The 2024-2025 Cleveland Guardians made history, despite losing in the first round of the playoffs. No team had ever come back from being 15.5 games behind the top team in their division until the Guardians did it this year. At one point in the season the Guardians were 15.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central Division; however, during the later months in the 162 game season the Guardians would overcome the deficit and reign supreme.
A ten game losing streak that started in late June had many Guardians fans disgruntled and under the influence that they would not make the playoffs. However, they became the fourth team ever to suffer a streak this devastating and still recover from it. Largely in part to their tremendous month of September which saw them come back from 10 games behind with a 17-5 record to propel them to first (this single month comeback was also record breaking).
“In the months of June and July most Guardians fans had no hope of making the playoffs, and some fans even pushed for them to bring up younger players to get ready for next year,” Nathan Elliot ’26 said.
Having a leading candidate for the American League’s most valuable player in José Ramírez made the Guardian’s push much more possible. Ramírez, a seven time all star, had one of his best seasons to date. Leading the team in batting average, home runs, runs batted in, stolen bases, runs, walks, and most other major statistical categories, Ramírez was the heart and sole of the Guardians offense as he is most years.
Even after the miracle-esque regular season played out, the Guardians would go on to disappoint and lose in the first and third rounds. However, the Guardians will likely be back and better than ever in the coming years as they have one of the MLB’s best farm systems. Take Chase DeLauter for example, an outfielder for the Guardians, their second highest ranked prospect in their system made his debut in the postseason. Clearly, manager Stephen Vogt wants to put an increased emphasis on the youth and develop this Guardians team from the ground up.
“I’m pretty excited about the young guys coming up in the organization and I think a few players like Travis Bazzana and Juan Brito will get called up in the next few years,” Zach Pukansky 26′ said.
