Cleveland Guardians Name Starting Pitcher for ALCS Game 1

The Cleveland Guardians spent Saturday night celebrating their victory over the Chicago White Sox in the ALDS, but immediately flipped their mindset on Sunday to prepare for the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS.

The first step of that was determining who would be Cleveland’s starting pitcher for Game 1. Cleveland’s pitching staff has carried them up to this point, but it has also been overworked. As a result, the Guardians will start a new pitcher on Monday night.

Manager Stephen Vogt said on Sunday evening that Foster Griffin will be the team’s starting pitcher for Game 1 of the ALCS.

Cleveland’s skipper continued, saying that there were multiple scenarios and options that the team was working through, but obviously had to get through yesterday and see how everything played out in Game 5 before making any decisions.

Griffin was warming up in Cleveland’s bullpen during Game 5 on Saturday night. On the one hand, it was his scheduled bullpen day, but if he did get in the game, it would have been hard to see the left-hander taking the mound in the first game of the series.

Even Griffin said he didn’t find out that he was going to be the starter until Sunday afternoon, about 10 minutes before he talked to the media during the team’s workout day.

The Guardians had options, but ultimately settled on having Griffin on the ball to kick off the series. It’ll be the 31-year-old’s first playoff start in his career.

Griffin only made one appearance in the ALDS, but it was one of the most impactful outings that a pitcher made out of the bullpen throughout the five-game series.

The left-hander took the mound in Game 3 of the series, tossing 2.2 innings, allowing one earned run, and striking out seven Chicago White Sox hitters.

The Guardians' need to use only four pitchers in Saturday’s Game 5 could be a huge factor in Game 1 on Monday.

Even though Griffin will be on the mound to start, his leash will be short, just like any starting pitcher in the postseason.

With that in mind, the Guardians have several other rested and available arms in the bullpen that could toss multiple innings, including Joey Cantillo, Tanner Bibee, and Slade Cecconi, if Cleveland’s decides to add him to the ALCS roster.

The Guardians’ game plan for winning the ALCS will fall on whether or not they can get the edge in the pitching battle. Cleveland is relying on Griffin to give them just that early in Game 1.