Cleveland Guardians Make MLB History With ALDS Comeback

Stephen Vogt quietly took the podium after Game 2 of the ALDS when the Cleveland Guardians lost their second consecutive game at home to go down 0-2 in the series to the Chicago White Sox.

It would take three straight wins, two of which would come on the road for the Guardians, to win the series and advance to the ALCS. Only a handful of teams have ever accomplished this in MLB history.

However, Vogt emphasized that the Guardians tend to play their best baseball with their backs against the wall.

From the outside, this sounded like typical manager speak, but for the Guardians, it was their manager declaring that he still believed in what they could do, even when no one else did.

Three wins later, the Guardians are headed to the ALCS to take on the Tampa Bay Rays after winning two games on the South Side and Game 5 at the home confines of Progressive Field.

Before officially moving on to the next round of the playoffs, what Cleveland was able to accomplish in the ALDS deserves some more attention, because what the Guardians did isn’t something that happens every year in the postseason.

When the Guardians found themselves with a two-game deficit, history was not on their side to pull off a comeback.

Only 10 other teams in MLB history have gone down 0-2 in a best-of-five postseason series and come back to win it. Only three other teams have lost the first two games at home and come back to win the series.

The last team to accomplish this was the New York Yankees in 2017, when they won three straight against Cleveland to advance to the ALCS.

By the numbers, history gave the Guardians only an 11 percent chance of winning the series.

On top of all of that, it wasn’t like there were a couple of plays that changed the outcome of Game 1 or Game 2. Despite the Guardians' dominant pitching through the first 18 innings, the lineup didn't look like it could string together enough hits to score enough runs to win three straight games.

With all that in mind, rewriting the record books is something Cleveland has gotten used to doing under Vogt’s leadership. Now, as the Guardians prepare for the ALCS, they’re fresh off one of the best playoff comebacks in MLB history.

Cleveland may not be favored in a seven-game series against the Rays, but the momentum that the Guardians have coming into this series could make things very interesting.