hurt in the 10th inning.

So what went wrong for the Guardians? It came down to two factors:

Why Would You Pitch to Stanton?!

Albert Einstein said it himself: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. In Game Three of the ALCS, the seventh inning saw Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit back-to-back HRs to take the lead. Let's go to Game Four, shall we? Sixth inning, Yankees up 3-2. Guardians were chipping away slowly, but they were in some trouble in the sixth. Stanton was up with two outs in the sixth. Take a look at the graphic in the screenshot above. See that open space? That's first base. The hottest bat in the postseason was up, first base was open, yet you pitch to him. What happens? Three-run HR. Game Five. Runner on 3rd, Guardians up 2-0, Stanton's up, and they pitch to him. What happens? Stanton ties it, Guardians never lead again.

They never did learn. The Guardians were too concerned with Aaron Judge. Judge was a factor, but not like Stanton. Amazing how they forgot.

There was a larger factor in the Guardians' elimination, and it was a shocking one.

Out-Clase-d

This man is Emmanuel Clase, or at least I think it's him. This was not the same man we saw during the season. Clase was untouchable during the regular season. 47 saves, a sub-1.00 ERA, and he only gave up two home runs in 74 1/3 innings pitched. In the 2024 postseason? An 0-2 record, a blown save, gave up three home runs, and finished the postseason with an ERA of 9.00 (8 ER in 8 IP). Clase was lit up during the postseason, mostly by the Yankees, and he received a good bit of the blame for the Guardians' latest postseason fail.

With this defeat, the longest current championship drought in MLB continues. It has now been 76 years since the franchise's last championship, and that drought is the second-longest in pro sports behind the NFL's Cardinals franchise.

And there it is, folks! The Yankees are in the World Series for the first time since 2009, and the outcome of the NLCS will determine where Game One will take place. As for the Guardians, this was a great season full of promise, but it was not in the cards for the team. They have a lot to be proud of, though, and we'll definitely see what the Guardians will do to make sure that 2025 ends better for them.

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