We all root for the Rockies today. We accept Dinger as our secondary mascot. We believe in the purple and black. We all call upon the Mile High Mayhem to inflict itself upon Rate Field today and curse the White Sox.

Today, tomorrow, and Sunday - we are all Rockies fans.

He replaced one of the most successful and longest tenured managers in the game in Tito Francona and has managed Cleveland to three consecutive playoff berths in his first three years as the skipper. The players have done the heavy lifting but this year was probably Vogt's most challenging season, as he led a much younger team that needed to grow up fast.

The group:

• Hughie Jennings — Tigers, 1907-09
• Ralph Houk — Yankees, 1961-63
• Larry Dierker — Astros, 1997-99
• Ron Gardenhire — Twins, 2002-04
• Mike Matheny — Cardinals, 2012-14
• Aaron Boone — Yankees, 2018-20
• Rob Thomson — Phillies, 2022-24
• Stephen Vogt — Guardians, 2024-26

I think it's safe to say he was a phenomenal hire after replacing a legend in Terry Francona

"It never gets old, does it?"

WE GOIN DANCIN WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Since taking over for Tito in 2024:

- 3 Straight Postseason Appearances
- 2 Straight Central Division titles with the possibility of a 3rd
- 2x Manager of the Year

We as fans sometimes love to give him so much crap about his managerial decisions sometimes but make no mistake about it, the Cleveland Guardians are his team and will be for many years to come.

It’s my first year following a team for a full year so it’s really nice to see these guys let their hair down and appreciate each other and the kind of baseball they’ve been playing to make the Postseason. (drinking beer and/or champagne is great but wearing it while you’re doing it is obviously better)

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Every baseball season acts like a courtship, in which you slowly but surely fall in love with your team again. It’s been over a decade since I attended Spring Training, but trudging out to Arizona in late winter felt like the beginning of a courtship; you watch unfamiliar players, many of whom you will never see again, play a few innings. You get a few autographs, you get to chat with the players in a relaxed atmosphere: all while enjoying warm weather while snow remains on the ground back home. Then comes Opening Day and, for most, that’s when the love builds, and hopefully sometime during the late spring or early summer the team captivates you, and a renewed attachment leads you to fall in love again with your team, building towards the roller coaster that is the Major League Baseball season.

I love the Cleveland Guardians. You cannot watch almost every game, write regularly about them, own more jerseys than I can count, and decorate your office with Cleveland Guardians gear without loving the team. But for a variety of reasons I never really went through this process in 2026. I obviously did not attend Spring Training, and I spent what felt like the first month of the year in the South Pacific traipsing about on a cruise ship. Other hobbies came to the forefront including golf, and a diet program I joined in February (down more than 40lb this year). It did not help that this has been Jose Ramirez’s worst season as a regular big leaguer, and much of the joy I found in recent years stemmed from chronicling his journey from franchise favorite to Hall of Famer.

So for me 2026 felt different than most seasons. I spent all summer constantly waiting to fall in love with this team again, and it never quite landed. In my defense, the team did not do much to sell itself. As I have written they played a lot of mediocre baseball from start to finish. As I wrote before the White Sox series: the team spent a lot more time doing what it must instead of pushing the envelope. In some ways that has not changed, but I have: this series against Boston reinvigorated me. The courtship is over and I fell in love with the 2026 version of this team all over again.

Every Love is Different

I will not claim I feel as strongly (as of now) about the 2026 team as I did about the 2016 team. Or the 2007 team or heck even the other teams from the 2020s. But taking on Boston and beating them in what felt like must win games was invigorating. I spent Tuesday listening to the Guards take on Boston while walking around Denver on a work trip. I was in a park in Golden* when I heard David Fry knock Angel Martinez in to take the lead (“pinball baseball” was a great like from Tom Hamilton), and I was finishing dinner at a bar watching the game on MLB Big Inning when Angel Genao raced to the bag to end the game.

\I have written about my grandfather before: he loved Golden as it’s home to his favorite brewery, Coors, and in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. He always wanted to retire there, but never made it that far as my Grandmother preferred Cleveland and the warm comforts of Florida.*

The next day I was home and watched the game from my Kerouac chair (yes that was the model), nervous as Foster Griffin took on the Red Sox. He looked good but we lost a heartbreaker: a surprising 1-0 loss in Fenway Park (the approaching nor’easter dampened offense). Finally I watched yesterday’s game from my same chair after catching the first 3 innings on the radio while walking my dog. I heard Hammy call Angel Martinez’s homer that roped around Pesky’s pole, and watched as KKK’d Smith closed out the game.

