The AL Central champion Guardians are set to host the Rays for the 2022 Wild Card round — a best-of-three series that will be played entirely in Cleveland. They’ll turn to 2020 AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber to square off against Rays ace Shane McClanahan in the opener of today’s series. Here’s how the roster breaks down…
Right-Handed Pitchers
- Shane Bieber (Game 1 starter)
- Emmanuel Clase
- Enyel De Los Santos
- James Karinchak
- Triston McKenzie (Game 2 starter)
- Eli Morgan
- Zach Plesac
- Nick Sandlin
- Trevor Stephan
- Cal Quantrill (Game 3 starter)
Left-Handed Pitchers
Catcher
Infielders
Outfielders
Right-hander Aaron Civale is a notable but understandable absence, given that he tossed six innings and threw 84 pitches in the final regular-season game of the year just two days ago. One would imagine that if Cleveland advances, he’d factor into the ALDS, considering the manner in which he rebounded following a disastrous start to the season. Over his final 13 starts, Civale worked to a 3.55 ERA with a 25.9% strikeout rate against a 4.9% walk rate.
Somewhat remarkably, the Cleveland postseason roster will feature four late-season call-ups who each have fewer than 100 career plate appearances in the Majors. Each of Will Brennan, Will Benson, Gabriel Arias and Bo Naylor was selected to the MLB for the first time on Aug. 1 or later — Oct. 1 in Naylor’s case. Both Naylor and Arias have drawn fanfare on Top 100 prospect rankings around the industry, though the latter’s stock dipped in 2022 with a rough season in Triple-A. The inclusion of Bo Naylor on the roster makes for a feel-good story, as he and older brother Josh have now not only both reached the big leagues and played in the postseason, but done so as teammates.
The bulk of young and untested players is both a reflection of ownership’s annual payroll constraints and a testament to the organization’s exceptional player development prowess. Few pegged the Guardians, who entered the season as the game’s youngest team, as postseason contenders. While it’s true that the AL Central is generally regarded as the game’s weakest division, Cleveland still not only toppled more veteran Minnesota and Chicago clubs that were expected to vie for the division crown but did so handily, closing out the regular season with a whopping 11-game lead over the second-place White Sox.
I wonder if the combined average age of TB and CLE’s rosters is the youngest average between two teams in the Wild Card era.
Few pegged the Guardians, who entered the season as the game’s youngest team, as postseason contenders.
There are few intelligent fans, most just think like fans. The fans that really know how to evaluate baseball think like gms and evaluate the moves like gms and live in reality. They say things like (at the time of the trade) Cleveland fleeced the Mets on the Lindor deal when all other fans said the opposite.
Ditto the Kluber deal that got them Clase.
Yeah. But Andres Gimenez was better this year than anyone ever thought he would be.
Don’t know if he would’ve became that player today if he remained in NY.
He wouldn’t because Cleveland helped him get rid of the toe tap.
I think with Francona as Manager and the team the Guardians have, they are the most well rounded team in baseball
They are going to be a tough out in the playoffs or they will get to the World Series and a chance to win it
Their pitching is Good and their offense is good enough to win it all
Here comes Hurricane Francona
I like the Rays to win the series.
Why?
YOU WERE SAYING???
This series should be called the “thank you AJ Preller” series. With seven former Padres players/prospects on the Guardians and 5 on the Rays, fully 23% of all the players were traded to these teams from AJ.
Pitching and Jose Ramirez……that sounds about right!
I’m surprised Jose Ramirez made the roster.
Give Bieber a game ball, I thought it was a five game series.
Go Engines.