Cleveland Guardians’ ALCS Game 6 Pitching Plan up in the Air

All season long, the Cleveland Guardians have relied on their pitching staff to set the tone, hoping the offense will follow suit.

This strategy has worked out pretty well since Opening Day, but as Cleveland faces elimination at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS, the Guardians have a lot to figure out about how they’ll get through the nine innings of Game 6.

As of Sunday night's postgame, Cleveland is still sorting out its pitching plan for Game 6.

One thing is for sure: manager Stephen Vogt confirmed postgame that Gavin Williams will not be an option for the Guardians, even as they face elimination.

Looking at the Williams piece first, his last outing came on Thursday’s Game 3 win. He set Cleveland franchise history with nine more strikeouts against the Rays lineup in five innings of work.

Considering the circumstances, many assumed he’d be the Guardians' pick with their season on the line, but that won't be the case. 

There was a worrisome trend brewing behind the scenes in Williams' last start.

His fastball velocity substantially dropped as the game went on, with his velocity falling to 95.4 mph in his fine frame of work after topping out at 99.7 mph earlier in the game.

That significant decline is something the Guardians simply can’t ignore, especially because if Williams were to pitch on Monday, it’d be on short rest, and the starter’s fastball is his bread and butter. If that pitch isn’t firing on all cylinders, his devastating curveball doesn’t have the same effect.

If Cleveland does find a way to force a Game 7, it’ll be in a good spot pitching-wise, with Williams potentially taking the ball on Tuesday. But again, there's no guarantee the Guardians get that far.

So, what direction could Cleveland go in for Game 6? Vogt has several options; it all depends on what he thinks makes the most sense.

Daniel Espino has had quite a bit of success as an opener, and didn’t see action in Sunday’s Game 5 loss. From there, the Guardians could turn to Joey Cantillo or Foster Griffin to take the mound; Griffin pitched on Saturday, but likely not enough to keep them inactive on Monday.

There’s also the looming presence of Tanner Bibee, who hasn’t appeared in the ALCS and has only pitched one-third of an inning in the ALDS against the Chicago White Sox. Will Cleveland have their highest-paid pitcher on the mound with the season on the line?

The likely answer is that it’ll be as close to all hands on deck as it can get for the Guardians, meaning we’ll likely see some sort of combination of Espino, Griffin, Cantillo, and maybe Bibee to bridge the game to the Vogt’s tree of trust of Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis, and Cade Smith.

Of course, if the Guardians don’t win Game 6, they’ll start their offseason on Tuesday morning.