For Boyd, ALDS finale is much more than just a game

CLEVELAND — Matthew Boyd tried to talk through the emotions that were clearly starting to overwhelm him.

He uttered the word “gratitude.” He took a breath, and his mind wandered to all the days he spent working his way back from Tommy John surgery this winter to get to this point: learning he’d get the ball in a win-or-go-home American League Division Series Game 5 against his former team, the Tigers.

The tears couldn’t be choked back any longer.

“This is what you dream of,” Boyd said, with a tear going down his cheek but a smile on his face. “This is what you want, and you go do it.”

The Guardians didn’t inform Boyd that he’d get the nod until 22 hours before the newly-scheduled 1:05 p.m. ET start on Saturday. There were plenty of options to weigh. Cleveland could try to out-chaos the pitching chaos franchise with a bullpen game, turning to the best relievers in the Majors. Or it could stay with the man who got the ball in Game 2 and led the club through 4 2/3 scoreless frames.

The Tigers just saw Boyd. Boyd just saw the Tigers. Is that an advantage for the pitcher? For the offense? Was the traffic that he caused in Game 2 enough to cause concern about running him back out there in an elimination game on Saturday?

All of these questions were reasons to consider multiple options. But ultimately, the Guardians decided that going back to Boyd was the right answer.

“Pitching is pitching,” Boyd said. “The hitter is going to tell you what needs to be done. And I mean, at this point in the year, they have a good idea what I do, I have a good idea what they do, and it just comes down to execution and whatnot.”

There’s no hiding from the Detroit organization when it comes to Boyd. This is the team he spent eight seasons of his 10-year career with. Sure, it knows him from five days ago, but people in that organization know more about his makeup than his new team — which has only known him since June — does at this point. Like Boyd said, Game 5 is all about execution.

Execution could be defined in a handful of ways. Maybe it’s Boyd getting through just two or three scoreless innings before Cade Smith comes trotting out of the bullpen to continue his postseason dominance. Maybe it’s Boyd establishing a tone early and earning his way through five or six frames. Maybe there’s a plan to pull Boyd at a certain point no matter what to line up the proper matchups at key moments in the game.

Whatever it means, Boyd is ready.

“The goal is to get outs,” Boyd said. “[The pressure is] what you want. It means you’re alive. It means your heart is beating.”

The same stage is set for Game 5 as it was in Game 2: The mentor-mentee battle between Boyd and Tarik Skubal will go head to head until one of the offenses is able to muster up a run. But this time, both of these teams’ seasons are on the line.

The Guardians haven’t been to the American League Championship Series since 2016. They haven’t won a World Series since 1948 — the longest active drought of any Major League team. Boyd didn’t have to be here for a full season to know the weight of this moment. Manager Stephen Vogt doesn’t need to have years of experience managing to know what this means for the organization. Cleveland is desperate to make another October run, and to do so, it will have to be aggressive.

Expect all hands to be on deck on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd at Progressive Field. Smith will be pushed to his limit. Hunter Gaddis, Tim Herrin and Emmanuel Clase will surely pitch, no matter what the score is. If Boyd’s duties are limited to just a few innings, the rookie relievers — Andrew Walters and Erik Sabrowski — could be tested at the ultimate level. The Guardians have tried to put them through the wringer this past month to make sure they could handle this moment if it would arise.

But for Boyd, this is more than just a game. It is an accomplishment that he’s the man a team is trusting in a do-or-die situation, when just four months ago he was unsigned, recovering from surgery.

The idea that he is here now is so overwhelming Boyd couldn’t help but wear the emotion on his sleeve. But it only further proved how ready he is for Game 5.

“The script is still being written regardless of what the result is,” Boyd said. “But that’s what you want, and it’s the cool part about it.”