Guardians clinch third straight playoff berth, still must fend off White Sox for AL Central

The Cleveland Guardians clinched a postseason berth for the third consecutive year on Thursday night, shutting out the Boston Red Sox 1-0 at Fenway Park behind a solo home run from Angel Martínez and a five-pitcher combination that limited Boston to two hits. The win guarantees Cleveland at least an American League wild-card spot and sets up a final-weekend scramble with the Chicago White Sox for the AL Central title, according to the Guardians' account of the clinching win published by MLB.com.

The numbers

Martínez supplied the only run of the game in the second inning, lifting a 319-foot changeup from Boston starter Ranger Suárez around the right-field foul pole for his 18th home run of the season. From there, Cleveland's pitching staff took over. Daniel Espino opened with a scoreless inning, and Joey Cantillo followed with five innings of one-hit relief, striking out four and walking two to improve to 11-9, before closer Cade Smith struck out the side in the ninth for his major league-leading 41st save, according to the official box score. In all, five Guardians pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts and two hits allowed, part of a stretch in which Cleveland's staff surrendered just three runs across three games at Fenway Park. The Red Sox managed only two hits of their own and suffered their eighth shutout loss of the season, a game recapped in detail by Boston.com's account of the loss.

The result pushed Cleveland's record to 83-76, one game ahead of Chicago (82-77) with three games remaining in the regular season, according to the American League Central standings maintained by MLB.com.

How Cleveland got here

The berth is Cleveland's 19th postseason appearance in franchise history and comes a year after the Guardians overcame a large late-summer deficit to win the division outright. This season followed a different, if similarly uneven, arc. Cleveland entered the All-Star break at 51-46, tied with the White Sox atop the Central, then lost 20 of its next 30 games and fell to 61-66, five and a half games back. Since Aug. 20, the Guardians have gone 21-10, a stretch that entering Thursday tied Milwaukee for the best record in the majors over that span.

Two factors drove the turnaround. Cleveland's rotation has been its backbone all year; the club is the only team in baseball with four pitchers who have made at least 30 starts, anchored by right-hander Gavin Williams and left-hander Parker Messick, who has emerged as a contender for AL Rookie of the Year. The lineup, meanwhile, has been reshaped since the Aug. 3 trade deadline, when the Guardians acquired outfielder Jo Adell and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to lengthen a batting order that had struggled for most of the first half. Cleveland's scoring rate since Aug. 4 rose to 4.58 runs per game, third-best in the AL, up from 3.95 runs per game beforehand, which ranked 14th. Third baseman José Ramírez has heated up in September while still managing the effects of surgery on his left hamate bone earlier in the year, and leadoff hitter Steven Kwan, who was on pace for a career-worst season through June, has rebounded sharply in the second half.

Who is affected

Cleveland's clinch does not settle the division. The Guardians and White Sox split the season series in Chicago's favor, meaning Cleveland holds no tiebreaker advantage and must simply finish with a better record than the White Sox over the final three games to claim a third straight AL Central crown, which comes with a first-round bye in the Division Series. The Guardians close the regular season on the road against the Kansas City Royals, while Chicago hosts the Colorado Rockies. If Cleveland finishes second, it drops into the best-of-three AL wild-card round rather than resting through it. The ESPN playoff tracker following clinching scenarios across both leagues lists the division as one of the few remaining races still undecided entering the final weekend. Boston, for its part, had already clinched its own postseason spot earlier in the week, the Red Sox' second in as many seasons, and will host the Chicago Cubs for a doubleheader on Friday as the American League's playoff field takes final shape, per MLB.com's running list of clinched postseason teams.

Reaction

Manager Stephen Vogt, who led Cleveland to its division title a year ago and was central to the clubhouse celebration Thursday night, framed the achievement as a product of a roster that leaned heavily on young players after a quiet offseason.

"This doesn't get old and you can't take one minute for granted," Vogt said. "It's not a given that you're going to get in. It's a long process, a long journey. You see the ups and downs. You see how many different guys we use, the injuries, overcoming adversity, the losing streaks, the winning streaks. To punch your ticket and know you have an opportunity to win a World Series, you can't beat it. It's what you work all year for."

Martínez, who delivered the decisive swing, credited the pitching staff and described the clinching win in measured terms befitting a team with more games still to play. "One pitch at a time, one day at time," he said. "Right now, it's time to enjoy. Tomorrow is another day." Vogt separately praised the retooled lineup that has carried Cleveland through its second-half surge, saying, "This year, with our pitching and our lineup, we have the opportunity to hit with people this year. That hasn't always been the case. I really like the way this offense has been clicking the last couple of months, and we're pitching well."

What happens next

Cleveland opens its final series of the regular season Friday in Kansas City, with right-hander Gavin Williams (14-8, 3.63 ERA) probable to start. The outcome of that series, combined with Chicago's results against Colorado, will determine whether the Guardians secure the division title and a first-round bye or open the postseason in the wild-card round. Major League Baseball's 2026 postseason schedule has the four best-of-three AL and NL Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday, with the Division Series set to follow that weekend. For a Cleveland organization that has now reached October in three straight seasons, and four of the last five, the immediate goal is simpler: finish the week playing meaningful baseball, then find out where.