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Cleveland Guardians fall to Yankees in ALCS, but 2024 season proves to be success | Ulrich
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- Cleveland Guardians fall to Yankees in ALCS, but 2024 season proves to be success | Ulrich
CLEVELAND — Guardians starting pitchers Tanner Bibee and Matthew Boyd hugged in the clubhouse as they shed tears.
Catchers Austin Hedges and Bo Naylor , utility man David Fry , first baseman Josh Naylor , left fielder Steven Kwan and Boyd gathered in a corner and talked quietly for an extensive period.
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Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti walked from locker to locker, hugging players and offering words of encouragement.
The Guardians are a tight-knit group with an uplifting culture, and despite a disappointing finish to their 2024 season, there is no reasonable way to view it as anything but a success.
Cleveland Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee reacts after giving up a home run to the New York Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth inning during Game 5 of the American League Championship Series on Saturday in Cleveland.
The Guardians were eliminated from the MLB playoffs Saturday night with a 5-2 loss in extra innings to the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series at Progressive Field. They fell 4-1 in the best-of-seven matchup, three wins short of the World Series.
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Sure, Cleveland fans have the right to be angry and frustrated about the franchise's World Series title drought extending to 76 years.
More on ALCS Game 5: New York Yankees vs Cleveland Guardians score, highlights
Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt (12) relieves pitcher Tanner Bibee (28) during the sixth inning against the New York Yankees during Game 5 of the ALCS on Saturday in Cleveland.
At the same time, losing sight of the degree to which the Guardians shattered expectations during Stephen Vogt 's first season as manager would be unfortunate. The AL Central champion Guardians are young with legitimate reasons to believe they can contend for the foreseeable future with Vogt at the helm.
Did Vogt make all the right managerial decisions? Of course not. Did he solidify a blueprint the Guardians can rely on moving forward? No doubt.
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"It's my 10th season in the big leagues," Boyd said, "and I haven't played on a team like this [before, with] how people care about each other, and I think it starts from the top down."
Cleveland Guardians 2024 season recap: Guards end first year of Stephen Vogt era in ALCS. What's next?
Cleveland Guardians' José Ramírez reacts after grounding out in the first inning against the New York Yankees during Game 5 of the ALCS on Saturday in Cleveland.
Good teams in all sports discover a collective personality and use it to their advantage. Cleveland definitely has an identity under Vogt, who wisely embraced foundational elements of the organization fostered by his predecessor, future Hall of Famer Terry Francona, instead of allowing ego to compel him to reinvent the program.
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"Vogt believed in all of us from day one," Kwan said. "None of it was like corny or fake. It felt really genuine. He believed in all of us, and I think that's what you need out of a manager — someone who's going to go up to bat for you through the roller coasters, the ups and downs, and we felt from day one that he was going to be really special."
The Guardians are akin to a family, and they embraced an ethos based on resilience early in the season.
When did Vogt detect this defining characteristic? Go all the way back to the second week of the season on April 9. The Chicago White Sox jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning in Cleveland. By the fourth inning, the Guardians had tied the score 5-5. They wound up losing 7-5, but they seized a 7-6 walk-off win in extra innings the next day.
Cleveland Guardians catcher Bo Naylor (23) prepares to catch the ball and tag out New York Yankees' Gleyber Torres (25) at home plate in the first inning during Game 5 of the ALCS on Saturday in Cleveland.
Bo Naylor hit the game-winning, one-run single on April 10.
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Six months later, he delivered in key moments of Game 5, going 2-for-4 with an RBI double. During a play at home plate in the first inning, he tagged out Gleyber Torres on a run-saving relay throw from second baseman Andres Gimenez.
"We saw it early in the year. We had a couple of late-game comebacks," Vogt said. "It just seemed like as the first few weeks transpired, every time we would give up a run, we'd punch right back.
"That's who we became. The guys in that clubhouse owned that, and that's been their mantra. That's been the way they've carried themselves is we never back down. We never quit."
The best example is the Guardians ascending from a 2-1 hole in the AL Division Series to defeat the Detroit Tigers in five games and advance to meet the Yankees in baseball's final four.
New York Yankees' Juan Soto (22) celebrates with teammate Giancarlo Stanton (27) after hitting a three-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians in the 10th inning during Game 5 of the ALCS on Saturday in Cleveland.
The Guardians went 92-69 in the regular season, earning the No. 2 playoff seed in the AL and a bye in the wild-card round. They did it despite losing ace Shane Bieber for the season to Tommy John surgery in April. Fellow starting pitchers Triston McKenzie and Logan Allen struggled and were sent to the minors over the summer.
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In the ALCS, the Guardians were haunted by miscues and limited options with their starting rotation. What had been baseball's best bullpen in the regular season became fatigued, and New York stars Juan Soto , Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge pounced. The Guardians had little margin for error against the top-seeded Yankees, who finished the regular season 94-68.
The final blow proved to be Soto's two-out, go-ahead, three-run home run in the 10th inning of Game 5 off Guardians reliever Hunter Gaddis . The inning would have ended earlier if not for shortstop Brayan Rocchio committing an error when he dropped the ball at second base instead of recording a routine out.
Cleveland Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio commits an error trying to turn a double play as New York Yankees baserunner Austin Wells (28) slides into second base in the 10th inning during Game 5 of the ALCS on Saturday in Cleveland.
Vogt's message to his team afterward?
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"Remember this feeling you have right now because there's more left on the table for this group," he said. "We know we can accomplish more, but be proud of what we accomplished overall and use this to fuel your offseason."
It's the right tone for a successful season ending short of the ultimate prize.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians end successful 2024 season short of World Series in ALCS
