Guardians Have Pitching Decisions to Make for Season Finale

The Cleveland Guardians are closing in on a playoff spot, but until they do, they must play as if every game is a win-now situation.

That reality puts the Guardians in an interesting spot with their starting rotation as they head into the final four games of the regular season.

Here’s Cleveland’s plan as of Thursday evening.

Daniel Espino will open for the Guardians, with Joey Cantillo following to pitch the bulk of the innings during Cleveland’s series finale against the Boston Red Sox.

As the Guardians shift their focus to the Kansas City Royals, they have starters named for the first two games of the three-game series. Gavin Williams will pitch on Saturday night, with Tanner Bibee following on Saturday.

Then comes Sunday, and that’s where a lot is still up in the air. The Guardians haven’t named a starting pitcher for their final regular-season game of the season, and for good reason; they simply don’t know what they’ll still be playing for.

If Cleveland followed the normal rotation, it would be Parker Messick’s turn to pitch on regular rest for game 162.

If the Guardians still haven’t locked up a playoff spot, or a win would give them the American League Central title along with the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, which would include a first-round bye, it would make sense to have the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young candidate on the mound.

The issue is, though, if Messick does pitch on Sunday, he’d have to pitch on short rest in a potential Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series. Again, that assumes Cleveland punches its ticket to October.

If Messick doesn’t pitch, who could start for the Guardians on Sunday? There are two clear-cut options for Vogt and the coaching staff.

The first is having Foster Griffin pitch on short rest. It’s still up in the air as to what his potential role could look like in the postseason, so helping the team enter the playoffs with as rested a bullpen as possible may be his best chance to impact the team.

Another option for the Guardians is to start Slade Cecconi for the regular-season finale. The right-hander was moved to a relief role after Cleveland acquired Griffin at the beginning of August, and has had some good and bad since then.

However, Cecconi has repeatedly said this season that he’s willing to do whatever he can to help the team win.

Depending on how the next few games go for the Guardians, that could include eating up as many innings or pitching with postseason implications on the line.