Insider Jensen Lewis of the Guards claims that they have quickly learned from their own experiences.
You can say whatever you want about the Cleveland Guardians.
You can question their rotation quality and depth, you can ask yourself if their relievers will hold up until October or early November, and you can certainly wonder if their offense is potent enough to consistently produce in a playoff environment.
It’s impossible, however, to ignore the fact this squad has gone through adversity.
This is a team that, just one season after winning a playoff series in 2022, finished 76-86 last year.
This is an organization that helped re-shape Shane Bieber’s arsenal by approving his visit to Driveline, only to lose him to a long-term elbow injury 12 innings into the 2024 season.
Cleveland also started the year with Gavin Williams on the injured list, endured Triston McKenzie and Logan Allen’s unexpected inconsistency, and saw how Steven Kwan strained his hamstring earlier in the season.
But here they are, with the best record in baseball before taking the field on Friday.
How have they handled all the adversity?
According to Guards insider Jensen Lewis, they have been quick to learn from their own experiences.
“How have the Guardians and Vogt been able to battle adversity? #ForTheLand. “You’re never ready for it until you go through it. Once you go through it, you kinda understand what works and what doesn’t,” BIGPLAY Cleveland Show tweeted, with Lewis’ quotes.
Lewis pitched for the Guardians in the late 2000s, so he knows what he is talking about.
He also covers the squad on a daily basis and has followed them every step of the way.
He sees how rookie manager Stephen Vogt matures and learns every day.
He sees how he consistently puts the team in a position to compete.
Lewis spoke about how Vogt stuck to his guns even though the Guardians’ recent seven-game losing streak, playing the long game and having confidence in his decisions.
That confidence allowed him and his team to pull through the rough stretch, and the wins started to come again.
Cleveland is playing the long game.
And that approach has paid off to this point.
