HAZELWOOD: Guardians' comeback a nonsensical joyride

CLEVELAND — This makes no sense. That makes it all the more fun, doesn't it? It's not hyperbole to say the 2025 Cleveland Guardians are an all-time historic team. While some prefer to call it the "biggest collapse" of all time by the Detroit Tigers, it's worth noting that winning is obviously a lot harder than losing. We've seen the statistics. By July 8, it was starting to look like a lost summer. The Guardians trailed the Tigers by 15.5 games. And even as Cleveland lingered closely in the Wild Card race, on the night of Sept. 4, another listless offensive performance in a 4-2 loss at Tampa Bay showed them 11 games out of first place in the American League Central Division. Again, with 26 days left in the season, the Guardians were 11 games out of first place. Their percentage odds to win the division sat at 0.1 percent. Yet there I was, fortunate to sit inside Progressive Field like most summer weekends with my family as the Guardians completed the comeback. First, they secured their postseason spot Saturday night with a win in their final at-bat against the Texas Rangers. In Sunday's regular season finale, the Guardians trailed the Rangers by a run in the eighth inning when Detroit lost in Boston. The greatest division race comeback in the history of Major League Baseball was complete. This was my second division title clinch in person, but I also must admit, both were starting to feel a bit indifferent. In 2017, Cleveland won a game at home over the Kansas City Royals, less than 24 hours after its AL record 22-game win streak had been snapped. But the Minnesota Twins lost later in the night, meaning no one was inside Progressive Field when the Central title was clinched. The next day, I took my daughter, Chloe, who was nine years old at the time. They raised the division title flag before the game and celebrated on the field afterward when it was over. Flash forward to Sunday, and my daughter still had AP Calculus homework as a senior in high school to do as 6 p.m. approached and a lighthearted celebration neared. But we were quickly reminded how nonsensical and magical this baseball team has become. After tying it in the eighth, the Guardians trailed 8-5 in the bottom of the 10th. Again, a likely loss with a mild celebration awaited. Except the team never recorded an out. Brayan Rocchio's stunning three-run home run off the right field foul pole created a euphoria rarely felt in my almost 40 years of attending MLB games in Cleveland. It had to end that way, didn't it? They went out and won their title on the field with an improbable home run from a player who was demoted to the minors in the middle of the season. There is no way to try and highlight or even begin to understand everything that has happened in just two weeks. But again, that's the point here. There was no looking ahead. How could they? Cleveland basically had to win every single game for the last three-plus weeks — and nearly did at 19-4 over the final 23 games. The players, coaches, and fans had no choice but to live in the moment, and it was sports ecstasy. The more I thought to myself over the past few days, there were some obvious stats and trends to consider. My daughter will be 18 in four months, and this franchise has played just 133 games in those 18 seasons while eliminated from postseason contention. Dating back to 2013, the team has played just 25 games while mathematically eliminated — and 11 of those 25 games came in one season (2021). Cleveland has averaged 89 wins per season since 2013 and hit 88 wins with this latest surge. Or one could point to, despite the constant groans about spending and payroll, the Guardians have given Jose Ramirez more bites of the postseason apple since he took less money to stay here prior to 2022 than the New York Mets have with Francisco Lindor and their payroll north of $300 million per year. There were the injuries to 2024 postseason heroes Lane Thomas and David Fry, or to pending hyped prospects Chase DeLauter and Juan Brito. Former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber never got to complete his injury comeback despite staying with the team over the winter. When they traded the popular starter, the Guardians were nine games behind the Tigers and sat at 54-54 overall. The trade came two days after star closer Emmanuel Clase joined starter Luis Ortiz — acquired over the winter for fan favorite Andres Gimenez — on the non-disciplinary leave list for an investigation regarding in-game prop betting. One could also point to the team switching to a six-man rotation for September. All the starting pitchers did was combine for a 2.25 earned run average and made 19 consecutive starts allowing two runs or less. But instead, I keep going back to one thing. The first player out of the dugout to greet Rocchio at home plate on Sunday was Ramirez. The face of the franchise for a generation of fans, he has made a strong case as the greatest position player in the team's 125-year history. It was Ramirez who singled with two outs and promptly stole second base in the bottom of the first inning of Saturday's game with his team down 1-0. That allowed Johnathan Rodriguez, only up because of Fry's gruesome face injury, to hit a two-run home run. In the ninth inning of the game, Ramirez had an 11-pitch at-bat that ended in a pop fly out. But he had worked over the Texas pitcher, and the next four guys reached base. It was capped when another call-up out of nowhere, CJ Kayfus, drafted less than two years ago, was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. On Sunday, Ramirez had a 12-pitch at-bat that also ended in a flyout, only for Rodriguez to follow him with a two-run single. George Valera, Rocchio, and Johnkensy Noel all signed with Cleveland as 16-year-olds in 2017. Because of injuries, Valera just debuted this month. He and Noel hit critical home runs during the stretch run. Petey Halpin was brought up for his MLB debut two weeks ago, basically as a pinch runner. But there he was in the 10th inning Sunday, fighting off a nine-pitch at-bat for a walk to set up Rocchio's heroics. None of this is to mention high-leverage innings from castoffs like Koby Allard, Nic Enright, Matt Festa, and Jakob Junis. Only in Cleveland is Daniel Schneeman a household name, hitting a stunning grand slam in Toronto back in May. Ramirez and others anchoring a cast of middling veterans and unproven kids. Not a single bit of this makes any sense or has a shred of logic. It could all be over in 48 hours, or there could be more days and weeks of postseason baseball. But regardless, Cleveland's place in history is secure. Each passing day has been its own treasure of joy. No matter what, this was the perfect encapsulation of sports. We often get mad or sad, and frustrated. But when you look at the journey of the Cleveland Guardians … it simply gets no better. Don't look ahead — just enjoy the moment. Isn't that what we all want?