Forget the final score. The Cleveland Guardians were ready to celebrate again.
Cleveland won its second AL Central title in three years Saturday when second-place Kansas City fell at home, marking yet another outstanding feat for rookie manager Stephen Vogt.
Despite a 6-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals hours later, the Guardians threw another clubhouse party, complete with champagne and wine.
“I keep saying, this is about the players,” added Vogt, who smoked a victory cigar. “Of course, as manager, you’re in charge of bringing everyone together and putting the focus on the proper things, but the players drive it. This is who they are.
“We spent a lot of time getting to know them, observing our team, seeing how we work together, and paying close attention. It’s simply putting them in positions to succeed by leveraging their abilities and strengths. I take great delight because I adore those individuals.”
Cleveland won the division title after the Royals lost 9-0 against San Francisco. The Guardians, led by José RamÃrez, won a postseason berth with a 3-2 win over Minnesota.
“Our goal is always to try to find ways to get to days like today because we want to win the World Series,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti stated. “The only way to win the World Series is to explode champagne on the way there. We’ve taken some difficult decisions along the way, but all of them are aimed at getting to the postseason and winning.”
Since 2016, the franchise has won five division championships. Cleveland is returning to the playoffs for the first time since dropping the 2022 AL Division Series to the New York Yankees in five games.
“I remember ’22 like it was yesterday,” Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan remarked. “I thought I’d be ready for what it was, but a crowded house at Progressive is simply different. I’m pretty thrilled about what’s coming soon.”
Cleveland entered Saturday needing a win at St. Louis or a loss to Kansas City to seal the AL Central. Even before the Guardians got into their night game against the Cardinals, the Royals lost at home in the late afternoon.
Kansas City rallied from a 10-game deficit on June 25 to tie the Guardians for the division lead with a 6-1 win in Cleveland on August 27. However, the Guardians rebounded for a 7-5 win the next day to avert a four-game sweep.
That started a seven-game skid for the Royals, and the Guardians pulled away in September.
You can kind of understand the dynamics coming into it, but we have no choice but to simply accept that we have to win every single day,” Kwan stated about what he learnt on August 27. “Are you aware that there are 162 games? There will be a lot of games, ebbs and flows.
It marks Cleveland’s 12th division championship, all in the AL Central since 1995.
“The resilience that the group has shown throughout the year, how much they care about each other, and the way they played until the last out,” Antonetti said of what distinguished this team from others since he joined the Cleveland organization in 1999.
“There’s a gang of guys around them. They enjoy being near each other. They enjoy taking up and encouraging each other. Everyone is just trying to figure out how to help us win a baseball game; that is all they care about. That is all they have cared about since the beginning.”
Cleveland is in a tight competition with the AL East-leading Yankees for the first seed in the American League playoffs. However, the Guardians are close to securing at least the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye.
Cleveland finished 76-86 last season, Terry Francona’s final season as manager. Vogt, a former All-Star catcher, was hired in November despite lacking managerial experience.
Right now, this appears to be a wise decision.
“He’s embraced learning from day one,” Antonetti added. “He certainly came into the position with a strong combination of abilities, personal characteristics, and experiences, but he has leaned into it, seeking to learn and improve every day. He got off to a good start and has only improved since then.
Vogt is Cleveland’s seventh manager to win at least 90 games in his first full season in charge, following Francona in 2013, Charlie Manuel in 2000, Al Lopez in 1951, and Tris Speaker in 1920.
Cleveland had an unexpected start under Vogt, who was 39 years old. It held a nine-game lead in the AL Central with a 51-26 record after defeating Baltimore 10-8 on June 25.
