Guardians still have work to do in lead-up to postseason

ST. LOUIS — The champagne has been popped… twice. The Guardians have locked up their playoff spot and the AL Central title with a week left in the regular season. They can just sit back, relax and prepare for the postseason to start, right?

Not necessarily. Sure, the Guardians lineup looked a little different on Sunday afternoon, and that may have contributed to their 2-1 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, as some of the everyday players got some much-needed rest after a long, 17-game stretch without a day off.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We want to win every day. But [it’s about] the amount of work and the amount of fight that these guys have shown all year long, especially this 17-game stretch this late into the season.”

That pattern of getting each player some rest will continue over the coming days to make sure that everyone is in the best shape possible for October. However, there are still three big reasons for the Guardians to prioritize staying in the win column.

1. First-round byeThe Yankees and Astros are just days away from clinching their respective divisions. Assuming they get that done, it’ll be down to these three teams to compete for the top two seeds in the AL playoff bracket. The two teams with the best records will earn a first-round bye.

Obviously, the Guardians would like to guarantee a spot in the American League Division Series right away without risking a three-game set against the lowest seed. But the team would also like to have an idea of how it can prepare its rotation. If Cleveland is in the Wild Card Series, it would have to have its starters ready to go by Tuesday after the season ends next Sunday. If the Guardians are one of the top two seeds, they have until the following Saturday (yes, five days off) to get everything together. It’s a lengthy break, but every team would prefer the rest.

2. Roster flexibilityThe Guardians have two players on the IL that they’re expecting to come back before the end of the year: Steven Kwan and Alex Cobb. Activating either of them would require a roster move that would send someone on the current roster down to Triple-A Columbus. And even though the season will end next Sunday, the rules still stand: If a position player is optioned, they must remain in Triple-A for 10 days. If it’s a pitcher, it’s 15 days.

So, say the Guardians option Angel Martínez or Jhonkensy Noel, but they decide that one of them would be a better fit for the playoff roster than the guys on the active roster at the end of the season. If Cleveland is in the Wild Card Series, those players would not be eligible to be called up again. However, if it earns the first-round bye, as long as a player is optioned by Tuesday (the day the Guardians are expecting to activate Kwan), they will be available to be recalled by Game 1 of the ALDS.

3. Pad the lead over the AstrosThe Guardians currently own the No. 2 seed. But they can’t get complacent. The Astros sit four games back in the loss column and these two teams are set to square off in a three-game series next weekend to end the regular season. If Houston were to pass Cleveland, it would cause the Guardians to drop to the No. 3 seed. The Astros have gone 1-2 against the Guardians this year. If they win the series, they also win the tiebreaker, which means they’d just have to tie Cleveland to take the second spot.

This is certainly the last thing the Guardians want after all the work they did to put themselves in the position they’re in now. Yes, they need to make sure they’re shifting some of their focus to the playoffs, but they know that these final five regular-season games are just as important as the first 157.

“Our focus right now is trying to get the one seed or two seed,” Guardians general manager Mike Chernoff said. “So we have to be thinking about how we play these next [five] games, hopefully get some help from other teams to where we can start planning as early as possible for only a Division Series. If we end up having to play a Wild Card Series, that would shift things quite a bit.”