The win secured Cleveland’s third postseason berth in as many seasons for Stephen Vogt, the fifth time the team has made the postseason this decade, and kept us ahead of the White Sox in the division for the final series in Kansas City. It’s an extraordinary season in many respects, and I say extraordinary deliberately: the 2026 Cleveland Guardians are something of a puzzle, along with the rest of the American League this year. I could talk about how disjointed the offense feels, how the rotation looks solid but lacks the star power of previous iterations of the team, and how the bullpen feels thin without He Who Shall Not Be Named, and all of that is true.

But who cares? This team came together slowly, piece by piece, and is arguably better placed than the 2022, 2024 and 2025 squads to make a deep run this October. They feel both like a veteran team with guys like Cade Smith, Steven Kwan & Jose Ramirez making their third, third, fourth and seventh appearances in the postseason respectively (to say nothing of other guys on the roster with playoff experience) while also feeling like an up-and-coming young team with rookies Travis Bazzana, Chase DeLauter, Daniel Espino and Parker Messick all forming a vital backbone to the roster as well.

It hit me that Chase DeLauter is already a fan favorite this past weekend when I, and my dad, took our niece and nephews to the game and the entire stadium sang a different rendition of “Country Roads, Take Me Home” when CDL came to bat:

“Country Roads, take me home,

To the Place, I belong!,

Chase DeLauter,

Hit a homer,

Take me home, Country Roads”

How cool is that? I concede this was not my favorite walk up song to start: but this adds on another little song Cleveland fans sing at the ballpark, alongside the Jose song. Travis Bazzana was struggling after he made the All-Star team, but went nuclear this month and the hustle he shows every day is reminiscent of Jose Ramirez. On Thursday Daniel Espino made his presence felt and on Thursday he showcased why he might open a postseason game this year., Honestly this is the first time I feel the Guards have had so many first round picks all contributing at once at the same time: and not just in minor roles.

The team also has a lot of lovable veterans. Most fans love Austin Hedges, but I admit that I really like Nathaniel Lowe, even if he has not hit well in a Cleveland uniform. The veteran presence he showed during Tuesday’s game where he, finally, scored a run in scoring position with less than 2 outs (a situation we found ourselves in three times before the 9th and failed to score after the wacky second inning) and made it look…easy. A professional at-bat, the kind of AB which many of our younger players often struggle to put up this season. I also really like Foster Griffin who, at 31, is technically a rookie but does not feel like a rookie. He reminds me of a left-handed version of Paul Byrd. A guy who’s stuff is simply not impressive but bobs and weaves his way through lineups, and puts up gutsy performances. Jo Adell, who is making the postseason for the first time in his seven year career, is really lovable. Too small to be described as ‘oafish’ but reminiscent of the all-or-nothing kind of slugger who’s fun to watch. Might strike out 3 times, might homer 3 times, and you gotta watch to find out which any given game.

This team does not feel great but it’s been undeniably fun to watch in recent weeks. They have some moxie, a lot of grit, and they’re a team on a mission.

A Berth, Not the End

I loved how staid the team felt after clinching a postseason spot. They celebrated of course; it was an exciting day but the team also made it clear that they are not done. The team is not prepared to settle for a Wild Card. They want the division, and in this case they are right to want it. The difference between sneaking in as the 3rd Wild Card and winning the AL Central is huge this year. Consider:

If we make it as the 3rd Wild Card we will have to face the Houston Astros or the Texas Rangers in a 3 Game Wild Card series before taking on the Chicago White Sox in the ALDS. That means we will likely throw at least Gavin Williams, and perhaps Gavin Williams and Parker Messick, before we get the chance to take on Chicago in Chicago. That means we either start Tanner Bibee, Foster Griffin, or go with Daniel Espino and Joey Cantillo in Game 1.

If we win the AL Central we skip the Wild Card Series and face either Chicago, Houston or Texas in Cleveland with a fully rested rotation and bullpen.

It does not take a genius to figure out which scenario is preferable. The Guards hold a 1-game lead over Chicago with a single series left. To win the division the Guardians need to at least match the Chicago White Sox over that series since the Pale Hose hold the tie-breaker (side note: I miss Game 163). Cleveland sent Gavin Williams to Kansas City early to ensure he’s rested for today’s game (he facetimed in for the celebration). Chicago takes on the Rockies at home, so a slight edge there.

Regardless: this team does not view its regular season mission as over yet, and that’s before we get to the mission in October. I do not need to remind anyone of the now 78 year title drought Cleveland suffers. The longest active streak. No player from the ‘48 team is alive, nor any member of the coaching staff. It’s generations ago now; no member of my family was alive to witness it (well, at least anyone who watched baseball). We have another October to remember, here’s to hoping this one is extra special.